Five abuse survivors have written to prime minister Sir Keir Starmer to say they will only continue working with the grooming gang inquiry if Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips keeps her job.
It comes after four different members of the survivors panel quit the inquiry and said they would only rejoin it if Phillips resigned.
The survivors panel, thought to include about 16 women, is playing a central role in setting up the national inquiry into grooming gangs.
But they are at odds over whether it should be expanded to cover other types of child sexual exploitation – and whether they can trust Phillips to lead the process of setting it up. The prime minister has repeatedly backed the minister.
Sir Keir announced a national inquiry into the sexual exploitation of children by grooming gangs in England and Wales in June.
The PM said the inquiry would have the power to compel witnesses to be questioned and would be guided by a panel of survivors, which the understands had at least 20 members at the start.
But there has been turmoil over the past week, with Fiona Goddard and Ellie Reynolds quitting the survivors panel in the inquiry on Monday, and two more known as “Elizabeth” and “Jess” following them on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
The issue was raised at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, when Sir Keir invited the four who had quit to re-join and sought to reassure them that “I want to get this right”, despite the difficulties when “every survivor does bring their own painful experience to this”.
“The inquiry is not and will never be watered down. Its scope will not change. It will examine the ethnicity and religion of the offenders and we will find the right person to chair the inquiry,” he told MPs.
However, there was still palpable fury from the group, who penned a group letter calling for Phillips to resign because she had broken a fragile trust.
Now, a second group of survivors, headed by Samantha Walker-Roberts, has written to Sir Keir and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood with a list of seven conditions for their continued support, including Phillips continuing in her role.
“Jess Phillips has remained impartial to the process, only listening to feedback [and] we want her to remain in position for the duration of the process for consistency,” they wrote.
“Her previous experience and drive to reduce VAWG [violence against women and girls] and her clear passion and commitment is important to us.”
They praised Phillips, who they said had “devoted her life to hearing and amplifying the voices of women and girls who would otherwise have been unheard” and had helped some of them access support.
Earlier today, the first group called on Phillips to quit in order to restore trust in the inquiry, accusing her of “betrayal” for describing reports the scope of the inquiry could be widened as “untrue”.
Headed up by Fiona Goddard, the group of four said they would only re-join it if the minister went, because they had “raised legitimate concerns around the inquiry’s direction” but “in response, your safeguarding minister, Jess Phillips called our accounts untrue”.
Another survivor, known as Carly, from Huddersfield, told the she wanted to remain part of the inquiry, but she also believes Phillips should go, because “she can’t lie about what we all know” around the question of whether to widen the inquiry’s scope.
There is disagreement among survivors on whether the focus should be widened, which the understands can be tracked back to an email sent to the panel by NWG, the charity tasked with organising it on behalf of the government.
This email asked survivors if they wanted to keep the the inquiry focused on grooming gangs or if they would like it to be widened out.
Ms Walker-Roberts’ group of survivors stressed that this request had not come from Phillips.
“When asked directly in the feedback session, Jess was clear that the focus would be on grooming gangs,” they wrote.
“However survivors in the group explained they would be excluded for not fitting the generalised stereotype of what that is and [the inquiry] should focus on CSE (child sexual exploitation].”
On how to reconcile the differences between the two groups of survivors, they suggested “the panel should be smaller” and there should be “no re-entry to the panel after you have forfeited your position”.
There is also an ongoing hunt for someone to chair the inquiry, after the only two candidates to be publicly named pulled out amid fear their previous work with the police and social workers could cause a conflict of interest.
Annie Hudson – who has a background in social work – pulled out first, followed by former Northern Irish police chief Jim Gamble, who gave several interviews after withdrawing on Wednesday.
Mr Gamble criticised “political point-scoring” for creating a “toxic atmosphere” around the inquiry and stressed his “track record of fierce independence” as head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) command.