Kemi Badenoch blamed the scandal of gangs on people of “peasant background” from “underclass communities” in other foreign countries.
The Tory leader also called for a national inquiry and said it should investigate “two cultural issues”: Where abusers come from and the “culture of silence”.
He made the comments as pressure continued to mount on Sir Keir Starmer after many of his MPs backed a new legal inquiry.
Mrs Badenoch told GB News: “There are two cultural issues that I believe have been identified.
“One is on the side of the perpetrators: Where do these abusers come from? There is a lot of untruth, a lot of talk, a lot of innocent people end up being involved with them.
“But if you look, there is a systematic behavior, not only in one country, but in the communities under those countries.
“People with a certain background, a certain class background, a professional background. People who are very poor, very poor, very rural, almost cut off even from their home countries where they may have been.
“It is not the first generation. The jobs they were doing, the taxi drivers, jobs that allowed them to show this attitude of arrogance. That is just one sided.”
The Prime Minister insisted there was no need for another inquiry following the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse, led by Professor Alexis Jay, in October 2022. Sir Keir said victims wanted to see action rather than another review.
But a number of Labor figures have now joined calls from the Tories and Reform UK for another inquiry.
Sarah Champion, MP for Rotherham, a reform hotspot, said “nothing short of a national inquiry into the failure of those in authority to prevent and account for their mistakes” will restore public faith in the police and local councils.
His intervention came hours after Paul Waugh, the Labor MP for Rochdale, another conservative constituency, said he would support an investigation if it was supported by victims and did not interfere with police investigations.
Ms Badenoch also said the second issue was the “culture of silence” and the “culture of 'go away, there's nothing to see here'”.
“The national investigation needs to look at both cultural issues at the same time,” he said.
Earlier, the Government rejected calls for a nationwide review in favor of locally led questions, saying it was focused on implementing the recommendations from Prof. Jay's report.
The scandal of organized crime groups has received international attention in recent weeks after Elon Musk, the tech billionaire, launched a series of attacks aimed at the Prime Minister on the issue earlier this year.
On Monday, Downing Street reiterated its view that Sir Keir was opposed to the inquiry because it would last too long and undermine the need to implement the findings of a previous report into child sexual abuse.
However, indicating that this position may change, the Prime Minister's spokesman said that Mrs Champion's opinion “absolutely” has weight and “we will be guided and led by the victims and survivors in this”.
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