Starmer is kicking off 2025 with a big speech on how Labour will improve the NHS after visiting a health care facility in the southeast with Wes Streeting. Nothing like starting the New Year with yet another reset of plans…
He’s set to unveil plans for 450,000 extra tests and checks at diagnostic centres running 12 hours a day, seven days a week, 17 new surgical hubs are promised by June, alongside the much-touted NHS app revamp. He’ll also be facing hacks for the first time this year. Expect questions on Musk, grooming gangs, and Tulip Siddiq…
Starmer says he welcomes “a new agreement…with the private sector” to deliver more beds and treatment to reduce waiting lists as better care should trump ideology. He defended his record on grooming gangs, and slammed those “spreading lies and misinformation” following Musk’s online attacks. He doesn’t directly rule out taking legal action against Musk over his tweets about Jess Phillips…
UPDATE: Starmer hits out at Musk with a scripted answer in reply to Beth Rigby’s question:
“Those that are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible, they’re not interested in victims. They’re interested in themselves. Those who were cheerleading Tommy Robinson aren’t interested in justice. They’re supporting a man who went to prison for nearly collapsing a grooming case, a gang grooming case. These are people who are trying to get some kind of vicarious thrill from street violence that people like Tommy Robinson promote.”
“And those attacking Jess Phillips, who I’m proud to call a colleague and a friend, are not protecting victims. Jess Phillips has done a thousand times more than they’ve even dreamt about, when it comes to protecting victims of sexual abuse, throughout her entire career.”
“And so just as I took on the criminal justice system and the institutions when I was chief prosecutor, I’m prepared to call out this for what it is. We’ve seen this playbook many times, Whipping up of intimidation and threats of violence, hoping that the media will amplify it.”
“Now Jess Phillips does not need me or anybody else to speak on her behalf. But when the poison of the far right leads to serious threats to Jess Phillips and others, then in my book a line has been crossed.”
“I enjoy the cut and thrust of politics, the robust debate that we must have. But that’s got to be based on facts and truth, not on lies. Not on those who are so desperate for attention that they’re prepared to debase themselves and their country. So this government will get on with the job of protecting victims, including child sexual abuse, mandatory reporting, accelerating the processes.”
“But what I won’t tolerate is this discussion and debate based on lies without calling it out. What I won’t tolerate is politicians jumping on the bandwagon simply to get attention. When those politicians sat in government for 14 long years tweeting, talking, but not doing anything about Now, so desperate for attention that they’re amplifying what the far right is saying. So that’s what I say about Jess Phillips.”
Following Andrew Rosindell’s defection, Nigel Farage posted on X:
“Andrew Rosindell will not be the last MP to put country before party before the deadline on May 7th.”