Andy Burnham joins calls for ‘limited’ national inquiry into sexual abuse gangs

The Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, has joined calls for a “limited” national inquiry into grooming gangs, saying the scope of the local inquiry he had commissioned in Oldham did not have the same legal powers.On Wednesday, MPs rejected a Conservative amendment to the children’s wellbeing and schools bill, calling for a new, national inquiry into grooming gangs.Had it passed, the bill, which includes measures aimed to protect children, and tighter rules around home schooling, would have been blocked.The vote followed vocal attacks online by the tech billionaire Elon Musk against Keir Starmer and the safeguarding minister, Jess Phillips, after it was revealed she turned down a request for a public inquiry into exploitation in Oldham, made by the local council.The prime minister and other ministers have suggested they are open-minded about a future inquiry, but have said the government’s priority is acting on the recommendations of the 2022 report into child sexual abuse led by Prof Alexis Jay

Reasons given for Boris Johnson peerages ‘inadequate’, campaigner says

The reasons given for a peerage awarded by Boris Johnson have been described as “inadequate” and a “mystery” by a freedom of information campaigner after an 18-month struggle.Charlotte Owen, a former special adviser in the Conservative government, was appointed to the House of Lords in Johnson’s resignation honours list in 2023.Both her appointment and that of another former special adviser, Ross Kempsell, were subject to criticism from the former prime minister’s political opponents and transparency campaigners, who called for the reasoning behind the appointments to be revealed.Martin Rosenbaum, a journalist and freedom of information campaigner, took the House of Lords appointments commission to a first-tier tribunal in order to reveal who had written letters of citation for the two Tory peers.The commission initially refused Rosenbaum’s freedom of information request on the grounds they contained confidential personal information, but the tribunal upheld the journalist’s arguments that releasing the information was in the public interest

Starmer to keep saying Truss crashed economy despite legal letter, No 10 suggests – as it happened

Downing Street has signalled that Keir Starmer plans to ignore Liz Truss’s legal letter saying he should stop saying she crashed the economy because that, she claims, is untrue and libellous. (See 11.58am.)Asked about the letter at the morning lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson said:I am not sure I have seen the detail of the letter, but from what I can my gather, I don’t think the prime minister is the only person in the country who shares the view in relation to the previous government’s handling of the economy.I guess the question is whether she will be writing to millions of people up and down the country as well, who felt her economic record which pushed their mortgage bills up

Muskmania couldn’t save Steve Reed from the farmers, or himself | John Crace

It’s an ill wind, and all that. For most of the last week, the political agenda has been hijacked by a billionaire coming down from a ketamine high who had just discovered a child sexual abuse case that had been widely reported in this country for the past 12 years. Cue rightwing politicians indulging in competitive brown-nosing as they pretended they had always been interested in grooming gangs while the government tried to point out there had already been an inquiry and it was probably better to implement its recommendations rather than waste time and money with another one.This may have been an unwanted problem for Keir Starmer and the home secretary, who took the brunt of the unedifying shitshow, but for every other minister it came as something of a relief. They could all ease themselves back into the new year, secure in the knowledge that for once no one was paying them any attention

US seizure of Greenland is ‘not going to happen’, says David Lammy

The UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, has said a US military seizure of Greenland is not going to happen, as he played down Donald Trump’s threats to seize the territory from Denmark.“No Nato countries have gone to war [with each other] since the establishment of Nato, and I do not envisage that,” he said, adding: “It is not going to happen.”Lammy’s remarks, in a round of broadcast interviews in advance of a setpiece speech on Thursday, formed part of an array of views that exposed subtle differences with the Trump administration covering defence spending targets, the scale of the threat posed to Europe by Vladimir Putin, the return of the Islamic State-linked detainee Shamima Begum to the UK and the possibility of convincing China not to throw in its lot with Russia.The differences emerged despite Lammy insisting he was not in the business of condemning the UK’s closest ally, but they underline how taxing it may be for the Labour government to tread an independent course with a demanding Trump administration.The foreign secretary tried to square off the differences by arguing that much of what Trump said should not be taken literally

Rachel Reeves must handle bond sell-off with care, but this is not a Truss-level event

Borrowing costs at the highest level since 1998, the pound at a 14-month low and some major UK company shares dropping like a stone. For a government that had pledged a return to economic stability, it has been a tough start to 2025 for Rachel Reeves.As the chancellor prepared to fly to China to promote closer economic ties with Beijing, the blow-up in the bond market appeared to ease on Thursday after a rough couple of days. But Reeves is still battling a political fire and comparisons to Liz Truss’s ill-fated mini-budget.Conditions in the market for UK government bonds, known as gilts, have been far from helpful for Reeves