British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Saturday he would accept a recommendation for a national inquiry into grooming gangs who sexually abused thousands of girls, having previously resisted calls for a statutory review.

The scandal, which revealed how gangs of mostly Pakistani men had groomed, trafficked and raped young white girls more than a decade ago, returned to the political agenda this year after U.S. billionaire Elon Musk criticised the British government.