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WATCH: Oldham councillor tells GB News that grooming gang findings were 'hidden away' by officials
Jun 19, 2025
Oldham councillor Lewis Quigg has hit out at local authorities for their "silence" on grooming gangs, claiming they were "whitewashed" and "hidden away" through fears of "inflaming tensions".Speaking to GB News, Quigg welcomed the national inquiry in the hope that it will "open the floodgates" on all of those who attempted to "cover-up" the nationwide scandal.FULL STORY HERE.
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0:00
Oldham has been, of course, at the epicentre of this story for much of this year
0:05
What do you make there of the suggestion that there are failings
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not just at the local level, but actually at the Whitehall level too
0:15
It doesn't surprise me at all. It's the rot doesn't necessarily just start at the local council level
0:22
It goes all the way up because these officials, in one way or another
0:26
would have known through reports going through to the DfE. I think, as Dominic Cummins said in his interview
0:33
you know, these reports exist, you know, a redacted and an unredacted version
0:37
And it's clear that basically, you know, in the name of community relations
0:41
these things were whitewashed and hidden away so they wouldn't upset anybody
0:46
But as time passes on, and it's the records will probably prove, these things were covered up
0:52
And if they can do it at a local level, a micro level, then they can certainly do it at a national level
0:57
And I think there a lot to be uncovered Yeah I mean Michael Gove there saying that Rob of the Roam Council was very much pushing this asking the Department of Education asking him to join them in their legal case to prevent the Times newspaper from
1:11
publishing any of these claims about grooming gangs and the like. Could you say the same about Oldham
1:19
I couldn't say the same about Oldham because there's no, I've not got any proof to hand, but what I could say, Emily, is that our local press has been absolutely absent and silent
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on this, and it's a disgrace that they didn't have the journalistic integrity to follow up on these cases
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because we've had survivors come forward who cover from a period back into the 90s and even as far as the 80s
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who clearly came forward in the assurance review, who came to the full council meeting, came to a mic
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and actually came to their cases. Yet if you were to rely on the local press
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you wouldn't have even known these cases existed. And a lot of these people who now worked in the press or worked in the Council comms team are now working for MPs or are working in the Council still You know the famous media strategy at Oldham Council was you know the Operation Messenger is that we didn want to disprocute you know
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say that it was all Asian men that was doing this and that it was targeting white working class girls
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These people are now still at Oldham Council who worked in that communications department that devised that media strategy
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These people still work in one way or another in the media who now sit in offices of MPs
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And it baffles me that this wasn't picked up. It wasn't picked up
2:40
Well, it clearly was. People were going to the press, going to the Department for Education
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going to the local council, going to the police. All of this is constant
2:53
It isn't new. But what we're seeing now is that the floodgates have opened
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and no one's got nowhere to hide anymore. Well let hope so Lewis because we relying on this national inquiry aren we We relying on this national inquiry being able to call these people and haul them in in front of the inquiry so that they actually tell the truth on this
3:17
Because, I mean, it's pretty clear that the rot is at all levels, isn't it, Lewis? An uncomfortable truth
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because I think that from the 2001 riots, there was a fear that the community cohesion, the tensions
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And it's still language that is used today surrounding this issue was that we shouldn't talk about this because it may inflame tensions
3:43
But I think, as Louise Casey's reviewers made clear, we shouldn't hide from the truth
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Facts are facts. There are not alternative facts. There are not alternative versions of the truth
3:56
There is only the truth. Yeah, absolutely right. And if you are honest with it... Well, this is why it's so important to have this..
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statutory inquiry where witnesses can be compelled. And as you rightly say, there is nowhere to hide
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But Lewis Quigg, Oldham Councillor, thanks indeed for joining us and talking through this issue
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