Lib Dems call for Kemi Badenoch to sack Robert Jenrick over ‘divisive comments’

The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, should sack Robert Jenrick for “divisive comments,” the Lib Dems have said, after the shadow justice minister doubled down on his comments about immigrants with “alien cultures”.Jenrick was challenged repeatedly on Tuesday morning for having failed to act on the outcome of an inquiry into grooming gangs while he was in the Home Office, despite now demanding one, and for rarely mentioning the issue in the House of Commons until this year.Badenoch had previously defended the shadow justice secretary’s right to make the comments, which have caused private disquiet among some Conservative MPs.“What I have said is that millions of people have come into our country in recent times, but some of them are coming from countries and cultures that have backwards attitudes to women,” Jenrick told Times Radio. “And that’s backed up by the evidence that we have seen from the Jay report and the testimonies of the victims

Labour apologises for TikTok video with ‘inappropriate’ soundtrack

The Labour party has apologised for using a soundtrack with “completely inappropriate” lyrics in a promotional TikTok video.The video features AI-generated animals including a hare dressed as a nurse, a bulldog in a police uniform and a hedgehog wearing dungarees.But the party took down the video when viewers swiftly translated the Portuguese-language lyrics to the backing track by DJ Holanda – which describe smoking marijuana and having sex with a “bitch”.The lyrics to Montagem Coral urge a “naughty young girl” to “sit” on the singer’s “pot-crazy dick” and ends with repetition of the line: “Just a punch in the young girl’s pussy.”“Perfect combination is sex, beer and marijuana,” sings DJ Holanda, whose real name is Lucas Holanda

Keir Starmer’s NHS plan: what are the key elements and can it succeed?

In Monday’s big NHS speech, Keir Starmer promised that by spring 2029 92% of patients waiting for planned care in England would once again be treated within 18 weeks, as they are meant to be already – but only six in 10 actually are.“This elective reform plan will deliver on our promise to end the backlogs,” the prime minister vowed, as he set out initiatives to fulfil a pledge that is a key part of his plan for change.Here we detail the key elements of the plan and assess their chances of succeeding.A network of CDCs across England was first announced in October 2021, to help the NHS improve waiting times after the huge disruption to care caused by Covid-19. They are meant to provide quicker access to X-rays and CT and MRI scans, and be in convenient locations such as shopping centres, thus improving earlier diagnosis of disease and reducing the pressure on hospitals

‘We stand by Jess’: Telford survivors criticise Musk’s attack on Phillips

A group of victims of gender-based violence has criticised Elon Musk for his remarks attacking Jess Phillips, saying the safeguarding minister had “devoted her life to fighting for women and girls”.In a letter shared with the Guardian the seven women, including three survivors of the Telford sexual abuse scandal, came to the Labour MP’s defence and said that there was “no one in public life who has done more to support victims and survivors and to advocate for their interests”.Their intervention came after Musk, the billionaire Tesla boss who is in line for a senior role in Donald Trump’s administration, posted on his platform, X, that Phillips should be jailed and called her a “rape genocide apologist”.His comments came after Phillips rejected a request for a government-led public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham. In October, Phillips instructed Oldham council to carry out its own investigation, similar to those set up in Rochdale and Telford

‘I haven’t seen any change’: black Labour voters in Liverpool and London six months on

In Toxteth, a fast-gentrifying area of Liverpool that has for decades been the nucleus of the city’s 300-year-old black community, Saeed Olayiwola considered how the Labour government compared with the Conservatives. “I don’t see much that sets them apart at the moment,” Olayiwola said.Since Keir Starmer’s government took power six months ago, voters in two urban constituencies, both represented by black Labour MPs – Liverpool Riverside and Tottenham in north London – have been weighing up the party’s decisions and talking to the Guardian.Areas such as these, with historic and large black and minority ethnic communities, have long been loyal to the party.The last election was no exception: Labour enjoyed a bigger lead among minority ethnic voters than it did among white voters

Starmer condemns ‘lies and misinformation’ as he hits back at Musk

Keir Starmer has condemned Elon Musk’s increasingly erratic attacks on the government, suggesting his “lies and misinformation” on grooming gangs were amplifying the “poison” of the far right.The prime minister angrily criticised Conservative politicians for “jumping on the bandwagon” by calling for a national inquiry into the scandal when they failed to implement any of the recommendations of a major report while in power. He accused them of being more interested in themselves than supporting victims.Ministers promised on Monday to introduce a key demand of Prof Alexis Jay’s 2022 child sexual abuse inquiry so that professionals who work with children would face sanction if they failed to report claims of sexual abuse under a law to be introduced this year.Starmer, the target of wild criticism from Musk on his social media platform X, said the debate on the issue had crossed a line with threats against MPs including the safeguarding minister, Jess Phillips, whom Musk called a “rape genocide apologist” and said should be jailed