Politics LIVE: Labour MP defends voting down Tory calls for national grooming gangs inquiry - 'Stop playing games!'

Keir Starmer stands by claim Tories were 'jumping on far-right bandwagon'

Sir Keir Starmer has stood by his claim in January that the Tories were jumping on "far-right" bandwagons by demanding a national grooming gangs inquiry.

Just 48 hours after Starmer announced his national inquiry U-turn, a No10 spokesman said: "The Prime Minister’s comments about bandwagons were specifically about ministers from the previous Government who sat in office for years and did nothing to tackle this scandal.

"As the Prime Minister has said, we will not make the same mistake.

"The point the PM has made is that those spreading lies and misinformation were not doing so in the interest of victims.

"And those cheerleading for Tommy Robinson, who was almost who was jailed for almost collapsing a grooming case, are not interested in justice."

Keir Starmer faces down 150 Labour rebels over £5billion benefit cuts

Keir Starmer has been warned he could face a rebellion from as many as 150 Labour MPs over Rachel Reeves's plans to slash benefits by £5billion a year.

The Prime Minister, who is attending the G7 summit in Canada, claimed the welfare system was not “working for taxpayers” just weeks after his Chancellor confirmed Personal Independence Payments (PIP) was one of the benefits being slashed.

In a significant challenge to Starmer's leadership, more than 150 Labour MPs signed a private letter indicating their opposition.

Despite the in-party conflict, the Prime Minister did not suggest that he would be offering concessions to angry Labour backbenchers.

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G7 summit dominated by Middle East as PM warns 'situation could deteriorate without warning'

Sir Keir Starmer's appearance at the G7 summit has been dominated by events in the Middle East after the Prime Minister warned the situation could deteriorate "without warning".

As Iran and Israel continue to launch aerial bombardments on one another, a No10 spokesman said: "We, of course, recognise this is a fast-moving situation that has the potential to deteriorate further, quickly and without warning.

"We are keeping all our advice under constant review and we plan for a variety of developments, as you would expect."

Starmer said that the G7 meeting in Alberta would provide an opportunity for allies to make the case for de-escalation and called for "restraint" during a bilateral meeting with Italian premier Giorgia Meloni in Kananaskis, Canada, on Sunday evening.

Rape gangs report expected to make 12 recommendations to Keir Starmer

Baroness Casey is expected to make 12 recommendations in her grooming gangs report, GB News understands.

The report, released later this afternoon, is expected to include recommendations ordering police forces to improve their collection of ethnicity data in exploitation cases.

'Couldn't make it up!' Nigel Farage’s UK Doge unit claims taxpayers paid for illegal migrants' TV licence fees

Kent County Council spent taxpayers’ cash covering TV licence fees for asylum seekers, Reform UK’s Doge chief Zia Yusuf has claimed.

In a bombshell announcement, Yusuf said: “Kent County Council is using taxpayer money to pay for TV licenses for asylum seekers.

“Remember that next time you are asked to pay for yours.”

After Yusuf claimed taxpayers were footing the £174.50 bill per asylum seeker, Reform UK chief whip Lee Anderson said: “You couldn't make this up.”

Yusuf, who quit as Reform UK’s chairman before returning to the fold 48 hours later, is expected to make further announcements over the coming month.

He has already met with council chiefs in Kent and West Northamptonshire, later pledging all Reform-run councils will face a major financial inspection.

Kent is considered to be on the frontline of the ongoing migrant crisis, with thousands of asylum seekers crossing the Channel to reach the Garden of England since 2020.

GB News also recently revealed how Kent County Council had been using taxpayers’ cash to rent office space almost 200 miles away in Brussels.

Reform’s Kent County Council leader Linden Kemkaran later suggested she could look to end taxpayer-funded English lessons for migrants, instead looking at cheaper alternatives such as Duolingo.

Labour Minister unable to answer basic questions on £10bn Thames crossing in car crash interview

Labour Minister Emma Reynolds struggled through a car crash interview this morning after failing to answer basic questions on the £10billion Lower Thames Crossing.

During an interview with LBC, Reynolds was asked where the crossing "starts and lands".

"Well...it's...you'll forgive me, I can't recall the exact landing zones," she said.

"So the crossing you're talking about, you don't know where it is?" LBC host Nick Ferrari replied.

"It's...the Lower Thames Crossing, which has been in planning for many, many years...and it's to enable essentially people to not have to take the Dartford Tunnel which is a huge problem..." Reynolds replied.

The Lower Thames Crossing will connect Tilbury in Essex to Gravesend in Kent.

SNP accused of having 'no idea where money is going' after quango on 'reducing the size of moobs' discovered

The Scottish National Party has been accused of wasting taxpayers' cash on a quango that promotes male breast-reduction surgery.

Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay highlighted the inclusion of This is Remarkable Ltd in the Scottish Government's current directory of public organisations, despite the company being in liquidation since December 2022.

The firm's website features blog posts about rhinoplasty, vaping liquids and male breast-reduction clinics in South Korea, with a listed contact address in Bali.

"I believe the Scottish Government should be focused on cutting waste, reducing waste not reducing the size of moobs," Findlay told the BBC.

He claimed the discovery proved the SNP "do not even know where their money is going" and called the situation "obscene".

This is Remarkable Ltd, formerly known as Investors in People Scotland, rebranded in 2017 before liquidators were appointed in December 2022.

The company has not filed accounts since 2022, with its last financial statements showing turnover had dropped from £2.1million to £1.4million.

Despite its defunct status, the firm appeared in the Scottish Government's most recent directory of public bodies, published on March 27 this year.

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'He's been forced into it!' Chris Philp takes aim at Keir Starmer after 'humiliating' U-turn on grooming gangs inquiry

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has slammed Sir Keir Starmer after the Prime Minister was forced to make a "humiliating" grooming gangs U-turn.

Speaking to GB News, Philp also disputed claims that Labour is now taking more decisive action than the Tories did whilst in power.

Asked whether Labour is now taking more action than the Tories did, Philp told GB News: "I don't think that's true. I mean, of course, it was the Conservative Home Secretary Theresa May who set up the original Rotherham inquiry.

"Theresa May also set up the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse, which touched on this, amongst other things. It was Sajid Javid, a Conservative Home Secretary who started collecting ethnicity data.

"It was Rishi Sunak, a Conservative Prime Minister, who set up the grooming gangs task force, which in its first year led to 550 arrests. So that's what the last Government did."

Delivering his verdict on Labour's decision to hold a national inquiry, Philp accused Starmer of "not believing" in an inquiry and instead being "forced" into holding one due to mounting pressure.

Philp fumed: "It is a humiliating U-turn for the Government. And of course, the Government isn't doing this because they want to or because they believe in it, they're doing it because they've been forced to.

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New details of grooming gangs report emerge 

Baroness Casey’s grooming gangs report is expected call for local inquiries with statutory powers, feeding into an overall national investigation.

The report, which will be released later today, forced Sir Keir Starmer to U-turn on holding a national probe after recommending the go further than the initial local investigations.

Explaining the impact of the change, GB News National Reporter Charlie Peters said: "Baroness Casey's report, we understand, will call for local inquiries with statutory powers to then feed into a national body.

"They can compel witnesses and compel evidence. This has been a major criticism we've heard of local inquiries in previous years.

"Rotherham, Rochdale, Oldham and Telford local reviews were all done basically by people coming forward off their own volition."

There has also been speculation that the review will directly link illegal migration with the exploitation of British girls.

REVEALED: The nine Labour bigwigs who blasted ‘far-right’ calls to hold rape gangs probe - from Keir Starmer to Sadiq Khan

After Sir Keir Starmer completed an almighty U-turn to hold a national rape gangs inquiry, GB News looks at all of the times Labour bigwigs blasted calls to investigate one of Britain’s darkest scandals.

Labour MPs voted in their droves to reject Tory efforts to force an inquiry, with 350 blocking an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing & Schools Bill.

Even Labour MPs from the towns most impacted by the rape gangs scandal voted against the proposed national inquiry.

Keighley’s Tory MP Robbie Moore heaped pressure on Labour’s Bradford MPs, who voted against or abstained on the amendment, after warning the scale of child sexual abuse in the city could “dwarf that of Rotherham”.

Despite a gaggle of Labour MPs eventually breaking ranks to demand a national probe, not one defied the Prime Minister’s orders by backing the amendment.

However, significant fury has been reserved for the high-profile Labour figures who unequivocally rejected calls for a national grooming gangs inquiry.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

WATCH NOW: Keir Starmer accused of not believing in grooming gangs inquiry after being 'forced' to launch probe 

'You're avoiding the point!' Stephen Dixon tears into Labour Minister in brutal grilling over Labour's grooming gangs inquiry U-turn

GB News presenter Stephen Dixon has grilled Labour Minister Emma Reynolds on Sir Keir Starmer's sudden U-turn on a grooming gang inquiry, claiming they are taking the issue "very seriously".

Speaking to the People's Channel, Reynolds defended Starmer's decision to hold a national inquiry, despite Starmer previously describing supporters of a probe as "far-right".

The Labour Minister argued: "I remember distinctly that at Prime Minister's Questions in January, the Prime Minister rightly said that there were different views on both sides of this debate. And actually victims and their families had different views too.

"But what we did in January is that we asked every police force to reopen investigations. We now have over 800 reopened cases. We've ordered the National Crime Agency to follow those up, so the Prime Minister and the Government as a whole, our priority all along was to and it continues to be to deliver justice for the victims and their families and get to the bottom of what happened."

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'Desperate smokescreen!' Tories tear into Keir Starmer's grooming gangs U-turn

Sir Keir Starmer has been blasted after being forced to complete a U-turn on holding a national grooming gangs inquiry.

Writing for The Telegraph, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “Keir Starmer’s inquiry U-turn is too little, too late. He smeared those, including me, calling for a national inquiry into the rape gangs scandal as ‘far-Right’ and now he’s been forced into a U-turn by the bite we planned next week and the imminent Casey report.

“The NCA announcement is a desperate smokescreen cooked up over the weekend to distract from Labour’s failures.

“Labour spent six months blocking a statutory inquiry. That is six months of delayed justice. Yvette Cooper led the opposition to an inquiry, and now she pretends she thinks it’s a great idea.

"Labour needs to get a grip and put the survivors of these appalling crimes first. We need a proper inquiry with full powers to uncover the truth.”

WATCH NOW: Labour's Emma Reynolds grilled on Keir Starmer's decision to launch grooming gangs inquiry after PM labelled calls for probe 'far-right' 

Yvette Cooper prepares to announce national grooming gangs inquiry

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will today announce a full statutory national inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal.

Cooper, who was accused by Reform and the Tories of dragging her feet after initially dismissing calls for a nationwide probe, will confirm Sir Keir Starmer's inquiry following recommendations made by Baroness Louise Casey's 200-page report.

The inquiry will look into whether state agencies failed to do more to protect largely white girls from predominantly Pakistani rape gangs.

Cooper will also announce a nationwide policing operation to track down perpetrators of child abuse.

The National Crime Agency will oversee the operation and work alongside Britain's police forces going forward.

REVEALED: Nigel Farage prepares for DEI victory as 'small print' lets Reform council overhaul 'woke' training

Reform UK looks poised to complete its first clampdown on diversity, equity and inclusion training, GB News has been told.

Durham County Council, which was swept up by a turquoise tsunami in last month’s Local Elections, is preparing to announce a major change to its councillor training programme in the coming days.

GB News understands that expected alterations include ending the statutory enforcement of DEI training and climate change modules for all 98 Durham County councillors.

Durham County Council leader Andrew Husband, who already welcomed the "positive" decision to rename portfolios to remove references to climate change and equality, told GB News: “These modules do not align with our objectives and having read the small print we can adapt training to satisfy ‘minimum requirements’ whilst staying compliant.”

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