MPs who have been calling for an independent inquiry into child sexual abuse in West Yorkshire have raised the matter in Parliament.

Conservative Robbie Moore (Keighley) said the issue is being “swept under the carpet” and claimed “nothing really has changed” since concerns over grooming gangs linked to Keighley and across the Bradford district were first raised by his Labour predecessor Ann Cryer.

He was joined by Tory colleagues Philip Davies (Shipley) and Lee Anderson (Ashfield) in demanding a “Rotherham-style inquiry” – which could be commissioned by Bradford Council would be similar to that established by Rotherham Council in 2013, and conducted by an independent chair.

The aim of the inquiry would be to look at the handling of child-sexual-exploitation reports by Bradford Council, West Yorkshire Police and other agencies, ‘common threads’ of where abuse has taken place, and to look at what needs to change to avoid these crimes happening again.

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Moore said: “Let’s call this problem out for what it is: predominantly a small minority of largely Pakistani Muslim men in West Yorkshire, including I’m sad to say in Keighley and across the Bradford district, that have been sexually exploiting young children for far too long.

“The Pakistani community are quite rightly outraged that the entire community is being branded with the same accusation. It is not fair and it is deeply offensive.”

Mr Moore added: “This isn’t about race or pitching communities against each other, it’s about looking at the facts so we can address them head-on and move forward.”

Conservative MP Philip Davies, intervening, said: “This is really just about the victims and making sure that a) they get the justice they deserve and b) we make sure there are no future victims of this terrible crime.”

He suggested the Government “should make sure we get this inquiry” if Bradford Council and others do not bring one forward in order to “get to the bottom of what’s gone wrong and make sure it never happens again”.

This call follows the release of a damning review this summer into child sexual exploitation and child safeguarding practices across the Bradford district over the last 20 years.

The review which focused on five children found they had experienced grotesque sexual abuse, there had been multi-agency failings by Bradford Council and that the council are still missing signs of child sexual abuse.

MPs heard a recent review has taken place but Mr Moore labelled it “light” and “limited”, and argued a wider inquiry is required to “understand the scale” of the problems.

Mr Moore told the Commons: “We need a Rotherham-style inquiry to address these issues.

“I very much hope to be using this opportunity in this debate to be encouraging the Government to use its weight to put pressure on Bradford Council and our new West Yorkshire Mayor to do the right thing.”