On Wednesday, MPs voted against a Tory move to force a fresh national investigation.
Burnham told BBC Radio Manchester he thought there was a case for a “limited national inquiry that draws on reviews like the one that I commissioned, and the one we have seen in Rotherham, the one we have seen in Telford, to draw out some of these national issues and compel people to give evidence, who then may have charges to answer and be held to account”.
Asked about this on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Nandy, MP for Wigan in Greater Manchester, said: “I get the point that Andy’s making.”
She said he was calling for a smaller inquiry into specific issues that the one he had instigated could not pick up.
The culture secretary described it as “astonishing” that some Greater Manchester Police officers had refused to take part in that local inquiry and could not be compelled to do so.
But, she added, she did not agree with Burnham, because the Jay inquiry, set up by Theresa May’s government, had taken evidence from thousands of victims and addressed the issues he had raised.
“That inquiry found what every inquiry has found, that young girls weren’t believed because they were young, they were female, and they were working-class, and that the systems that were supposed to protect them protected themselves instead of protecting those brave young victims,” Nandy said.
She denied the government was “cross” with Burnham, saying the whole point of devolution was “that we want to make sure that people’s views are heard from across the country”.
Asked whether the government was ruling out another inquiry, Ms Nandy said: “The reason I think that people have heard from us that there may at some point in the future be another inquiry is because child abuse by its very nature is hidden, it’s secretive, and, at various points, I’m sure that more will come out about the scandals that we’ve heard.”
On Monday, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government would begin implementing Prof Jay’s call for mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse, with further details to be set out in the coming weeks.
The prime minister has warned that launching a further inquiry could delay action on tackling child sexual abuse, though he noted there was no “fixed view” among survivors on whether one was needed.
Source:
www.bbc.com
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