Child abuse inquiry: Theresa May will grant investigators major new powers

Ms May also denied trying to censor any sections of the CIA terror report

Theresa May told the home affairs select committee that the Home Office had received more than 100 names of possible candidates to chair the inquiry (PA) (PA)

The troubled inquiry into child sexual abuse will gain the authority to compel witnesses to give evidence in a major strengthening of its powers, Theresa May has said.

The Home Secretary has faced criticism of her handling of the issue after two chairs were forced to stand down as the before it even started deliberating.

Survivors’ groups have also warned they could refuse to cooperate unless the inquiry was granted wider powers to force witnesses to appear.

Ms May told the home affairs select committee that the Home Office had received more than 100 names of possible candidates to chair the inquiry examining allegations of historical sex abuse dating back to 1970.

Nodding in agreement when it was suggested the inquiry had got off to a “shaky” start, she said: “I would prefer to be in a different position and had a chairman who could ensure the inquiry was going at full-pelt.”

For the first time she indicated that she believed the investigation should be given statutory power, including the ability to compel witnesses to give evidence.

She said: “The overwhelming message I’m getting from survivors and survivors' representatives is that it’s important to make sure we do get this right. I’m very clear the inquiry should have the powers of a statutory inquiry.”

She also announced that the investigation should have its terms of reference widened to go back before 1970s.

In wide-ranging evidence, Ms May flatly denied trying to censor any sections of the US Senate report which exposed the brutality of the CIA’s interrogation techniques.

“I haven’t asked for any redactions. Any such requests would only be in relation to ensure our national security,” she said.

The Home Secretary dismissed suggestions that any potential complicity by British agents in torture or rendition of terrorist suspects should be examined by a judge-led inquiry.

She said the proper route was through the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), the British equivalent of the Senate committee and whose powers had been bolstered by the Government.

The Home Secretary said British security and intelligence agencies staff would not want to be “tainted” by suggestions they have been involved in torture. She said: “We all believe torture is abhorrent and is wrong.”

She was speaking hours after Nick Clegg called for Tony Blair and Jack Straw to give evidence about any UK involvement in the CIA's practices while they were Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary.

The Deputy Prime Minister said anyone found to have been complicit in torture must face the “full rule of the law”.

Ms May also rejected a proposal from Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan police commissioner, that police forces should merge to save money.

“It’s possible to make savings by retaining local identities but co-operating and collaborating between forces,” she said

Concluding the session, the committee’s chairman, Keith Vaz, asked what she wanted her legacy to be at the Home Office.

She replied that she told officials that she would like the Home Office “to stop being the story”. She had more work to achieve that, she conceded.

Theresa May on the issues

Child abuse inquiry: “There should be no fettering of the inquiry’s ability to seek out the truth.”

CIA report: “I haven’t asked for any redactions. Any such requests would only be in relation to ensure our national security.”

Missed immigration target: “We’re not going to meet that target – we have been blown off course.”