Labour faced a wave of fury after Home Office minister Jess Phillips told MPs that the £5 million set aside for five local inquiries into the rape gangs scandal would instead be given to councils if they choose to support work at a local level, taking a more “flexible approach”. The Home Office initially said that the changes didn’t necessarily mean the inquiries were off the table, just that they wouldn’t be “prescriptive” and councils could do “panels” instead…
Yvette Cooper began the morning round today insisting that the changes weren’t a “poorer solution,” though by the time she spoke on LBC, the line had changed to say the local inquiries were “still going ahead,” blaming “party political misinformation” for sparking the backlash. Now, the Home Office is briefing that the five local inquiries will definitely go ahead as planned and “there could be more”. Comms chaos eventually leading to another Labour U-turn…
Red Wall Labour backbencher Jonathan Brash told GB News that Starmer should resign:
“I’m completely fed up about it, and I think it’s got to the point now where I genuinely think that, as far as the Prime Minister is concerned, it’s not a case of if, it’s when.”