Put politics aside on grooming gangs, say survivors

The political "tug-of-war with vulnerable women" abused by grooming gangs must stop ahead of a national inquiry into the crimes, survivors have told the Guardian.

- Alexandra Topping

Holly Archer and Scarlett Jones, two survivors who played a key role in a "gold-standard" local inquiry into the crime in Telford, have urged politicians and those without experience of abuse to allow women to shape the investigation.

"We have to put politics aside when it comes to child sexual exploitation, we have to stop this tug-of-war with vulnerable women," said Archer, the author of I Never Gave My Consent: A Schoolgirl's Life Inside the Telford Sex Ring.

"There are so many voices that need to be heard. There's some voices, though, that need to step away," she said. "Let us do it - we don't need you to speak on our behalf."

Jones, who works with Archer at the Holly Project, a service helping survivors of child sexual exploitation (CSE) and their families, said: "There are so many people out there at this moment exploiting the exploited."