LONDON: British Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s remarks that British-Pakistani men “hold cultural values at odds with British values” have been criticised by political commentators and children’s charities as “inflammatory” and akin to initiating “race wars”.
Ms Braverman came under fire when, during a Sky News interview about plans to tackle child sexual abuse, she spoke about “the predominance of British-Pakistani males who hold cultural values totally at odds with British values”.
“[British-Pakistani men] see women in a demeaned, illegitimate way, and pursue an outdated and frankly heinous approach to the way we behave,” Ms Braverman commented after she was informed that a Home Office report in 2020 concluded that most child sexual abuse gangs are made up of white men under the age of 30, and that there was not enough evidence to suggest members of grooming gangs were disproportionately more likely to be Asian or black.
Ms Braverman instead pointed to reports from Rotherham, which was rocked by a child sexual exploitation scandal in which five British-Pakistani men were convicted of grooming, raping and exploiting young girls. The home secretary also cited a 2015 report penned by Dame Louise Casey CB, which ironically noted how British-Pakistani community had been “harmed by association” in the scandal.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is expected to roll out new measures to tackle sexual violence against children, said the grooming gang crackdown would defy “political correctness”. However, he did not repeat Ms Braverman’s comments targeting Pakistanis.
The government vowed that experienced specialist officers and members of the National Crime Agency will assist police forces with their investigations into child sexual abuse cases.
