Andy Burnham has broken ranks with Sir Keir Starmer to call for a national inquiry into Britain's grooming gangs scandal.
Labour's Greater Manchester Mayor warned that holding people to account for the scale of the crimes could not be done at a local level - and has flown in the face of his party leader to call for a "limited national inquiry".
Starmer had whipped his MPs to vote to block a national inquiry into grooming gangs on Wednesday evening after the Tories had tabled a motion to hold a probe - which Burnham labelled "opportunism".
He told the BBC: "In my view, the Government was right to reject that form of opportunism.
"But I did hear last night coming out of the debate, ministers saying they are open to discussing issues now with survivors.
"I will add my voice into this and say I do think there is the case for a limited national inquiry that draws on reviews like the one that I commissioned and the one we've seen in Rotherham, the one we've seen in Telford, to draw out some of these national issues, and compel people to give evidence who then may have charges to answer and be held to account."
"That is something I couldn't do at my level," he added.
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Jeremy Hunt has told an inquiry that he had "ultimate responsibility" for the NHS at the time Lucy Letby committed her "appalling crime" of murdering babies at the Countess of Chester hospital in 2015 and 2016.
The former health secretary said ministers took "too long" to introduce medical examiners to investigate deaths in the NHS and apologised to the families of victims.
The MP for Godalming and Ash told the Thirlwall inquiry: "It happened on my watch as health secretary and, although you don’t bear direct personal responsibility for everything that happens on every ward in the NHS, you do have ultimate responsibility for the NHS,” he said.
“Insofar as lessons were not learned from previous inquiries that could have been, or the right systems were not in place that could have prevented this appalling tragedy, then I do have ultimate responsibility.
"I want to put on record my apology to the families for anything that didn’t happen that could potentially have prevented such an appalling crime."
GB News presenter Martin Daubney has challenged Liberal Democrat MP Steff Aquarone over his party's decision to abstain from Wednesday's vote on launching a national grooming gangs inquiry.
The heated exchange came after MPs rejected the Conservative amendment to the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill by 364 votes to 111, with all 72 Lib Dem MPs abstaining.
Aquarone, MP for for North Norfolk strongly rejected the suggestion that his party lacked an opinion on the issue.
Angela Rayner has said she would meet with Elon Musk and challenge him on the “factual basis” of his recent social media attacks against the Government.
When asked if she would meet with the controversial billionaire and X owner, the Deputy PM said: "I would meet with Elon Musk, yeah, of course I would and I would challenge him on a factual basis. I think we all have a responsibility to make sure that we work on facts, and, you know, as politicians, we have to correct the record if we’re incorrect.
"I think that there is a responsibility if you’re using your wealth and your platform in that way to make sure that all those facts are correct, because otherwise there’s real consequences.
"We’ve seen this in real time on the number of incidents where people have been factually incorrect and it’s led to really serious outcomes."
She added: "So, therefore, I say to anyone who’s got a platform, a significant platform, have a responsibility to make sure that they’re factually correct, and when they’re not correct they should be correcting the record as soon as possible."
Rachel Reeves faces mounting pressure to cancel her trip to China as Britain grapples with a market crisis that has pushed Government borrowing costs to their highest level since the 2008 financial crash.
The Chancellor is due to fly to Beijing this weekend amid growing alarm over plunging sterling and surging bond yields that threaten to wipe out her fiscal headroom.
The pound tumbled to a nine-month low against the dollar on Wednesday as UK 10-year borrowing costs climbed above 4.8 percent.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham
PA
Sir Keir Starmer has slapped down Andy Burnham's call for another national inquiry into the grooming gang scandal.
The Labour Mayor of Greater Manchester had called on the Prime Minister for a "limited national inquiry" saying people needed to be "held to account."
However, the Prime Minister's spokesman told Huff Post UK: “It’s only reasonable for people to have a range of views, but his focus and the government’s focus is on action now, not more inquiries or delay.”
David Lammy has confirmed Shamima Begum will not be allowed to return to the UK.
The Foreign Secretary was speaking after after President-elect Donald Trump's incoming counter-terrorism chief said British members of ISIS currently in Syrian prison camps should be repatriated.
Sebastian Gorka told US media that any nation that wishes to be seen as a "serious ally" of the US should commit to taking back citizens in north eastern Syria
However, Lammy confirmed the 25-year-old, who was stripped of her British citizenship in February 2019, will not be permitted back into the country.
He told Good Morning Britain: "Begum will not be coming back to the UK. It's gone right through the courts. She's not a UK national. We will not be bringing her back to the UK. We're really clear about that. We will act in our security interests. And many of those in those camps are dangerous, are radicals."
Reform UK has been placed neck-and-neck with Labour in a national poll for the very first time
PA/FIND OUT NOW
Reform UK has been placed neck-and-neck with Labour in a national poll for the very first time.
In a shock new survey by pollsters at Find Out Now, 25 per cent of Britons have said they would now vote for Nigel Farage's party.
The same number would vote for Labour, the poll revealed - but the data looks damning for the Conservative Party, which has seen its potential vote share sliced to just 20 per cent.
Labour has seen its support falter by one per cent and the Tories three, while Reform and the Lib Dems have stayed stable, and the Greens have jumped by two percentage points.
Reacting to the news, Reform UK's top brass have hailed how "real change is coming".
Chairman Zia Yusuf wrote: "Reform has all the momentum in British politics and real change is coming to Britain," a statement echoed by Great Yarmouth MP Rupert Lowe.
Meanwhile, deputy leader Richard Tice said: "Onwards and upwards!"
Labour's Sarah Owen has accused Elon Musk of 'misogyny'
PARLIAMENTLIVE.TV/REUTERS
Labour's Sarah Owen has accused Elon Musk of "misogyny" over his comments towards Jess Phillips over her handling of the rape gangs scandal.
Owen, who chairs the Women and Equalities Committee, told the Commons: "We're about to witness the inauguration of a man as President who openly boasted about grabbing women 'by the p***y', enabled by the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, who has on the one hand pretended in the last few weeks to care about victims of sexual violence while on the other targeting and inciting hatred against [Phillips], calling her an evil witch.
"I mean really digging deep into the historical misogyny there, right? Evil witch.
"How long has it been... powerful women that have stood up constantly called 'witch' - or something that rhymes with it.
"I'm pretty sure most of us have all been called something similar for standing up to those in power."
Owen has hit out at the billionaire before - she had previously declared that using Musk's social media platform X was like a "toxic relationship" when she withdrew from the site.
Mick Lynch took a parting swipe at the Conservatives
PAMick Lynch, the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) General Secretary, has announced his retirement.
The 63-year-old served in the RMT in many capacities over 30 years, most recently being elected General Secretary in 2021.
And in a parting swipe at the Conservatives, Lynch said: "We can all be proud that our union stood up against the wholesale attacks on the rail industry by the previous Tory government and the union defeated them."
NFU president Tom Bradshaw has warned that "the farming industry has nothing left to give" in the wake of Labour's Inheritance Tax hikes.
He told reporters in Oxford today: "It’s been bled dry and we need to see recognition that rebuilding the confidence needs to start today - not in five years' time.
Asked about Environment Secretary Steve Reed's apology for the changes Labour "had to make" in the Budget, including the farm tax, he said: "I think at that point it resonated.
"It's the first time we've heard anything like that, a recognition that there needed to be any apology at all.
"He didn't apologise for the change, he apologised for the shock," Bradshaw added.
Elon Musk is looking at how Sir Keir Starmer could be ousted as Prime Minister before the next general election
PA
Elon Musk is looking at how Sir Keir Starmer could be ousted as Prime Minister before the next general election, according to new reports.
The X owner and Donald Trump ally is seeking to destabilise the Labour Government - of which he is a fierce critic - further than his existing social media attacks on the party's top brass, people briefed on the matter have told the Financial Times.
"His view is that Western civilisation itself is threatened", a source closely connected to Musk has warned.
Musk is said to have sniffed out the possibility of building support for alternative British political movements including Reform UK in order to force a change of PM before the next election, according to associates.
It comes amid a bitter row over grooming gangs - in which Musk has aligned himself with both the Conservatives and Reform against Labour - but, just days ago, Labour, the Tories and Reform all warned Trump about how the tech magnate might be putting the 'special relationship' at risk, Bloomberg revealed.
That came after Musk publicly disavowed Nigel Farage, apparently quashing speculation that the billionaire could make a large donation to his party in the near future.
Musk said "the Reform party needs a new leader" and that "Farage doesn't have what it takes" - despite having posed with Farage and Reform UK's treasurer Nick Candy at Trump's Mar-a-Lago base in December.
But Farage has not been put off entirely - he told LBC that he would be seeing the SpaceX owner later this month, and is planning to travel to Washington DC to Trump's inauguration. Neither Starmer nor Kemi Badenoch are slated to attend.
Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride has accused Rachel Reeves of going into hiding as sterling sinks and UK borrowing costs surge.
Speaking in the House of Commons after being granted an urgent question, Stride asked: "Where is the Chancellor?"
Stride added that it was a "bitter regret" that the Chancellor was "nowhere to be seen" as the premium on UK borrowing costs compared to German bonds reached its highest level since 1990.
The surge in borrowing costs resulted in 30-year gilt yields hitting levels not seen since 1998 and 10-year gilt yields spiking to a post-2008 peak.
The pound has also tumbled against the dollar as a result of the market turmoil, falling from a summer high of $1.34 to a 15-month low of $1.23.
David Lammy has waded into a growing row over Donald Trump's potential seizure of Greenland with a swipe at the President-elect's "destabilising" remarks.
The Foreign Secretary told the BBC: "I think that we know from Donald Trump's first term that the intensity of his rhetoric and the unpredictability sometimes of what he said can be destabilising. He did it with Nato."
At a news conference just days ago, Trump had refused to rule out using military force to bring Greenland under American administration.
The incoming President also hinted that he could annex the Panama Canal for "economic security" - which sparked comparisons to the Suez Crisis.
British Farmer George Brown has told GB News that we must "stand in solidarity" with "people of the countryside", as they launched a fresh demonstration against Labour's inheritance tax raid.
Farmers gathered in protest outside the Farming Conference in Oxford, where agricultural workers lined their tractors outside of the venue and blared their horns.
As Steve Reed delivered his speech at the conference this morning, farmer George Brown declared that "generations of farmers" are "terrified" of what the future holds.
Columns of tractors have been continuously honking their horns in protest
PA
Environment Secretary Steve Reed is facing down furious farm workers at the Oxford Farming Conference today - just weeks after declaring farmers were "in it for the money".
In scenes similar to last year's mass protests, columns of tractors have been continuously honking their horns in protest, which could be heard inside the Examinations School in Oxford, where the conference is taking place.
Reed acknowledged that Labour's much-maligned family farm tax was "very unwelcome" and claimed it "wasn't something we intended or wanted to do before we saw the state of the public finances" in another swipe at the so-called "£22billion black hole".
"We were shocked by the size of the financial black hole we were left to fill, and I'm sorry that some of the action we had to take shocked you," he said.
One farmer at the protest, 23-year-old Oli Fletcher - who confirmed to GB News that he had revoked his Labour Party membership thanks to the tax raid - said: "I can't see there is anything Steve Reed can do overcome the anger this industry feels towards him.
"It's not just about the inheritance tax, there's a whole host of things going on. The inheritance tax has united us, it's the flashpoint."
Sir Keir Starmer has opened the door to a grooming gangs U-turn - despite having ordering Labour MPs to block Kemi Badenoch's attempt to force an inquiry.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman confirmed he would push for an inquiry if victims' groups indicated they wanted a new probe - echoing comments from Jess Phillips yesterday.
Labour MPs were accused of being "cowards" after Starmer whipped his backbenchers to vote down Tory calls for an inquiry.
A total of 364 MPs voted against the amendment, with just 111 supporting another national inquiry into Britain's rape gangs crisis.
Sir Keir Starmer and Rupert Lowe have clashed on migration this morning in a fiery X spat - with the Prime Minister taking aim at "Tory gimmicks".
In an unusual one-off post hitting out at people-smugglers, Starmer wrote: "There will be no more Tory gimmicks or empty rhetoric. My message to the criminals who still think they can breach our borders is this: there is nowhere to hide. We're coming after you."
But Reform UK's Great Yarmouth MP hit back, writing: "36,816 illegal migrants crossed the Channel in 2024 - how many have been deported? Where are they all now?
"The message should be this - nobody who comes illegally stays, nobody here illegally stays.
"Zero tolerance."
Liz Truss has sent a cease and desist letter to Sir Keir Starmer demanding that he stops claiming she crashed the economy
PA
Liz Truss has sent a cease and desist letter to Sir Keir Starmer demanding that he stops claiming she crashed the economy, according to The Telegraph.
The former Prime Minister's lawyers have warned the claim is "false and defamatory" and is causing "continuing damage to our client’s reputation" - and even led to her defeat in her South West Norfolk constituency at last summer's election.
They cite the Institute of Economic Affairs's Andrew Lilico - who said the claims were "manifestly false", adding: "There wasn't any crash in the economy. The economy actually grew faster in the period immediately following the mini-Budget."
Foreign Secretary David Lammy has broken his silence on Elon Musk
PA
Foreign Secretary David Lammy has broken his silence on Elon Musk this morning - just 11 days before Labour will have to wrestle with the next Trump White House.
Asked what he would say to the tech magnate after his repeated digs at Labour on X, Lammy told the BBC: "Well, I insist that we focus on the truth, we focus on the facts.
"I recognise that there is a heated debate about free speech and Elon Musk is at one end of that debate.
"But to have free speech, it must be based on facts and on truth, and some of what we've seen online is peddling mistruth, is creating bad faith, is very unfair to those victims."
On grooming gangs, Lammy added: "There has been a debate prompted by Elon Musk, of course, this week.
"And I think the Prime Minister was right earlier in the week to really call to mind the facts, the truth, and to call out those who are putting forward mistruths in this area."
With Musk set to serve in Donald Trump's cabinet as the co-chair of the new Department of Government Efficiency, the Foreign Secretary may have to deal with the most aggressive US administration in some time.
But he counselled calm - Lammy added he is "looking forward to working with those in the Trump administration come January 20 and beyond".
The Labour Party's definition of Islamophobia puts "grooming gangs" in inverted commas and forbids discussion on the scandal in relation to Muslims in fear of racism, Kemi Badenoch has claimed.
Labour adopted its definition in 2019 from a report by a group of MPs co-chaired by now-Health Secretary Wes Streeting. It includes a warning that "Asian grooming gangs" perpetuate "age-old stereotypes and tropes about Islam".
The report from the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) said that discussing the scandal makes Muslims "vulnerable to hate crimes".
But now, it's drawn the ire of the Tory leader...
Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith launched into a scathing tirade at the party in power
PALabour's multi-billion-pound Chagos Islands giveaway deal risks undermining the Government's credibility even further, Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith has warned.
In a social media post this morning reacting to the news that Rachel Reeves is set to give a "growth speech" soon amid growing fears over the British economy's future, Griffith launched into a scathing tirade at the party in power.
"How would a government which reportedly can't even GIVE AWAY our sovereign territory (BIOT Chagos) without paying £9billion, and which has made up its own fiddled fiscal rules, have any credibility?" he asked. "That is what gilt markets see."
With long-term borrowing costs in Britain soaring to their highest level since 1998, Reeves is expected to reassure bond investors and businesses about the economy, according to Bloomberg - with spending cuts, not more tax rises, her way to open up her dwindling fiscal headroom.
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