COMMUNITY leaders in East Lancashire have backed Baroness Warsi, who has hit out the 'small minority' of Pakistani men who see white girls as 'fair game'.

She spoke out following the Rochdale grooming scandal in which nine Muslim men were found guilty of bringing girls as young as 13 to Nelson and Colne to be abused.

She urged Muslim leaders to address the issue and to ensure that men who regard white women as ‘third class citizens’ were isolated by their communities.

Blackburn MP Jack Straw said he fully supported Lady Warsi’s comments.

He said: “I think she is quite right to say this and it is all the more powerful because she is of Pakistani heritage herself.

“Asian heritage people do not by any means make up the bulk of sex offenders but it is this particular crime, where they targeted white girls rather than asian girls, and the way they work in groups, that has led to the public interest.

“More and more community leaders have come out and I don’t know a single person in Blackburn who defends this.”

Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson said he also ‘strongly endorsed’ what Lady Warsi had said.

He said: “It is very much an issue of a minority of Asian men but it is an issue that needs to be addressed and one of the best ways for it to be addressed is for the community to acknowledge that there is a problem.”

A spokesman for the Lancashire Council of Mosques said Lady Warsi was right to make the comments.

He said: “It is a bit like terrorism and the Lancashire Council of Mosques has taken a lead in speaking out against it.

“People that associate themselves with terrorism have no room within our community and this is no different what so ever.

“Somebody’s daughter is my daughter as well and for a certain section of the community to abuse something like this is completely out of order.”