Politics

Kemi Badenoch has called for a national inquiry into the grooming scandal that took place across UK towns and cities, arguing one was “long overdue”. The Tory leader said 2025 “must be the year that victims get justice” after it emerged that Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister, had rejected calls from Oldham council for a…

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has denied the government is putting off social care reforms following criticism that a planned overhaul of the sector may not happen for years. Ministers have launched an independent commission, led by Baroness Casey, to “transform social care” – but the latter phase of the two-part commission will not make its…

Sir Keir Starmer has lost control of Broxtowe Borough Council, just months before the local elections – after 20 councillors quit Labour with a fierce attack on the prime minister. The members of the council in Nottinghamshire who have quit the party will now be known as the Broxtowe Independents after what they described as…

Elon Musk has made “misinformed” and “misjudged” comments about the government’s response to grooming gangs in the UK, the health secretary has said. Wes Streeting also urged the tech billionaire and owner of X to “roll his sleeves up” and help the government tackle child sex abuse and exploitation online. Mr Streeting was asked about…

Kemi Badenoch’s comment this morning calling for a full national inquiry into what she describes as the “rape gangs scandal” is clearly intended to claim moral leadership over an appalling stain on our recent national history. But instead of seizing the political high ground she risks looking like she’s scrambling to catch up with Nigel…

Former deputy prime minister Sir Nick Clegg has said he is stepping down from his role at Facebook parent firm Meta. He said it was the “right time for me to move on” from president of global affairs. With Donald Trump just weeks from being sworn in, he will be replaced by former Republican White…

“Stop the boats” was Rishi Sunak’s refrain, while “smash the gangs” is Sir Keir Starmer’s – both a central promise of their premierships, both proving more difficult than the three-word slogan suggests. As the new year begins, it’s the long-standing problem of illegal migration into the UK across the channel that is chipping away at…

For centuries an odd tradition lay dormant in our democracy. A number of nobleman have had the chance to sit in parliament, simply by birthright – 92 seats in the House of Lords are eligible to male heirs in specific families and 88 men have taken these seats and currently sit in the second chamber…

A veteran Labour MP and the long-standing mayor of London are among a handful of politicians named in the King’s New Year Honours list. Former shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry, who has been made a dame, appears on the list alongside Sadiq Khan, who has been made a knight after securing a record third term…

The government has insisted that private school fees are “clearly out of reach for most people” as ministers continue to defend their VAT policy. On Wednesday, Labour will scrap the VAT exemption and business rates relief for private schools in a bid to fund 6,500 new teachers in the state sector. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson…