This is one of those situations about which I feel very conflicted. I feel strongly that the girls (and others like them) need to be protected, and all the stops should be pulled out to ensure that this does not happen again, but I am also very aware that the likes of Tommy Robinson have made capital of the fact that the perpetrators were Muslim, and worry that there are those wanting to divert enquiries so that they get sucked into that vortex.
It is something that needs to be discussed frankly and without letting awkwardness get in the way, but there are vested interests at play, and this is likely to be almost impossible, I feel.
I think the starting point should be the vulnerability of the girls, and how it was that they fell victim to predatory men at all. In some cases there were failings on the part of care homes, and it appears that across the board the adults speaking for the girls were ignored, whether because the racial implications were too difficult to deal with, or because the girls' lifestyles meant that they were seen as complicit in their own abuse.
Unless 'the authorities' can grasp these nettles, I don't think that all the petitions in the world will help. Personally, I would start by putting far more robust systems in place to protect vulnerable children, and to build their self-esteem.
Rolling back a decade of Austerity, and undoing the damage that that has caused will be a massive task, but IMO it is a very important one, regardless of financial cost.