Yvette Cooper has announced support for government-backed local inquiries into grooming gangs, in what will be seen as a partial climb down on the issue.
Following calls for a national inquiry into the scandal sparked by an aggressive social media campaign by billionaire Elon Musk, the home secretary also announced a three-month rapid review of the “current scale and nature of gang-based exploitation across the country”.
Ms Cooper insisted the national review – which will be led by Baroness Casey – will be “no-holds-barred”, and vowed to set out by Easter how the government will implement the 20 recommendations of the previous Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which concluded in 2022.
Mr Musk responded on X by saying: “I hope this is a proper investigation.”
Meanwhile, Kemi Badenoch ramped up her anti-immigration rhetoric as she warned that Britain is “not a hotel” and said those who “don’t want to integrate into British culture” should not be in the UK.
In a major speech, the Tory leader admitted her party had made mistakes over Brexit and warned that Britain has “lost its way”, as she vowed: “We are going to give you your country back.”
Key Points
- Labour bows to pressure to announce new grooming gang inquiries
- Yvette Cooper faces difficult questions on funding for new probes
- Kemi Badenoch ramps up anti-immigration rhetoric in major speech
- UK’s economy grows for first time in three months – but less than expected
Tories to consider mean-testing annual pension increase
06:44 , Nina LloydKemi Badenoch has said the Tories will consider means-testing the triple-lock, in what would be a major policy shift for the party.
The Conservative leader said that while in government the party had supported the system, but that “we need to make sure we are growing.”
Under the policy, the state pension rises each year by whichever is highest out of 2.5%, inflation, or earnings.
During a phone-in on LBC radio, Mrs Badenoch was asked whether she would “look at” the triple-lock, to which she replied: “We’re going to look at means-testing. Means-testing is something which we don’t do properly here.”
However, she criticised the Labour Government’s move to means-test the winter fuel payment, saying it meant “people who are actually on the breadline actually have had their winter fuel payment taken away”.
“We don’t have a system that knows who should get what,” she told the programme.
“The triple-lock is a policy which we supported throughout our 14 years in government, that was a Conservative policy, but we need to make sure that we are growing.
Scottish Tory leader says he ‘can’t control’ people defecting to Reform
06:00 , Andy GregoryScottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay has said he “can’t control” people leaving his party to join Reform UK.
Mr Findlay was quizzed by journalists after Thomas Kerr, the leader of the Tories at Glasgow City Council, defected to Nigel Farage’s party. He is the highest-profile member of the Scottish Tories to join Reform, following defections by councillors in Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire last year.
Mr Farage lauded Mr Kerr’s defection, writing on social media: “I am delighted to welcome the Conservative group leader on Glasgow City Council to Reform UK. We look forward to the Scottish parliamentary elections with increasing anticipation.”
Mr Findlay described Mr Kerr’s departure as “very disappointing” though did not say whether he had tried to convince him to stay, adding that conversations with colleagues should remain private.
Asked if the Scottish Conservatives could see more defections, Mr Findlay said: “I can only control what’s in my gift to do.
Keir Starmer visits burns hospital in Kyiv as part of Ukraine visit
05:00 , Andy GregoryGovernment to conduct pandemic preparedness drills
04:00 , Andy GregorySenior government figures and the emergency services will take part in a multi-day pandemic preparedness exercise, Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden has said.
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster told MPs: “The improvements that we have made to our resilience have been put to the test over the past six months. These include the Prime Minister chairing a number of emergency Cobra meetings to address the violent disorder that occurred over the summer, and working across our four nations to anticipate and contain clade 1 mpox cases in the UK.
“Since July, we have also sent two emergency alerts to provide advice to the public in life threatening situations during Storm Dara, for example, because of a very rare red danger to life warning, the alert was sent to over 3 million people in affected regions. And more recently, we issued a very localised warning over flooding danger.
“The Government will carry out a full national test of the Emergency Alert System later this year. This will ensure that the system is functioning correctly, should it need to be deployed in an emergency.”
He added: “We will be undertaking a full national pandemic response exercise later this year, it will be the first of its kind in nearly a decade. It will test the UK’s capabilities, our plans, protocols and procedures in the event of another major pandemic. It will be led by senior ministers, it will involve thousands of participants, run across all regions and nations of the UK.”
Rochdale MP welcomes new investigation into grooming gangs
03:00 , Andy GregoryRochdale’s MP Paul Waugh has strongly welcomed Baroness Casey’s investigation into grooming gangs.
The Labour MP told the Commons: “Child sexual exploitation and abuse are the most sickening appalling crimes, perpetrated against some of the most vulnerable youngsters in our communities.
“So can I strongly welcome this comprehensive, new, national plan of action to put victims first and welcome the appointment of Baroness Casey to conduct a rapid review into the scale and nature of these grooming gangs.”
Mr Waugh added: “My constituents in Rochdale know this issue is too important for political ... point scoring and everything we do should put victims at the heart.”
Danger of possible Trump tariffs greater for UK than other countries, minister warns
02:02 , Andy GregoryThe danger posed by potential US tariffs is greater for the UK than other comparable countries, the business secretary has warned just days before Donald Trump enters the White House.
Jonathan Reynolds admitted that Mr Trump’s presidency will be a “challenging time for anyone responsible for trade”, amid fears of a global trade war.
In the run-up to his election, the Republican promised to implement 10 to 20 per cent tariffs on all goods coming into the country – a figure that rises to 60 per cent for those from China.
Asked about his incoming presidency, Mr Reynolds told Sky News: “I think it’s going to be a challenging time for anyone who is responsible for trade in a big economy because of some of those pledges that were made in the campaign.”
Our political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:
Danger of Trump tariffs greater for UK than other countries, minister warns
Former Labour MP Mike Amesbury breaks silence after pleading guilty to street attack
01:04 , Andy GregoryStarmer warns MPs not to leave drinks unattended in parliament amid spiking probe
00:05 , Andy GregoryKeir Starmer has warned MPs not to leave drinks unattended in parliament after it emerged police are investigating reports of a spiking incident inside one of its bars.
The alleged incident took place at the start of January just after MPs returned from their long Christmas break.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said it is “incredibly concerning”, adding that “women have a right to feel safe everywhere – at work, at home, in our schools.”
He added that it was “not sensible” for MPs to leave drinks at the bar while they go to vote, but added: “The prime minister would let people follow their own common sense on this one”.
On the question of whether MPs should drink alcohol before they vote on important matters, he added: “It’s up to MPs. When it comes to this particular issue on the parliamentary estate it should be the case that everyone feels safe.”
Kate Devlin and Millie Cooke report:
Starmer warns MPs not to leave drinks unattended in parliament amid spiking probe
Full report: Labour bows to pressure to announce new grooming gang inquiries
Thursday 16 January 2025 23:08 , Andy GregoryYvette Cooper has announced a “rapid national audit” into the scale and nature of grooming gangs across the country amid growing calls from MPs for a new inquiry.
The home secretary also pledged five new local inquiries backed by government funding in a statement to the Commons on Thursday.
The “no holds barred” rapid review, which will report within three months, will be led by Baroness Casey and will “look at the cultural and societal drivers for this type of offending”, Ms Cooper said.
The partial climb down comes after three Labour MPs from the north west and Manchester mayor Andy Burnham broke ranks to demand a rethink.
Read the full report here:
Labour bows to pressure to announce new grooming gang inquiries
Inquiry chair welcomes new announcements on grooming gangs
Thursday 16 January 2025 22:11 , Andy GregoryThe former chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) said progress on putting in place all of the recommendations from her final report must happen “as speedily as possible”, adding that “much valuable time has already been lost”.
Alexis Jay said: “I welcome the Home Secretary’s commitment to implementing all of my Inquiry’s final recommendations to better protect children from sexual abuse.
“I look forward to working with the government to make progress on this as speedily as possible, as much valuable time has already been lost since the publication of the Inquiry’s Final Report in October 2022, causing even more trauma to many victims and survivors.”
Lammy urged to set out timetable for official recognition of Palestine
Thursday 16 January 2025 21:22 , Andy GregoryMPs have urged David Lammy to set out a timetable for the government to officially recognise Palestine, as the Commons emphasised the need for a two-state solution.
In the Commons, the Foreign Secretary faced repeated questions over what criteria officials and ministers would use for the decision, and to give a indication of when it may happen.
Two Labour MPs, Paula Barker and Tahir Ali, said they were concerned Labour would not meet its manifesto pledge to recognise Palestine within the parliament.
Mr Lammy replied: “There’s a real dilemma in terms of Palestinian recognition. There are some who want Palestinian recognition essentially because they believe that two states is years away, and it will never be achieved, and they want the UK to say ‘we’ll do it now, we’ll put the marker in the sand’, despite the fact that it’s years away and it can never be achieved.
“And there are others who recognise the important role of the UK in relation to its responsibilities as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and therefore understand that we will do that, but we will do it when we know it’s going to happen and it’s in sight. This is one of those critical moments, one of those critical moments, and believe me, I will play my part.”
Home secretary issues child grooming gang warning: 'Too many people looked away'
Thursday 16 January 2025 20:35 , Andy GregoryLabour MP presses home secretary on status of grooming gang inquiries
Thursday 16 January 2025 19:44 , Andy GregoryA Labour MP has pressed the home secretary on her decision not to place the investigation into grooming gangs on a “statutory footing”.
Toby Perkins, MP for Chesterfield, said: “Can she just explain why she believes that the statutory footing isn’t the right way to go, and the localised way that she’s suggesting will actually make sure we get to the truth?”
Yvette Cooper replied: “We obviously have had already a statutory seven-year inquiry into child sexual abuse, and also a statutory two-year investigation into child sexual exploitation and grooming gangs.
“Those reports came out, with really important recommendations, but one of the things that they identified was that, particularly on the issues around the gangs, there simply wasn’t enough evidence or data to be able to do further work and further investigations.
“And that is why the next step has to be to have the national audit, the rapid audit, that we have asked Baroness Casey to undertake, in order to be able to get much more extensive assessment of the prevalence and also scale ... the nature of child sexual exploitation across the country.”
Comment | I advised Kamala Harris on immigration – these are the hard truths that Labour must learn
Thursday 16 January 2025 18:58 , Andy GregoryIn a piece for Independent Voices, Frank Sharry, lead advisor on immigration policy to the Kamala Harris presidential campaign, writes:
In the US, the UK, across Europe and beyond, populist voices will be emboldened [by Donald Trump’s return to the White House], hardening political, media and policy discourse, especially about the issue on which Trump rode to power: migration.
In the UK, migration is similarly a top-tier issue, seized upon by populist voices, and in the EU, the issue continues to roil politics and influence election outcomes.
What should advocates of liberal democracy, and balanced immigration policies, do to respond to the populist challenge on migration?
I advised Kamala Harris on immigration – these are the hard truths Labour must learn
ICYMI: Starmer’s replacement for anti-corruption minister already embroiled in China lobbying row
Thursday 16 January 2025 18:14 , Andy GregoryThe Treasury has become embroiled in a new row just hours after the department’s anti-corruption minister was forced to resign, with questions mounting over the appointment of a minister who previously lobbied on behalf of financial interests with China.
Emma Reynolds, who formerly served as the treasurer for the APPG on China, has been appointed as the Treasury’s new City minister.
Until last year’s election, she served as managing director at banking trade group TheCityUK, a role which saw her lobby ministers to water down proposed restrictions on Chinese business activity.
Last month, sources told Bloomberg that Ms Reynolds had campaigned to keep China off the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme’s “enhanced tier”, a categorisation which would have increased transparency obligations for dealings with Beijing. At the time, Labour said Ms Reynolds “was not involved in the government’s China policy.”
But she has since been promoted to City minister after the resignation of Tulip Siddiq, who became embroiled in a corruption row linked to the deposed regime of her aunt in Bangladesh.
Our political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:
Starmer’s replacement for anti-corruption minister embroiled in China lobbying row
Watch | Zelensky and Starmer lay flowers at memorial to fallen Ukraine soldiers
Thursday 16 January 2025 17:46 , Andy GregoryGrooming gang audit will not clash with social care reform review, No 10 insists
Thursday 16 January 2025 17:18 , Andy GregoryBaroness Casey’s investigation into grooming gangs will not impact her leadership of a commission into reforming social care, Downing Street insisted.
Asked whether the two pieces of work would clash, a No 10 spokesperson said: “Louise Casey’s track record speaks for itself.
“She is carrying out this work in her role as the government’s lead, non-executive director. [It] will not affect her work on the independent commission into adult social care, which begins in April, and her work on this rapid audit on grooming gangs will begin immediately.”
Asked if this meant the grooming gangs audit would be finished by the start of April, the spokesperson replied: “Yes. Preparatory work on the social care audit is starting immediately. Baroness Casey formally takes up her role in April.”
The spokesman added the grooming gangs audit, which will look at the cultural and social drivers of the offences, would be a “rapid, targeted audit with a clear timeframe of three months”.
Yvette Cooper announces £2m funding for police probes into grooming gangs
Thursday 16 January 2025 16:49 , Andy GregoryChild sexual abuse survivors have been ‘used as a political football’, Lib Dems warn
Thursday 16 January 2025 16:32 , Andy GregoryLiberal Democrat justice spokesperson Josh Babarinde has warned that sexual abuse survivors have been “gaslit” and “used as a political football”.
He told MPs: “Too many survivors’ stories have been characterised by being ignored, hidden or gaslit, and recently, too many survivor stories have been shamefully used as a political football in some corners of this House and beyond.
“And survivors’ experiences are littered with gutwrenching instances of where power holders have missed glaring opportunities to take action against child sexual abuse and exploitation and history must stop repeating itself.”
He added: “What legal powers will these inquiries have to ensure that they have teeth and justice can be delivered?”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper replied: “Actually for many victims and survivors, what they need is a proper police investigation to go after the perpetrators, to prosecute them, to hold them to account, to get justice and to get those perpetrators behind bars, and that will help protect other young people as well.
“So I think one of the most important changes we’re making is making it easier to get those investigations reopened where, for the wrong reasons they have been closed down, and actually justice still needs to be done.”
She added: “What we know is from one of the Telford survivors, who has said, because she gave evidence to both the National Inquiry and to the local inquiry, she found that local inquiry was far more effective at getting the changes in that area, and also easier for her to be able to give evidence to.”
Labour MP warns grooming gang inquiries must be able to compel witnesses
Thursday 16 January 2025 16:14 , Andy GregoryLabour MP for Rotherham Sarah Champion has warned that inquiries into child sexual abuse need “the ability to compel witnesses”.
She told MPs: “[Yvette Cooper] cites Telford, which was victim focused, which was why it was so important, because we must have those victims and survivors’ voices.
“But what they said they lacked, what Greater Manchester said they lacked, was the ability to compel witnesses, and a big strand of what we need to do is make sure there have been no cover ups, and it’s only if it’s on a statutory footing that we can do that.”
Ms Cooper said: “Obviously, the work in Telford and in Rotherham, in the original work that Baroness Casey did, did manage to uncover truths in different areas.
“But there also need to be other new arrangements on accountability, and that is what we are working with the Cabinet Office and also with mayors and councils to draw up what new accountability arrangements would be.”
Elon Musk responds as government announces new grooming gangs inquiry
Thursday 16 January 2025 16:09 , Andy GregoryElon Musk has responded to the government’s announcement of a new inquiry into grooming gangs, after the billionaire forced the issue onto the front pages with a campaign of attacks – at times baseless and abusive – on Sir Keir Starmer and his ministers.
“I hope this is a proper investigation,” the Tesla and X owner wrote on his social media platform.
Starmer considers UK troops in Ukraine in peacekeeper role as he meets Zelensky in Kyiv
Thursday 16 January 2025 15:58 , Andy GregorySir Keir Starmer is considering plans to send British troops into Ukraine to act as peacekeepers in the event of a ceasefire with Russia.
The development came during the prime minister’s first trip to Ukraine since he took power six months ago, which included a meeting with president Volodymyr Zelensky.
The trip saw the prime minister seizing the international agenda just days before Donald Trump is sworn in for his second term as US president on Monday with a plan to negotiate and end to Vladimir Putin’s war.
While Downing Street remained tight-lipped about the possibility of British boots on the ground in Ukraine, Mr Zelensky confirmed that it was on the agenda.
Read the full report here:
Starmer considers UK troops in Ukraine in peacekeeper role as he arrives in Kyiv
Yvette Cooper vows to help grooming gang victims get justice
Thursday 16 January 2025 15:43 , Holly Bancroft, Social Affairs CorrespondentThe home secretary said that her new plans will make it easier for victims of grooming gangs to get a police investigation into alleged crimes.
Yvette Cooper told MPs: “We are making it easier to get those investigations reopened,” adding that the government will give victims new rights to go to an independent panel to reassess their case if it is closed down.
She said the demand for police chiefs to review closed cases will help victims get justice.
Government will set out timetable for action ‘before Easter’, says home secretary
Thursday 16 January 2025 15:31 , Holly Bancroft, Social Affairs CorrespondentResponding to her Tory opposite number in the Commons, Yvette Cooper said that Baroness Louise Casey’s review will be “no holds barred” and will deal with the scale of grooming gangs.
The home secretary said the review will “fill the gaps in the evidence ... rather than to rerun the same questions”.
She criticised the Tory government for failing to introduce a duty to report child abuse “to make it a responsibility on professionals to report.”
The government will “set out before Easter” how they will take forward all 20 recommendations from Alexis Jay’s child sexual abuse inquiry, Ms Cooper said.
Analysis | Cooper facing difficult questions on funding of new inquiries from Labour MP
Thursday 16 January 2025 15:29 , Kate Devlin, Whitehall EditorLabour MP Sarah Champion has pointed out the inquiry in Telford along cost £8m.
And yet Ms Cooper has just announced £5m for the initial set of five new local inquiries.
Ms Champion overall welcomed the home secretary's announcement, but as an MP who is highly respected on this issue her concerns over the issue of money may well cause alarm bells to ring in the Home Office.
Tory MP says grooming gangs announcement is ‘wholly inadequate’
Thursday 16 January 2025 15:24 , Holly Bancroft, Social Affairs CorrespondentTory MP Chris Philip, shadow home secretary, has said that Yvette Cooper has promised “only five local inquiries”.
He told the Commons: “This is wholly inadequate when we know up to 50 towns are affected … how are the other 40 plus towns supposed to get answers to the questions they have? And how will these initial five towns be chosen?
“It seems they will not be statutory inquiries … that means these local inquiries will not have the power to compel witnesses to attend … if that’s the case, how can they possibly get to the truth when faced with cover-ups?”
Cooper vows to support local grooming gang inquiries with £5m of funding
Thursday 16 January 2025 15:19 , Holly Bancroft, Social Affairs CorrespondentThe government will support local inquiries into grooming gangs with £5m of funding, Yvette Cooper has said.
Promising to use powers to hold failing officials to account, the home secretary told MPs she would ensure “those who are complicit in cover-ups, or who try and resist scrutiny, are always robustly held to account and truth and justice are never denied”.
Rapid review will examine ‘cultural and societal drivers’ in grooming gang offending
Thursday 16 January 2025 15:16 , Holly Bancroft, Social Affairs CorrespondentA “rapid audit” by Baroness Casey will “properly examine” ethnicity data, home secretary Yvette Cooper has told MPs.
Ms Cooper said that Baroness Casey's rapid review will also make recommendations, explaining: “It will properly examine ethnicity data and the demographics of the gangs involved and their victims, and will look at the cultural and societal drivers for this type of offending, including amongst different ethnic groups.”
Government orders ‘rapid audit’ on grooming gangs, Yvette Cooper announces
Thursday 16 January 2025 15:14 , Holly Bancroft, Social Affairs CorrespondentData on grooming gang perpetrators, including on their ethnicity, is “inadequate”, the home secretary has said.
Yvette Cooper has also asked Baroness Casey to oversee a “rapid audit” on gang based exploitation in the country.
The audit will consider the “cultural drivers” of this offending, Ms Cooper has said. The rapid-audit will take three-months.
The home secretary will also provide backing for local inquiries into grooming gangs, she told the Commons.
Police chiefs asked to re-examine grooming cases where no action taken
Thursday 16 January 2025 15:13 , Holly Bancroft, Social Affairs CorrespondentHome secretary Yvette Cooper has written to the National Police Chiefs council to ask police chiefs to look again at historic grooming gang allegations where no action was taken.
All police forces will be expected to make “problem profiles of the grooming gangs in their area”, Ms Cooper told MPs.
‘Shamefully little progress made’ on tackling child sexual abuse, warns home secretary
Thursday 16 January 2025 15:11 , Andy GregoryDespite all of the previous national inquiries, reports and hundreds of recommendations, “far too little action has been taken and shamefully little progress has been made to tackle child sexual exploitation, Yvette Cooper has warned.
“That has to change,” the home secretary told the Commons.
The government will lay out a full timeable for implementing the 20 recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, she said.
Yvette Cooper says she met with chair of inquiry into child sexual abuse
Thursday 16 January 2025 15:04 , Andy GregoryYvette Cooper has said that she and safeguarding minister Jess Phillips met earlier this week with Professor Alexis Jay, chair of the Indpeendent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
Prof Jay’s “strongest message to us was that the survivors who bravely testified to terrible crimes committed against them must not be left to feel that their efforts were in vain, because despite all the inquiries no one listened and nothing was done.”
Home secretary Yvette Cooper is up now in the Commons, making a statement about grooming gangs and child sexual exploitation.
Tory election loss was party’s ‘greatest ever defeat’, says Badenoch
Thursday 16 January 2025 14:55 , Andy GregoryChallenged that her speech was “all just a bit joyless”, Kemi Badenoch said: “I am speaking based on where the Conservative Party is.
“We have just suffered our greatest ever defeat – ever, ever, in hundreds of years. I don’t think the public will start trusting us if I turn up looking like I’m having a great time and everything is fantastic.
“I want them to know that we understand why they asked for change, why they voted pretty much every party they could do in order to kick us out.
“So I’m doing a serious job here. I’m talking about new leadership and I want them to know that things are different and we are going to be earning their trust.”
Badenoch rejects prospect of Tory deal with Farage
Thursday 16 January 2025 14:47 , Andy GregoryKemi Badenoch has appeared to reject the suggestion of a Tory-Reform merger.
Asked by GB News why she has allowed Nigel Farage to “become the voice of the right” and whether the Tories and Reform could “merge to beat Labour before the next election”, Ms Badenoch said: “Nigel Farage says he wants to destroy the Conservative Party – why on Earth would we merge with that?”
Insisting that “policies without plans are just announcements”, she said: “What Reform is doing is making announcements. We did that as well and people didn’t like it. How well did net zero work? That was the policy, where was the plan?”
Kemi Badenoch ‘is in denial’, says Labour Party chair
Thursday 16 January 2025 14:36 , Andy GregoryLabour Party chair Ellie Reeves has reacted to Kemi Badenoch’s speech by accusing her of being “in denial”, as the Tory leader sought to acknowledge her party’s past mistakes and turn a new page under her fledgling leadership.
Ms Reeves said on X: “Kemi Badenoch is in denial. Far from rebuilding trust, she still can’t bring herself to be honest about the litany of mistakes the Tories made.
“The Tories haven’t listened and haven’t learned. This Labour Government is getting on with delivering our Plan for Change.”
Yvette Cooper ‘threatened with legal action’ by grooming gangs whistleblower
Thursday 16 January 2025 14:33 , Andy GregoryThe home secretary’s expected announcement of a series of local reviews into grooming gangs comes after she was threatened with legal action.
Maggie Oliver, a former detective who resigned from Greater Manchester Police in 2012, warned Yvette Cooper in a pre-action letter on Wednesday that she would take her to court unless she takes “urgent steps to allay widespread public concern” over gangs sexually exploiting children.
In a statement from the charity set up in her name, Ms Oliver said she had put Ms Cooper “on notice” that she would seek a judicial review in the High Court unless the home secretary “publicly confirms that she will implement all 20 of the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and publishes a timetable for implementation of those recommendations, and takes urgent steps to allay widespread public concern regarding the grooming and sexual abuse by organised gangs/groups”.
What action has Yvette Cooper already taken on the child sex abuse inquiry's recommendations?
Thursday 16 January 2025 14:23 , Holly Bancroft, Social Affairs CorrespondentHome secretary Yvette Cooper is expected to announce support for government-backed local inquiries into grooming gangs, but what has Ms Cooper already done to act on the recommendations of the Alexis Jay inquiry?
Earlier in January, Ms Cooper told MPs that the Labour government would make it an offence to fail to report or to cover up child sexual abuse. The government will also legislate to make grooming an aggravating factor in the sentencing of child sexual offences, and introduce a single data set on child abuse and protection so that services can work together to flag concerns.
Children's charities have called for Ms Cooper to go further. They want better funded support for survivors of child sexual abuse and also for a cabinet-level minister for children, both recommendations made by Professor Jay in her 2022 inquiry.
Kemi Badenoch says there is ‘a lot more’ Tories could have done on Brexit
Thursday 16 January 2025 14:17 , Andy GregoryTory leader Kemi Badenoch has said “there is a lot more” that her party could have done on Brexit.
She says: “On Brexit, I think there is a lot more that we could have and should have done. I did what I could as business secretary – I removed the supremacy of the European Court of Justice, we removed about 4,000 EU laws.
“But what we need to start doing is looking at where we have competitive advantage with countries around the world, and use our regulatory system to exploit that competitive advantage. What I worry about with Labour is that they are just trying to copy what is already out there.”
‘We are going to give you your country back,’ says Kemi Badenoch
Thursday 16 January 2025 14:15 , Andy GregoryIn her closing gambit, Kemi Badenoch says “the Conservatives are under new leadership, we are going to do things differently”.
She adds: “And this is my message to people watching today: we need a government that supports, not punishes, those who do the right thing. We need to rebuild the state to be more focused, more efficient and more effectie.
“We need to make our country more resilient, more secure, and prosperous. Where hard work is rewarded, where children can have a better life than their parents.
“It may not feel like it right now, but our country’s best days are ahead of us. Britain is a land of opportunity, not a country to apologise for. So if you want real plans rather than announcements, join us. And if you want a better country for our children, join us.
“Together we can fix the damage that Labour is inflicting. Together we can make politics work again for the first time in a generation ... We are going to give you your country back.”
Badenoch riffs on Labour’s ‘working people’ mantra
Thursday 16 January 2025 14:10 , Andy GregoryKemi Badenoch has riffed on Labour’s mantra of “working people” as she seeks to set out her brand of Conservatism.
She says: “You know what helps working people? It’s world class schooling that allows them to master complex topics.”
“You know what helps working people? Being able to walk down the high street and not see anti social behaviour ... because local bureaucrats have given up and crime is not punished.
“You know what helps working people? Ensuring that they don’t spend January until June earning taxes for the government ... A government that demands higher standards from public services.”
She adds: “That’s my Conservatism ... It’s a guarantee that tomorrow will be better, richer and safer.”
Badenoch vows to make Tories ‘the party of meritocracy'
Thursday 16 January 2025 14:08 , Andy Gregory“We are going to tell people why Conservatism matters,” vows Kemi Badenoch.
Acknowledging that her party has gone through many iterations over the past 14 years “and at times it felt like our core beliefs had become secondary”, the Tory leader adds: “It left people disillusioned. It made the task of governing harder, and it didn’t work. No more.”
She adds: “We will rediscover the idea that everyone contributes towards society, not just calculate what they take out of it. We will again be the party of meritocracy. We believe that if you do right by your community, your family, your society, you will succeed.
“And if you don’t, you likely won’t. Our society is treating those people who do best badly, and the people that do worst well. Everything is upside down. That’s the opposite of fairness.”
