Rayner under-fire after dismissing Southport stabbing terror connection as Farage demands apology over 'fake news' accusation

Rudakubana, now 18, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, aged nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.

He was referred to the Government's anti-extremism scheme Prevent three times before his attack in late July, with police later finding an al-Qaeda training manual alongside ricin.

Following Rudakubana's guilty plea, Sir Keir Starmer revealed that police and politicians knew about the terrorist connection shortly after the killings.

Farage first likened the horrific attack to terrorism just one day after the stabbings on July 30.

He said: "I have to say there are one or two questions. Was this guy being monitored by the security services? Some reports say he was, others less sure… I just wonder whether the truth is being withheld from us. I don't know the answer to that. I think it is a fair and legitimate question. What I do know is something is going horribly wrong in our once beautiful country."

Speaking about Farage at the time, Rayner said: “He must understand that you have a level of responsibility, you’re a community leader, you’re elected to represent your constituency and therefore you have a level of responsibility with that, and it’s not to stoke up what conspiracy theories or what you think might have happened, or lean into what you think.

“There’s a responsibility to say the police are doing a difficult job, local authorities, all of the services that are on the ground.

“We want to establish facts as soon as possible and we have a responsibility to hold the community together and say, let’s get the facts and then let’s look at what the actual solutions are and what we can do about the horrific situation that we find ourselves in, not to stir up these fake news online.”

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Rudakubana, who developed a disturbing interest in school massacres in 2019, was referred to Prevent in the same year after researching shocking information on a school computer.

However, experts rejected concerns about a counter-terrorism risk.

Earlier this week, the Prime Minister confirmed he knew about the details of the case "as they were emerging" but could not risk the case collapsing or the "vile" perpetrator walking away free.

He said: "'.That is why the law of this country forbade me or anybody else from disclosing details sooner. I wouldn't be forgiven if I had."

Starmer added: "It was not my personal decision to withhold this information, any more than it was a journalist's personal decision not to print or write about it."

Responding to Rayner's previous comments last night, the Reform UK leader told The Telegraph: “Many public figures, including Angela Rayner, made derogatory and inciteful remarks about my comments in the vacuum that followed the terrorist attack in Southport.

“I was right all along. This man was known to the authorities and the truth was withheld. As the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation Jonathan Hall KC confirmed, the public should have been told the truth without damaging the trial. This is an appalling cover-up and I deserve apologies.”

Home Office Minister Jess Phillips separately described Farage as a "grifter", while Liverpool Riverside MP Kim Johnson argued the Reform UK leader was the "voice of the EDL".

However, non-Labour politicians also accused Farage of stoking tensions during the subsequent summer riots, including ex-Security Minister Tom Tugendhat.

Tugendhat, who was running to replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader at the time, described the Reform UK leader as "irresponsible and dangerous".

Ex-Minister Tobias Ellwood even accused the Clacton MP of "stirring up racial hatred".

However, the former independent review of terrorism legislation Lord Carlile yesterday became the latest senior figure to criticise the decision not to disclose crucial details about Rudakubana's background.

He told the BBC: "In one instance, they should have made it absolutely clear right from the beginning that this perpetrator was not an immigrant, that he was British-born and had lived in Britain throughout his life.

"It was the false disinformation at saying that he was an immigrant or a recent immigrant that contributed at least to the extent of riots both in Southport and elsewhere."