The Home Secretary has insisted local inquiries into grooming gangs in five towns will be going ahead despite accusations from an Kent MP they are not good enough and were being “watered down”.

Katie Lam (Con), who represents the Weald of Kent, used a passionate speech in Parliament earlier this week to draw attention to graphic examples of child sex abuse in a bid to demand updates from the government.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Ms Law was asking why the criminal scandal of grooming gangs terrorising innocent children was not being treated as a priority.

In a hard-hitting address, she warned colleagues before telling of a shocking account of how a 12-year-old girl was struck with a baseball bat and raped by up to six men.

The former Home Office adviser said: “This is extremely graphic, but we must not look away or sanitise this evil”.

She described the case of 14-year-old “Anna” from Bradford who made repeated reports of rape and abuse to social workers while in residential care.

The following year, she “married” her abuser in a traditional Islamic wedding - and one of the carers who was responsible for the vulnerable teenager was among the guests.

In some incidents, she accused police of turning a blind eye to the vile paedophiles and asked why a dedicated National Crime Agency unit had not been established to investigate councillors and officials accused of collusion and corruption.

She cited the example of Shabir Ahmed, the ringleader of the Rochdale rape gang who was employed as a welfare rights officer by Oldham Council.

Officers from South Yorkshire Police arrested the father of an abused girl when he tried to rescue his daughter from predators.

While he was detained, she was being assaulted and abused by the gang.

The Tory frontbencher added: “How, without a national inquiry, can we know how and why these monsters enjoyed effective immunity for so long, and how can we be sure that it will not happen again?”

She told the House on Tuesday the majority of girls targeted were white and the men were predominantly Muslim or either from Pakistan or of Pakistani heritage.

We’re still going ahead. The framework is being drawn up at the moment

She asked: “Does the Minister accept that in many cases these crimes were racially and religiously aggravated?

She said the Conservatives voted for a national inquiry, and among the amendments tabled was that the ethnicity of offenders should be published

Also that being a member of a grooming gang should be acknowledged in court proceedings to ensure longer, harsher sentences.

In response, Jess Phillips, Home Office minister, announced that the government had today (Thursday) published an action plan for the future.

She said: “It is not about headlines. It is about the frontline. It is about how these things are going to take time in lots and lots of areas in our country.

Ms Phillips shared her colleague’s “anger and urgency about the issue” and invited her to join her in the pledge to eradicate child abuse.

The government has earmarked five towns and pledged £5 million for locally-led investigations into grooming gangs, including perpetrators in the Greater Manchester area..

The time frame was expected to be by Easter but Yvette Cooper, Home Secretary, has insisted the process will soon be going ahead.

After Ms Cooper’s statement, Katie Lam said local inquiries were not sufficient and accused the government of “watering them down even further”.

KentOnline approached Katie Lam for comment, but she was unavailable.

Sir Trevor Phillips, the former chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, also hit out at the government’s approach as “utterly shameful”.

But Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “What we’re also doing is we’re putting in place stronger measures.

“We’re strengthening the law into these gangs and we’re also increasing police investigations, which is the most important thing of all, because, frankly, these perpetrators should be behind bars, and if you don’t get the police investigations in place, that won’t happen.

“That is the best way to get people justice and to keep communities safe.”

A crackdown was prompted by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) led by Professor Alexis Jay found institutional failings and tens of thousands of victims across England and Wales.

In the final report published in 2022 after a seven-year probe, 20 recommendations were made - all of which have been endorsed by the government.

It described child sex abuse across the two countries as an “epidemic”.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: “The £5m funding announced in January will support local authorities to strengthen their responses to child sexual exploitation.

“All local authorities will be able to apply for funding for local inquiries.

“Any claims that the funding has been watered down, or that we are backing down from supporting local inquiries, is patently false. A flexible approach to funding will allow us to support more than five inquiries.”