Grooming gang rhetoric risks inciting mass violence, says Wes Streeting

Wes Streeting: ‘There are people in my community who have Pakistani heritage or look different, who are more fearful today than before.’ Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian

The use of inflammatory language over grooming gangs risks vilifying entire communities and could lead to atrocities such as the mosque massacre in New Zealand that killed more than 50 people, the health secretary has warned.

Wes Streeting said he had “no difficulty or qualms” calling out the “sickening” crimes of sexual abuse gangs, criticising “well meaning, but ultimately fundamentally misguided and warped views of political correctness” for letting down thousands of children.