Labour faced fury last night for launching ‘toothless’ small-scale probes into grooming gangs instead of a full national inquiry.

Yvette Cooper announced five local reviews into badly hit towns, as Labour backtracked after previously insisting that no new investigations were needed.

The Home Secretary also said there would be a ‘rapid audit’ of the scale of child sexual exploitation across the country that would look into the ethnicity of perpetrators as part of a £10million action plan.

But Ms Cooper refused to answer pleas for the new probes to have the power to summon witnesses, a key requirement of victims as well as politicians on all sides.

And she continued to defy calls for a national public inquiry into the scandal, despite admitting there were currently 127 ‘major police investigations’ under way into child sexual exploitation across 29 different forces. 

Tory justice spokesman Robert Jenrick told the Mail: ‘The handful of local probes are powerless to get justice and accountability for the thousands of victims.

‘Time and again, local reviews have proved toothless. Nothing less than a national inquiry is acceptable.’

Ms Cooper unveiled her ‘next steps’ on tackling grooming in the Commons after an initial series of measures last week failed to quell demands for more to be done.

She said the Home Office and the chairman of a previous inquiry into grooming in Telford, Tom Crowther KC, would develop a ‘framework for victim-centred, locally led inquiries’.

It will work with Oldham Council – where the Government had previously refused requests to hold an inquiry – and ‘up to four other pilot areas’.

Elizabeth Harper, who has written about her ordeal at the hands of grooming gangs in Rotherham in the early 2000s, said: ‘This sounds like a complete whitewash.

‘Only a public inquiry has the ability to compel witnesses to give evidence, and nothing short of that will satisfy me.

‘Over 50 towns and cities where grooming has been going on have been identified. I’m worried that what Yvette Cooper has announced will amount to the cover-up of the cover-ups. Local councils are still in denial.’

Under the new measures, veteran Whitehall troubleshooter Baroness Casey will carry out a three-month review into the ‘current scale and nature of gang-based exploitation across the country’.

‘It will properly examine ethnicity data and the demographics of the gangs involved and their victims and it will look at the cultural and societal drivers for this type of offending including amongst different ethnic groups,’ Ms Cooper said.

In addition, more victims will get the right to demand reviews of cases where police took no action, while chief constables will be forced to reopen ‘cold case’ investigations that did not lead to charges.

And the Government will set out a timetable by Easter of when it will implement the recommendations of the seven-year Jay review, which reported back in 2022, into child abuse across society.

But Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘Today’s announcement will not get to the truth. What the Home Secretary has announced today is totally inadequate. 

‘It will cover only a fraction of the towns affected, and it appears that the inquiries will not have the legal powers they need. Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper are simply perpetuating what amounts to a cover-up.’

He also demanded an apology from Sir Keir, who last week insisted there was no need for a new inquiry and accused those calling for one of ‘amplifying what the far-Right is saying’. 

Mr Philp said: ‘Smearing those who raised this issue is exactly what led to the victims being ignored and the crimes covered up in the first place.’

Sarah Champion, the Labour MP for Rotherham who in recent days joined calls for a new national probe, urged the Home Secretary: ‘A big strand of what we need to do is ensure that there have been no cover-ups, and we can only do that if requirements are on a statutory footing.’

She also pointed out that just one earlier review had cost £8 million, yet only £5 million is being provided for five new pilots across the country, and asked: ‘Why do we need another inquiry in Telford when we know this is happening nationally?’

Marlon West, whose daughter Scarlett was groomed by a gang in Greater Manchester, said: ‘We’ve already had a series of local inquiries, and they’ve failed to get to the truth of what’s really going on.

‘My fear is the Government will use these audits as a smokescreen in the hope the public will be reassured and grooming will go away as an issue. I will keep campaigning for a national public inquiry.’

Tech tycoon Elon Musk, one of the Government’s most vocal critics in recent weeks, wrote on his social media network X: ‘This is a step in the right direction, but the results will speak for themselves.’