Donald Trump ally slams Labour amid cousin marriage row after GB News exclusive

This week, in a GB News exclusive, Sir Keir Starmer's party were accused of backing cousin marriage by refusing to support a Private Members' Bill seeking to ban the "medieval" practice.

Now, Ms Rogers, under-secretary for public diplomacy at the US State Department, has questioned UK censorship.

Shadow Minister Richard Holden had pressed the Prime Minister in the Commons after a scheduled second reading vote due to be held this week was stalled.

Mr Holden had asked Sir Keir to "think again" to allow the legislation to go in front of the House.

The Prime Minister responded by saying: "We've taken our position on that bill."

Ms Rogers has waded into the row by sharing screenshots from Wikipedia highlighting the impact of cousin marriage and its connection to honour killing.

Responding to the video of Mr Holden and Sir Keir in the Commons, Ms Rogers said: "I’ve received some questions about what we mean, in our National Security Strategy, when we invoke 'civilisational' concerns.

"[Labour is] contemplating a Russia-style X ban, to protect them from bikini images."

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said the Government would back regulator Ofcom if it decided to implement a ban on accessing X from the UK over its artificial intelligence Grok being used to create deepfake images.

Tech tycoon Elon Musk, the boss of Grok’s creator xAI and the X social media platform where images have been shared, has accused the UK Government of being “fascist” and trying to curb free speech after ministers stepped up threats to effectively block his website.

Ofcom has been in contact with X and xAI over the production of images of undressed people and sexualised images of children and is carrying out an "expedited assessment" of the firms’ response.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy claimed US Vice President JD Vance was sympathetic to efforts to tackle the Grok-produced images.

Mr Lammy, who met Mr Vance in the US this week, told The Guardian he raised the issue of Grok "and the horrendous, horrific situation in which this new technology is allowing deepfakes and the manipulation of images of women and children, which is just absolutely abhorrent".

He said: "[Mr Vance] agreed with me that it was entirely unacceptable."

Mr Lammy continued: "I think [Mr Vance] recognised the very seriousness with which images of women and children could be manipulated in this way, and he recognised how despicable, unacceptable, that is and I found him sympathetic to that position.”

Meanwhile, Mr Musk claimed the Government "want any excuse for censorship" and "just want to suppress free speech."

Responding to a chart showing arrest figures for online posts with the UK at the top, Mr Musk said: "Why is the UK Government so fascist?"

Meanwhile Ms Kendall said Labour was drawing "an unbreakable line in the sand", adding that "profiting from abuse will never be acceptable."

Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, she said: "Innovation must serve humanity, not degrade it. If companies choose greed over responsibility, they will face the full force of the law.”

She added that the Online Safety Act includes the power for courts to block services from being accessed in the United Kingdom if they refuse to comply with UK law.

"These powers exist for a reason," the Technology Secretary said.

"If we reach a point where Ofcom decides to use them, they will have the full support of this Government."