Sarah Champion MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Preventing Abuse, responding to the resignation of Justice Goddard, said:

“This resignation is disappointing as so many survivors of child abuse had put their trust in her inquiry to get them justice.

"The Government now needs to swiftly get a new chair so that the work can continue. It is particularly poignant that Goddard resigned on the day the Official for National Statistics released the first ever data on historic child abuse.

"The scale of this horrific crime is terrifying and proves we must do more to prevent it.”