Nigel Farage backs 'wiping out' Iranian tyrants as Donald Trump considers launching strikes

Keir Starmer discusses supporting Donald Trump Iran action as US hints at unleashing 'bunker-busting' bombs

Sir Keir Starmer is discussing whether the UK should provide military support to the US if Donald Trump joins Israel's war against Iran.

The Prime Minister, who is chairing a Cobra meeting with senior security officials and ministers in No10, called the meeting shortly after returning from the G7 summit in Canada.

Britain could use its Diego Garcia airbase base in the Indian Ocean as a launchpad for any strikes against Tehran.

America's B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, which carry so-called “bunker busting” bombs capable of destroying Iran’s underground Fordo site, are also stationed at the base.

Speaking shortly before the Prime Minister's Cobra meeting, President Trump yet again hinted at launching strikes against Tehran.

He said: “You don’t know that I’m going to even do. You don’t know. I may do it. I may not do it.”

Trump added that “nobody knows what I’m going to do”, warning: “Iran’s got a lot of trouble, and they want to negotiate.”

'Weak!' Lord Hermer REFUSED to review ‘grossly inadequate’ rape gang sentences

Lord Hermer has been accused of being "soft on child sex offenders" after it was revealed that he refused to review "unduly lenient" sentences for rape gang perpetrators.

Amreaz Asghar, Perwaz Asghar, Mohammed Din and Zehroon Razak were jailed for historic sex offences against teenage girls in Keighley between 1996 and 1999.

Three of the grooming gang perpetrators were convicted of rape, while Perwaz Asghar committed two indecent assaults.

Amreaz Asghar was sentenced for only four-and-a-half years, with Mohammed Din receiving 14 years for 11 counts of rape.

Despite Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick and Keighley MP Robbie Moore condemning the sentences as "weak" and "grossly inadequate", The Telegraph has revealed that Lord Hermer's office decided against sending them to the Court of Appeal.

The latest row raises further questions about Lord Hermer's judgment, with the Attorney General declining to review "unduly lenient" sentences given to a rapist, a paedophile and a terrorist fundraiser.

READ THE FULL STORY

Lord Mandelson spotted at Cabinet Office for Cobra meeting

PICTURED: Military chief Sir Tony Radakin leaves Cabinet after Keir Starmer calls Cobra meeting

Security Minister Dan Jarvis at Cobra meeting

PICTURED: Lord Hermer leaves Cobra meeting

'Scrap it, and upgrade Britain!' Nigel Farage issues HS2 plea - but is slapped down by Labour

Nigel Farage has called for HS2 to be scrapped and for the money to be spent upgrading railway lines across the entire country.

The Reform UK leader said: "I have campaigned against this HS2 project ever since 2010, up and down the line.

"I never believed the original £35billion price tag. Furthermore, it only would have benefited rich businessmen and driven businesses from the north of England to London. It would have had the opposite effect.

"Has the moment not come, rather than having another reset, to recognise this is a failure? Let's scrap HS2, let's use the tens of billions of pounds we can save in the next decade to upgrade railway lines across the entirety of the United Kingdom to the benefit of many millions, and spend the rest on other national priorities."

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander replied: "We are not going to be a country that spends over £30billion on rail infrastructure but then never sees a train running on it. We've already seen too much waste. I'm interested that he is advocating more.

"We also have significant capacity constraints between Birmingham and London. He seems not to want to do anything about that, but I think those two great cities in our country deserve a railway that's fit for the 21st Century. I'm just sorry that he doesn't."

Keir Starmer calls for urgent Cobra meeting to take place in just HOURS

Sir Keir Starmer will hold an urgent "Cobra" meeting in a matter of hours, GB News understands.

The Prime Minister, who will have only just returned from his trip to Canada for the G7 summit, will be chairing the meeting.

It is understood that the meeting, designed to handle matters of national emergency or major disruption, follows concerns that the US is set to enter the conflict between Israel and Iran.

And it comes mere hours after families of staff at the British embassy in Tel Aviv and the consulate in Jerusalem were "temporarily withdrawn as a precautionary measure", according to the Foreign Office...

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Shabana Mahmood FINALLY calls for ECHR reform in landmark Strasbourg speech

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has warned that the European Convention on Human Rights "must evolve" following months of pressure for Britain to leave it entirely.

Speaking to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg today, Mahmood said: "Across Europe, public confidence in the rule of law is fraying. There is a growing perception - sometimes mistaken, sometimes grounded in reality - that human rights are no longer a shield for the vulnerable, but a tool for criminals to avoid responsibility.

"That the law too often protects those who break the rules, rather than those who follow them.

"This tension is not new. The Convention was written to protect individuals from the arbitrary power of the state. But in today's world, the threats to justice and liberty are more complex.

"They can come from technology, transnational crime, uncontrolled migration, or legal systems that drift away from public consent."

She added: "We are clarifying how Convention rights - particularly Article 8 - operate in relation to immigration rules. The right to family life is fundamental. But it has too often been used in ways that frustrate deportation, even where there are serious concerns about credibility, fairness, and risk to the public... Prisoners claiming a right to socialise under Article 8 is not just a legal stretch. It damages the public perception of human rights altogether."

'I'll take no lectures from Johnny-Come-Lately,' Angela Rayner jabs as Labour accused of 'siding with foreign criminals'

Angela Rayner has branded Chris Philp a "Johnny-Come-Lately" in a fiery slap-down to his warning that Labour are "siding with foreign criminals">

Philp raised the case of a "Zimbabwean paedophile due for deportation" who was "recently allowed to stay in the UK because a court found he might face, quote, 'some hostility back in Zimbabwe'".

"What about the rights of children here to be protected from this dangerous paedophile?" Philp fumed. "Who is looking out for their rights? Not the Government. There are thousands of cases like this involving foreign criminals. So there is a solution, we need to scrap the Human Rights Act for immigration matters, so this sovereign Parliament decides on the law our courts apply, but her party voted against that.

"I have a simple question: Why did the Government side with foreign criminals and not the British public?"

Rayner replied that 4,500 foreign national offenders have been deported since Labour came into power, adding: "I take no lectures from the Johnny-Come-Lately, who couldn’t do anything when he was in office."

'You've lost control!' Chris Philp accuses Labour of 'prioritising illegal migrants over Britain's young people'

Chris Philp has accused Angela Rayner of "prioritising housing for illegal immigrants above housing for our young people".

"As a consequence of the Government losing control, they are now accommodating growing numbers of illegal immigrants, many of whom crossed the Channel, in asylum hotels and flats," he warned.

"The Home Office's suppliers are now actively offering above market deals to deals to get hold of their properties to be used for illegal immigrants.

"In the meantime, hard-pressed young people here are unable to rent or buy. So why is this Government prioritising housing for illegal immigrants above housing for our young people?"

Rayner blasted in return: "Under their watch immigration increased fourfold until it reached almost a million in a single year."

Chris Philp brings up damning rape gangs asylum links to force 'border crisis' declaration

Chris Philp has urged Angela Rayner to accept that Britain's migrant crisis is "a crisis of public safety as well as a border crisis" following Baroness Casey's findings that foreigners and asylum seekers had been involved in grooming gangs.

He asked Rayner: "Does the Deputy Prime Minister now accept that the small boats crisis is a crisis of public safety as well as a border crisis?"

The Deputy PM said: "This is a very serious issue and more needs to be done. Let me update the House. Working with our allies we have carried out a series of major arrests to tackle smuggling gangs behind this vile trade.

"In the past month a ring-leader that smuggled almost 4,000 migrants has been jailed for 25 years."

Chris Philp: Foreign grooming gang members MUST be deported

Chris Philp, who spoke alongside Kemi Badenoch and grooming gang survivors and campaigners yesterday, said: "The survivors told us they will only have confidence in an inquiry if it is independently led, has full statutory powers, covers all 50 towns affected including Bradford, if those who covered this up are prosecuted, if foreign perpetrators are all deported, if survivors are closely involved and if it is set up before the summer recess.

"Can the Deputy Prime Minister give the survivors and their families those assurances?"

Rayner replied: "I think it is absolutely right that we all look at what has happened over the last couple of decades, the countless reports that we have had and we look to implement that.

"He is absolutely right to also talk about the confidence people must have in that independent inquiry."

Angela Rayner standing in for Keir Starmer as she faces PMQs grilling against Tories' Chris Philp

Chris Philp has been selected to take on Angela Rayner at PMQs today, with Kemi Badenoch stepping aside for her Shadow Home Secretary as Sir Keir Starmer is away.

PMQs just minutes away - follow live

PMQs is just under 20 minutes away, with Angela Rayner set to face a grilling on Sir Keir Starmer's behalf at the hands of Kemi Badenoch's Conservatives.

We'll bring you all the top lines as the Deputy Prime Minister faces MPs - and you can follow her stint at the despatch box on the live stream above, too.

Robert Jenrick leads fury as foreign nationals found to be TWICE as likely as Britons to commit sex crimes against women

Robert Jenrick has blamed the "institutionally pro-migration" Labour Government for damning new data which reveals that foreign nationals were twice as likely to carry out sex crimes as Britons.

"This data proves what the public has long suspected - we are importing crime," the Shadow Justice Secretary fumed.

"If the Government is serious about tackling violence against women and girls, it should apply much tougher immigration restrictions to migrants from high-risk countries."

He also accused the "institutionally pro-migration" Government of refusing to publish migrant crime statistics because the party "doesn't trust the public with the truth"...

READ THE FULL STORY ON THE LATEST MIGRANT CRIME FIGURES HERE

GRAPHED: As Labour plummets to record low in new poll... How has Keir Starmer's party fared since winning the General Election?

PREVIEW: Labour's welfare Bill to face MPs TODAY as party braces for major rebellion

Labour's welfare Bill will face MPs for the first time today as the party steels itself for fury from its left on a multi-billion-pound series of cuts.

Work & Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall will fully detail reforms to Britain's "unsustainable" benefits system, which she has warned is "trapping people in welfare dependency".

She and Rachel Reeves have earmarked some £5billion in savings from the crackdown.

But scores of Labour MPs have signed a letter refusing to support Liz Kendall's cuts, while dozens more - including ministers - are said to have "concerns".

Rachael Maskell, Labour MP for York, has called the proposals "devastating" and said last night: "We must change direction and not proceed with these cuts."

But the Government insists the cuts are absolutely necessary - a senior source told The Guardian: "We have to be able to make tough decisions. We have to be able to make a Budget add up in the autumn.

"We have to be able to make tough reforms that are the right thing to do. If we cannot get this through, the consequences are far bigger than just this reform."

Kendall is set to introduce the Bill early this afternoon.

WATCH: Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook speaks to GB News Breakfast

Andy Burnham demands Whitehall must be 'fully included' in grooming gangs inquiry

Labour's Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has vowed that Whitehall must be included in the grooming gangs inquiry.

Following in the footsteps of similar demands from Kemi Badenoch and Dominic Cummings, Burnham warned: "Decisions were taken there which I think need examination.

"There will have been people working there that also will need to answer questions."

He added that civil servants must be "fully included" in the probe.

Labour plummets to THIRD in new poll in latest blow for Keir Starmer's party

Labour has been handed a fresh polling blow after falling to a record-low third place in a new survey.

Data from pollsters at More In Common has revealed that just 21 per cent of Britons would vote for Keir Starmer's party - lower than the first-place Reform UK and the Conservatives.

Some 2,032 Britons were polled between June 13-16 for the data, with More In Common's Luke Tryl revealing: "For reference, the last time Labour's vote share was this low was at the end of March - after the Spring Statement.

"It seems Labour are not enjoying the traditional Budget bounce these events bring - though the dips seem to reverse quickly."

WATCH IN FULL: Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge speaks to GB News Breakfast

Angela Rayner filling in for Keir Starmer at PMQs - who is asking questions today?

Angela Rayner will face down MPs today ahead of the Prime Minister's return from the G7 summit in Canada.

The following MPs are set to probe Rayner at midday:

• Adrian Ramsay (Green);
• Olivia Bailey (Labour);
• Anneliese Midgley (Labour);
• Pete Wishart (SNP);
• Sarah Champion (Labour);
• Nick Timothy (Conservative);
• Sir Edward Leigh (Conservative);
• Jodie Gosling (Labour);
• Ann Davies (Plaid);
• Jonathan Davies (Labour);
• Kirith Entwistle (Labour);
• Chris Kane (Labour);
• Andrew Pakes (Labour);
• Paul Holmes (Conservative).

Labour is KILLING growth, Mel Stride says as inflation still above 2% target

Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride said: "This morning's news that inflation remains well above the two per cent target is deeply worrying for families.

"Labour's choices to tax jobs and ramp up borrowing are killing growth and stoking inflation - making everyday essentials more expensive."

Angela Rayner faces down triple-header Commons chaos as Keir Starmer STILL absent

Angela Rayner is set to oversee a triple-header day of Commons chaos today ahead of the Prime Minister's return from the G7 summit in Canada.

The Deputy Prime Minister, filling in for Sir Keir Starmer at the despatch box today, will be facing down questions from MPs, the introduction of Labour's highly controversial welfare reforms to Parliament, and another delay to the HS2 rail project.

Scores of Labour MPs have signed a letter refusing to support Liz Kendall's cuts, while dozens more - including ministers - are said to have "concerns".

On HS2, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander will tell the Commons she is drawing a "line in the sand" over the much-delayed rail project.

"HS2 has made Britain a laughing stock in terms of its ability to deliver big infrastructure projects, and it has to end. This will set out the way we will do that," a Government source said.

Rayner also faces a wait to see who the Conservatives will be putting up to face her at PMQs - but Politico reports that nobody in Kemi Badenoch's camp was sure who would step up as of last night.

Ahead of Keir Starmer's G7 exit... PM admits GB News viewers are NOT 'far-right' for being concerned about grooming gangs

It is not a "far right" issue for GB News viewers to be concerned about grooming gangs, Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed.

The Prime Minister also said that he wanted the new national public inquiry into the rape gangs to investigate any alleged cover-ups by councillors, police and even MPs.

The Prime Minister accused politicians of jumping on a "far-right bandwagon" in January when calls for a national grooming gangs inquiry were being aired.

Challenged at the G7 summit by GB News over the far-right slur, he said: "No, no, no and I'm certainly not criticising your viewers."

However, he added that "there's one thing that I find frustrating" - but what was it?

READ THE FULL STORY FROM POLITICAL EDITOR CHRISTOPHER HOPE HERE

Inflation FALLS to 3.4 per cent - but remains significantly higher than Rachel Reeves's target

The CPI rate of inflation dipped slightly to 3.4 per cent in May, down from 3.5 per cent in April, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.

Rachel Reeves, still eyeing up a two per cent inflation rate, said there was "more to do" to bring down inflation and help with the cost of living.

She said: "We took the necessary choices to stabilise the public finances and get inflation under control after the double digit increases we saw under the previous Government, but we know there's more to do.

"Last week we extended the £3 bus fare cap, funded free school meals for over half a million more children and are delivering our plans for free breakfast clubs for every child in the country.

"This Government is investing in Britain's renewal to make working people better off."

READ THE FULL STORY ON THIS MORNING'S INFLATION RATE ANNOUNCEMENT HERE