For victims of grooming gangs, this isn’t a political spat. It’s another gut-punch. After a lifetime of being ignored, silenced and disbelieved by the very institutions that should have protected them, they are being betrayed again — this time by a minister who should have stood firmly at their side.

No matter where we live in the UK, this should cut to the heart of us all. As someone who sits on Leicestershire County Council’s Children and Families Oversight and Scrutiny Committee, with a direct role in safeguarding children, I know exactly how vital trust is. It is the single most important foundation of any child protection system. Once it’s broken, everything else unravels.

Jess Phillips’ decision to publicly contradict survivors’ testimony has done more than undermine confidence in the inquiry — it has reopened old wounds. For those who have endured years of abuse, disbelief and institutional failure, being dismissed once again by someone in authority is nothing short of devastating. It says, in effect: “We still don’t believe you.”

This isn’t just poor judgment. It is a profound failure of leadership — and of basic human decency. If Phillips had any integrity, she wouldn’t be clinging on to her job. She’d have gone already.

The victims have made their position heartbreakingly clear. They want to be heard. They want to be believed. And they want an inquiry that puts truth before politics. Instead, they’re watching the same pattern repeat itself: political calculation eclipsing moral responsibility.

Two shortlisted candidates to chair the inquiry have now walked away, survivors are withdrawing their participation, and trust — the single most precious commodity in any process like this — is evaporating. This isn’t a process that’s limping. It’s collapsing.

The government cannot fix this with spin or platitudes. Starmer promised moral seriousness. Now is the moment to prove it. That means putting the victims first — not ministers’ reputations.

For survivors, this inquiry isn’t about politics. It’s about justice. And right now, they’re being failed all over again.