A former cabinet minister has said the stalemate with the rape gangs inquiry could be solved by giving power to parliament to investigate.
Speaking on GB News, Ranil Jayawardena said: “The resignation of the rape gang survivors is a damning indictment of the way the government has treated them.
“These are the people who have been wronged by the system and it’s absolutely right that we do what we can now to bring some justice, but also to bring some truth, expose the truth to the public.
“I know many, including the Conservative Party, have been calling for a full statutory judge-led inquiry, given the evidence that’s now presented itself.
“I was in the Home Affairs Committee and the Alexis Jay inquiry was one of the inquiries that we were scrutinising.
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“But again, it’s what can we do now, given the victims that are now feeling that they have to resign from their involvement with this.
“I have to say I wonder whether there’s more of a role for Parliament here. You know, no one can say that Parliament’s not public. No one can say that if it’s bringing together a collection of parliamentarians, whether that’s from the House of Lords, the House of Commons, independent figures, maybe even some partisan figures, that it would not have the ability to call evidence, to call witnesses.
“Back when there was a banking crisis, back in 2007/8, in the aftermath of that, there was a parliamentary commission founded – cross house. Both members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords were brought together, and they had these powers to call for evidence, to call witnesses.
“And Parliament has so many powers that it doesn’t use, and I think Britain is poorer for it, that parliamentarians now focus on all sorts of other things rather than actually getting to the truth.
“Judge-led inquires, unfortunately, take a long, long time. It would need [to be chaired] by a figure that does have the trust of the victims.
“All an inquiry can do is set out the truth. Then if it finds evidence the police can then investigate.
“But someone that has support of parliamentarians across the spectrum would be absolutely the right person.”
