Cooper says five local grooming gang inquiries still set to go ahead, after Tories claim they’ve been dropped in ‘cover-up’
During her BBC Breakfast interview Kemi Badenoch claimed that the government has dropped the plans for five local inquiries into grooming gang, or child rape scandals, that were announced in January. As she was trying to fend of the questions about Adolescence, she said:
One of the things that I’m more bothered by is the fact that just yesterday, we had Labour telling us that they’re not going to be investigating the rape gang scandal, something which had happened all across the country. That’s real. That’s happening right now. We’re not talking about that.
And, in a subsequent interview with Sky News, she suggested that some sort of cover up was going on. She said:
I am absolutely astonished that Labour has dropped what it said it would do in January. And, as I said to Keir Starmer at prime minister’s questions, if he did not have a full national inquiry, people will start to think that there is a cover-up.
They are clearly uncomfortable with having inquiries that are looking into this issue.
They said that they will have a pot of money for councils to bid in. But why would a council bid for money to investigate itself?
(Badenoch may have forgotten that the grooming gang inquiry story only became a big media controversy in January after GB News reported that the government had rejected a request from Oldham council for a public inquiry into the grooming gang scandal in the town in the past.)
Other Tories have also claimed Starmer is engaged in a cover-up. Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, posed this on social media last night.
As a rule I believe in mess ups rather than conspiracy.
But if true that Labour have shelved even the most limited public enquiries into grooming gangs, it does suggest that powerful Labour politicians have something to hide.
Why not seek the truth?
The Conservatives have been claiming that the five local rape gang inquiries have been dropped on the basis of what Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister, told MPs in a statement on Tuesday. Phillips did not say the inquiries were being dropped. But she could not report any progress being made towards setting them up, and she set out what sounded like a lengthy process that might lead to inquiries turning into victims’ panels. She said:
We are developing a new best practice framework to support local authorities that want to undertake victim-centred local inquiries or related work, drawing on the lessons from local independent inquiries such as those in Telford, Rotherham and Greater Manchester. We will publish the details next month.
Alongside that, we will set out the process through which local authorities can access the £5m national fund to support locally-led work on grooming gangs. Following feedback from local authorities, the fund will adopt a flexible approach to support both full independent local inquiries and more bespoke work, including local victims’ panels or locally led audits of the handling of historical cases.
Today, in an interview with LBC, Yvette Cooper rejected claims that plans for the local inquiries were being watered down. She said:
There’s a huge information about this. This is completely wrong. We’re actually increasing, not reducing, the action being taken on this.
Child sexual exploitation, grooming gangs – these are some of the most vile crimes, things like rape or exploitation, coercion. We’re increasing the action against that.
So we’ve already set out one local inquiry – that will be in Oldham. We’re drawing up the framework at the moment for the further local inquiries. We’ve got the Louise Casey audit that’s underway at the moment.
Asked if the five local inquiries promised in January would go ahead, she replied: “Yes, there may be more.”
Even though some of the worst grooming gangs scandals were happening up to 20 years ago, and even thought there have been multiple prosecutions and inquiries into these crimes over the past decade or more, the Conservatives and Reform UK are picking up significant public and media support with their argument that the full truth is being withheld and further inquiries are needed.
According to Sky News, Phillips plans to hold a briefing for Labour MPs worried about this issue at 5pm this afternoon.
Key events
Visa applications from migrants wanting to come to UK down more than a third over past year, figures show
The number of migrants applying for key visa routes to the UK has dropped by more than third in a year, PA Media reports. PA says:
Applications covering a total of 772,200 people were submitted across the main visa categories in the year to March 2025, down 37% from nearly 1.24 million in the previous 12 months, Home Office data shows.
The decline is likely to reflect changes in legal migration rules introduced early in 2024 by the previous Conservative government, including a ban on overseas care workers and students bringing family dependents, and a steep rise in the salary threshold for skilled workers to £38,700.
The figures have been published by the Home Office and cover the main worker, study and family visa categories.
The drop has been driven by a sharp fall in applications by foreign health and care workers and their family members, which decreased by 78% from 359,300 in 2023/24 to 80,700 in 2024/25.
There was an even steeper fall in applications by family members of those wanting to come to the UK on a sponsored study visa, down 83%, though the number of main applicants for this visa dropped by just 11%.
The previous government introduced a change in January 2024 that stopped students bringing family members apart from those studying postgraduate research courses or those with government-funded scholarships.
Researcher at the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, Dr Ben Brindle, said: “The tightening of immigration rules under the previous government has led to a sharp decline in visa applications over the past year.
“This was driven primarily by a fall in applications from health and care workers and students’ family members – most of whom now cannot come to the UK.
“Main applications from health and care workers also fell, possibly reflecting fewer vacancies and government focus on exploitation in the sector.
But Dr Brindle said that applications from migrants recruited for jobs outside health and care had fallen less than expected, and that with the increase in salary thresholds “it appears that many employers are simply paying workers more”.
And here are three graphs from the Home Office report illustrating the figures.
Danny Shaw, the home affairs commentator and former BBC journalist who worked as an adviser to Yvette Cooper for a short period when she was in opposition, has been posting messages on social media arguing that claims that the government is backpedalling on grooming gangs (see 12.17pm) are flat wrong.
NEW Home Secretary Yvette Cooper says there’s “misinformation” re Govt action on grooming gangs. I’d say it’s a wilful refusal to understand what they’re doing. The most fearless Whitehall troubleshooter, Baroness Casey, is doing an audit – she won’t pull any punches, never has.
Casey is looking at the: ‘scale, nature & drivers of group-based child sexual exploitation at a national & local level’… including an.. ‘assessment of the data around the ethnicity of victims & perpetrators, in relation both to Pakistani-heritage & other grooming gangs’… She’ll report in June
As for local inquiries.. Home Office says there remains a: ‘£5m fund to support local independent inquiries & related local work to tackle grooming gangs supported by a good practice framework drawing on learning from local inquiries like Telford’
Govt is also making grooming an aggravating factor in sentencing & ordering inspections of the work police forces do on this. On child sexual abuse more broadly Home Office has announced a range of measures – more than any other area of crime
Here are some more pictures from Keir Starmer’s visit to Doncaster Sheffield airport this morning.
Starmer says government won’t just ‘sit back and hope’ in response to Trump’s policies
Keir Starmer has said the government will not just “sit back and hope” in response to President Trump’s tariff policies.
In his first public remarks since President Trump abruptly U-turned on his tariffs policy last night, Starmer said the government would “rise to the moment”.
Starmer did not criticise directly Trump over his policies, and he did not give any fresh detail as to how the government would respond. Over the last week or so he has repeatedly said that the world is entering a new economic era and that, in response, the government must redouble efforts to protect UK industry, boost growth and strengthen trade links with like-minded, free trade economies.
Speaking to reporters at an event in Doncaster, Starmer said:
This government is ambitious for Britain.
I’m not going to stand here and pretend that tariffs are good news. That is not true, and you wouldn’t believe me if I said it, but just as we’ve seen recently on defence and security across Europe, and with Ukraine, they do make one thing very clear, and that is that the world is changing, and we as a country must change with it.
In other words, we’ve got to rise to the moment here, recognise where our future lies, renew Britain and deliver security for working people.
Starmer also said his Labour administration was “not a government that’s just going to sit back and hope” but would deliver “fundamental change”.
Tory peer helped secure meeting with minister for Canadian firm he advises
Ian Duncan, a Conservative peer, helped to secure a meeting with a minister for a Canadian company he was advising while it was seeking government funding worth millions of pounds, Rob Evans and Henry Dyer report.
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has described the government’s stance on the grooming gang local inquiries (see 12.17pm) as “cowardly”, Sky News reports.
He also claimed a national inquiry would be launched on Monday. He said:
I am told there will be a development coming on Monday, led by somebody who played a very prominent role in exposing the grooming gangs, that will be coming on Monday.
In January Farage said, if the government did not set up its own national inquiry, Reform would set up its own. After the local inquiries were announced, the party shelved its own plans. But Rupert Lowe, the MP recently expelled from Reform, wants to run his own version and he has raised more than £500,000 through crowdfunding to pay for it.
Cooper says five local grooming gang inquiries still set to go ahead, after Tories claim they’ve been dropped in ‘cover-up’
During her BBC Breakfast interview Kemi Badenoch claimed that the government has dropped the plans for five local inquiries into grooming gang, or child rape scandals, that were announced in January. As she was trying to fend of the questions about Adolescence, she said:
One of the things that I’m more bothered by is the fact that just yesterday, we had Labour telling us that they’re not going to be investigating the rape gang scandal, something which had happened all across the country. That’s real. That’s happening right now. We’re not talking about that.
And, in a subsequent interview with Sky News, she suggested that some sort of cover up was going on. She said:
I am absolutely astonished that Labour has dropped what it said it would do in January. And, as I said to Keir Starmer at prime minister’s questions, if he did not have a full national inquiry, people will start to think that there is a cover-up.
They are clearly uncomfortable with having inquiries that are looking into this issue.
They said that they will have a pot of money for councils to bid in. But why would a council bid for money to investigate itself?
(Badenoch may have forgotten that the grooming gang inquiry story only became a big media controversy in January after GB News reported that the government had rejected a request from Oldham council for a public inquiry into the grooming gang scandal in the town in the past.)
Other Tories have also claimed Starmer is engaged in a cover-up. Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, posed this on social media last night.
As a rule I believe in mess ups rather than conspiracy.
But if true that Labour have shelved even the most limited public enquiries into grooming gangs, it does suggest that powerful Labour politicians have something to hide.
Why not seek the truth?
The Conservatives have been claiming that the five local rape gang inquiries have been dropped on the basis of what Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister, told MPs in a statement on Tuesday. Phillips did not say the inquiries were being dropped. But she could not report any progress being made towards setting them up, and she set out what sounded like a lengthy process that might lead to inquiries turning into victims’ panels. She said:
We are developing a new best practice framework to support local authorities that want to undertake victim-centred local inquiries or related work, drawing on the lessons from local independent inquiries such as those in Telford, Rotherham and Greater Manchester. We will publish the details next month.
Alongside that, we will set out the process through which local authorities can access the £5m national fund to support locally-led work on grooming gangs. Following feedback from local authorities, the fund will adopt a flexible approach to support both full independent local inquiries and more bespoke work, including local victims’ panels or locally led audits of the handling of historical cases.
Today, in an interview with LBC, Yvette Cooper rejected claims that plans for the local inquiries were being watered down. She said:
There’s a huge information about this. This is completely wrong. We’re actually increasing, not reducing, the action being taken on this.
Child sexual exploitation, grooming gangs – these are some of the most vile crimes, things like rape or exploitation, coercion. We’re increasing the action against that.
So we’ve already set out one local inquiry – that will be in Oldham. We’re drawing up the framework at the moment for the further local inquiries. We’ve got the Louise Casey audit that’s underway at the moment.
Asked if the five local inquiries promised in January would go ahead, she replied: “Yes, there may be more.”
Even though some of the worst grooming gangs scandals were happening up to 20 years ago, and even thought there have been multiple prosecutions and inquiries into these crimes over the past decade or more, the Conservatives and Reform UK are picking up significant public and media support with their argument that the full truth is being withheld and further inquiries are needed.
According to Sky News, Phillips plans to hold a briefing for Labour MPs worried about this issue at 5pm this afternoon.
Badenoch defends not planning to watch Adolescence, saying ‘my job is not to watch lots of TV’
Kemi Badenoch is often quite a tetchy interviewee, and on BBC Breakfast this morning things got a bit awkward when the presenters, Naga Munchetty and Charlie Steyt, asked her if she had watched the Netflix TV drama Adolescence yet.
In a previous interview earlier this month, asked about the series, Badenoch got into trouble because she ended up spouting a conspiracy theory. She did not do that today, but she did say she still has not watched the show, adding: “I probably won’t.”
When Munchetty suggested she should, because “everyone is talking about it” and it was prompting conversations about masculinity, smartphone use and misogyny, Badenoch replied:
I think that those are all important issues, and those were issues that I’ve been talking about for a long time.
But in the same way that I don’t need to watch Casualty to know what’s going on in the NHS, I don’t need to watch a specific Netflix drama to understand what’s going on. It’s a fictional series. It is not a documentary.
Munchetty and Steyt persisted, suggesting that Badenoch should watch the story, and for some reason Steyt was particularly bothered by her comparing Adolescence to Casualty. Did she really mean that? Badenoch replied:
I’m saying very clearly that my job is not to watch lots of TV. My job is to get out there and make sure that I’m talking about the issues that are happening in the country right now.
Other journalists are more sympathetic. This is what Duncan Robinson, political editor of the Economist, said about this on social media.
Badenoch in the right. Stop basing public policy on telly
Lib Dems claim Reform UK and Tories have ‘merged in all but name’ with Badenoch as Conservative leader
The Liberal Democrats have claimed that the Tories and Reform UK have “merged in all but name” with Kemi Badenoch as Conservative leader. In a statement responding to Badenoch’s BBC Breakfast interview (see 9.34am), Daisy Cooper, the deputy Lib Dem leader, said:
Badenoch may have ruled out at a pact with Farage but the reality is the Conservatives and Reform have merged in all but name under her leadership.
You couldn’t put a cigarette paper between Badenoch and Farage when it comes to their policies. It’s clear the Conservatives have totally abandoned the centre ground.
Wes Streeting welcomes NHS England figures saying 3.1m extra hospital appointments have taken place since election
The NHS England news release on today’s monthly performanc figures focuses on the fact that 3.1m “additional appointments” have taken place since the general election. It says:
The NHS has delivered more than 3.1 million additional appointments since July 2024 and hit the ambitious faster diagnosis standard for cancer, new figures show today.
Monthly performance data shows that there were more than 3.1 million additional appointments delivered in the seven months from July 2024 (3,106,424 elective operations, outpatient appointments and diagnostic tests up until January 2025) meaning that the overall waiting list fell for the sixth month in a row in February.
The backlog dropped to 7.4 million with a reduction of 26,000 compared to the previous month. The estimated number of patients waiting in February stands at 6.24 million.
Thanks to the efforts of NHS staff, more than four fifths (80.2%) of people received the all clear or a definitive cancer diagnosis within four weeks – the highest proportion on record.
And it quotes Wes Streeting, the health secretary, saying:
We made a promise to the British public that we would create 2 million more appointments for patients in our first year – today we’ve already dwarfed this target and have reached 3.1 million additional appointments in the first 6 months.
Today’s data also shows we have cut the waiting list for the sixth month in a row, by a total 219,000 since July, with fewer patients waiting over 18 weeks which can have significant benefits on their health outcomes.
Hospital waiting list falls for six month in a row, down to 7.4m, NHS England figures show
The waiting list for routine hospital treatment in England has fallen for the sixth month in a row, PA Media reports. PA says:
An estimated 7.40 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of February, relating to 6.24 million patients – down from 7.43 million treatments and 6.25 million patients at the end of January, NHS England says.
The list hit a record high in September 2023, with 7.77 million treatments and 6.50 million patients.
This chart from today’s NHS England release shows how the waiting list has grown over the past decade.
England’s ‘complex’ health and care system harming patients, report says
Navigating England’s “complex” health and care system is “extremely difficult” and carers and patients are experiencing burnout, distress and harm as a result, a damning report says. Andrew Gregory has the story.
Ellie Reeves, the Labour chair, has put out a statement claiming the Kemi Badenoch interview on BBC Breakfast (see 9.34am) shows that voting Tory will deliver Reform UK policies. She says:
Now it’s crystal clear: if you vote Reform or Conservative, you’re opening the door to more of the Tory chaos that held our country back over the past 14 years.
Kemi Badenoch and her Conservative party left our NHS at breaking point and Nigel Farage wants to make patients pay for healthcare when they’re sick. Just imagine what they’d do together.
Yvette Cooper says Trump tariffs U-turn shows why PM has been right to respond to him in calm, ‘steady’ manner
Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, was the government voice on the morning news shows. As Rajeev Syal, Mimi Ibrahim and Vikram Dodd report, she is announcing that police officers on foot will patrol every busy neighbourhood in England and Wales at peak times.
But, inevitably, she was asked about the government’s reaction to President Trump’s tariffs U-turn last night. In line with standard No 10 policy, she did not criticise the president. “We are not keeping a running commentary on different trade negotiations, on the different approaches that other governments are taking,” she said. But she did argue that the U-turn (my term, not hers) vindicated Keir Starmer’s decision to respond in a calm and considered way to what Trump has been doing. She told the Today programme:
I think it just actually reinforces the strategy and the approach that we’re taking, which is to be pragmatic, to take this steady course rather than to get buffeted around from day to day or getting into the sort of running commentaries and reactions.
Gordon Brown calls for ‘economic coalition of the willing’ to tackle Trump tariffs
Gordon Brown has called for an “economic coalition of the willing” to respond to Donald Trump’s tariffs with coordinated economic policies, including a reduction of interest rates, Jessica Elgot reports. Here is her news story.
Here is Brown’s Guardian article making this argument.
And here is an extract.
On Monday, Keir Starmer warned that the world will never be the same again, and reminded us that “attempting to manage crises without fundamental change just leads to managed decline”. He is right. As I learned in the financial crisis of 2008, global problems require globally coordinated solutions. We need a bold, international response that measures up to the scale of the emergency. In the same way that, to his great credit, the prime minister has been building a coalition in defence of Ukraine, we need an economic coalition of the willing: like-minded global leaders who believe that, in an interdependent world, we have to coordinate economic policies across continents if we are to safeguard jobs and living standards.
The immediate challenge is to mitigate the supply-side shocks caused by the Trump tariff wall. As Rachel Reeves is proposing, we need to keep world trade moving. No two crises are ever the same, but offering extended credit to exporting and importing firms was central to the global response as trade collapsed in 2009. We also have to remind China that if it is to present itself as a champion of free trade, it is in its interests to focus more on expanding domestic consumption than flooding the world’s markets with cut-price goods it cannot now sell in the US.
Kemi Badenoch condones Tories forming pacts with Reform UK if necessary to take control of councils
Good morning. There are three weeks until the local elections in England and, with parliament in recess, the party leaders have time for campaigning out of London. While the main conversation is still dominated by President Trump and his erratic global tariffs policy – Graeme Wearden has the latest developments on his business live blog – there are other things to talk about, and Kemi Badenoch has just given an interview to BBC Breakfast where she condoned Tory councillors doing deals with Reform UK to control local authorities if they do not win a majority.
Asked if she would rule out any deals, at national or local level, between the Conservative party and Reform UK, Badenoch replied:
I have said categorically that I’m not doing deals with Reform. Nigel Farage has said that he wants to destroy the Conservative party. When someone says they want to destroy you, don’t invite them into your house and ask to do a deal.
At local level, we end up with various coalitions. I’ve seen Conservatives go into coalition with Labour, with Liberal Democrats, with independents. You don’t get to have a rerun of an election at local level.
So what I’m telling local leaders across the country is they have to do what is right for the people in their area, and they must stick to conservative principles, make sure that they’re not compromising on our values and on the things that we believe in – sound money, for example, not excessive government intervention.
So local leaders are voted by the people in a particular community. They will have to make the choice about what is right for their councils.
But at national level, no, I was not made leader of the Conservative party to give it away to Reform.
In one respect this is just a statement of normal practice. At local authority level it is not unusual for parties without an overall majority to govern in alliance with other parties – sometimes via a formal coalition, or sometimes via some form of “confidence and supply” deal that involves not voting down the budget.
But national party leaders are normally a bit coy when it comes to approving these arrangements, and under Keir Starmer Labour HQ has sometimes vetoed council pacts with other parties. Badenoch’s comments will give credibility to the Labour claim that Badenoch’s party and Nigel Farage’s are closely aligned. Labour has revealed that 60 Reform UK council candidates are defectors from the Conservative party. And last week Labour ran an online advert saying:
Reform and the Tories are closer than you think. No plans, no solutions, just more chaos.
Labour is bringing change to Britain. Vote Labour on Thursday 1 May.
It was accompanied by this image.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: NHS England publishes its monthly performance figures.
9.30am: The Home Office is publishing its annual report on cyber breaches.
Morning: Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner, the deputy PM, are on a visit to promote plans to reopen Doncaster Sheffield airport.
Morning: Kemi Badenoch is doing visits in the north of England.
11am: Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, is on a campaign visit in Derbyshire. In the afternoon he will be in Staffordshire.
Early afternoon: Starmer is on a visit in Cambridgeshire with Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, to promote the government’s plans for more foot patrols by police at busy times.
2pm (UK time): John Healey, the defence secretary, and his French counterpart Sébastien Lecornu chair a meeting in Brussels of defence ministers from the 30-odd “coalition of the willing” countries offering to help guarantee Ukraine’s security in the event of a peace deal.
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