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Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman has backed a petition signed by more than 75,000 people calling for official research on the characteristics of grooming gangs to be made public.

The issue is particularly sensitive in the Huddersfield area as the dozens of men convicted of sexually assaulting mainly white girls and young women are from a Pakistani background.

Having commissioned research on the characteristics of grooming gangs, the government is now claiming it is not in the “public interest” for it to be made public.

And it appears to be at odds with what the then Home Secretary Sajid Javid promised in July 2018 when he said there would be “no no-go areas of inquiry”.

It has been revealed earlier this year that almost 19,000 suspected child sexual exploitation victims were identified by local authorities in just one year.

(Image: Huddersfield Examiner)

Mr Javid said at the time: “I will not let cultural or political sensitivities get in the way of understanding the problem and doing something about it,” he said at the time.

Once the number of signatures reaches 100,000, this petition will have to be considered for debate in Parliament.

'Let us get this out in the open'

Mr Sheerman told YorkshireLive: "I was first to highlight the existence of the grooming gangs in a debate I introduced in Parliament

"I have totally supported the police investigations and have consistently called for a full enquiry into these gangs which operated all over our country not just in the north.

"Let us get this out in the open or we will never understand why they existed and how we prevent them emerging again."

The Home Office has said it will soon publish a national strategy that will set out a “whole system response to all forms of child sexual abuse”.

A spokesperson for the government department said: “Child sexual abuse is a sickening crime and predators who abuse children will face the full force of the law.

“We’re pursuing work on a number of fronts to understand the characteristics of group-based offending and the contexts in which it occurs. This includes ongoing work commissioned by the previous home secretary and will inform future government policies on child sexual abuse.

“New sentencing laws will also ensure the most serious violent and sexual offenders spend time in prison that matches the severity of their crimes, protecting victims and giving the public confidence in the criminal justice system.”