OXFORD City Council leader Bob Price said he does not know enough about what is being done following Operation Bullfinch to comment on it.

After repeated requests from the Oxford Mail, Mr Price finally accepted an interview yesterday only to say “no comment” when asked if enough was being done. He said: “I am not fully aware of what they are doing or not doing.”

Mr Price was then asked if Thames Valley Police chief constable Sara Thornton or Oxfordshire County Council chief executive Joanna Simons should resign.

He said: “As I understand it there is going to be a serious case review conducted by an eminent lawyer and that will examine the detail of what people knew and make judgements about actions. Until that is completed I cannot comment.”

And, asked about potential problems between different parts of the Oxford community, he said: “I have been in contact, as I have been for many months, with members of the Pakistani and Somali communities and there are concerns there about what happened, but I do not detect any sign of tensions between those communities.”

Meanwhile, the county council’s new cabinet member for children, education and families, Melinda Tilley, refused to comment at all yesterday. She told the Oxford Mail: “I am not making any comment. I do not know enough about it.”

Mrs Tilley took over the cabinet position for children from Louise Chapman on Tuesday but prior to that was the council’s education boss for two years.