Labour minister sorry for ‘dog-whistle' remark over grooming film
A cabinet minister has been forced to apologise after suggesting that people who raised concerns about grooming gangs were engaged in 'dog whistle' politics.
The Conservatives called for Lucy Powell, the leader of the House of Commons, to resign after she appeared to dismiss the victims of sexual abuse during a BBC debate.
Powell interrupted Tim Montgomerie, the political commentator and Reform UK supporter, when he raised a recent documentary about women who had been groomed and abused by gangs during an edition of BBC Radio 4's Any Questions.
• Groomed: A National Scandal review — enraging, harrowing stories
'Oh, we want to blow that little trumpet now, do we? Let's get that dog whistle out, shall we?' she said.Powell later apologised, saying
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Awkward! How the new chairman of Reform UK called party leader Nigel Farage 'an idiot' and branded his comments about HIV-infected migrants using the NHS 'prejudiced'
Reform UK's new chairman once called leader Nigel Farage an 'idiot', it emerged last night. Dr David Bull, who was unveiled as Zia Yusuf's replacement, also branded as 'prejudiced' comments that Mr Farage had made about HIV-infected migrants using the NHS. The remarks surfaced just hours after Dr Bull gave his maiden speech as chairman and threatened to overshadow his appointment, while at a Press conference unveiling the new chairman, Mr Farage unexpectedly ruled out putting the return of the death penalty on Reform's manifesto at the next general election. Dr Bull's comments, first reported by The Daily Telegraph, were made on social media in 2014. He posted them after Mr Farage, then leader of his previous party UKIP, suggested that HIV-positive immigrants should not be allowed to come to the UK and receive treatment on the NHS. He said it should not be used as a 'global health service', adding: 'I do not think people with life-threatening diseases should be treated by our National Health Service, and that is an absolute essential condition for working out a proper immigration policy.' Sharing an article about Mr Farage's comments, Dr Bull wrote on X/ Twitter: 'Nigel Farage's comments are ill-judged, prejudiced and dangerous. HIV can affect anyone regardless of sex, race and class.' In the post, still visible online, he added: '#idiot #unhelpful.' Dr Bull, 56, is a long-time ally of Mr Farage and has held roles in both Reform and its former iteration, the Brexit Party. He served as an MEP for North West England between 2019 and 2020. Mr Farage said that Dr Bull would bring 'terrific verve, energy, enthusiasm' to his new role. Mr Yusuf plunged the party into turmoil on Thursday after announcing his shock resignation on social media, giving Mr Farage only ten minutes' notice. He said he was quitting after attacking one of his own MPs, Sarah Pochin, for calling for a burka ban during Prime Minister's Questions. But just 48 hours after leaving, he said he was returning to the party. The 38-year-old businessman said his resignation had been 'born of exhaustion' after working for the party for 11 months 'without a day off'. He will now lead Reform's Elon Musk-inspired Doge unit, which the party says will root out wasteful spending in the ten councils it controls, starting in Kent. The decision not to include anything in Reform's manifesto about the death penalty will likely disappoint millions of its voters. A poll by the think-tank More In Common in January found nearly eight in ten of its backers support it 'for certain crimes'. Mr Farage said 'nothing on the death penalty will be part of [Reform] party policy' and that 'personally I don't think I could ever support it'. He said he was opposed because of hundreds of 'quite serious miscarriages of justice' having emerged since the 70s, adding that he believed it will become a big national issue because of polling suggesting younger generations are increasingly in favour. It may lead to suspicions that Mr Farage is trying to make Reform UK appear less Right-wing and controversial as it increasingly tries to target Labour voters. It also emerged that Reform lost nearly 3,500 members in the past week amid the Yusuf fiasco.
The Sun
4 hours ago
- The Sun
House of Lords canteen slammed for serving rainbow-coloured ‘Pride crumble' dessert
A HOUSE of Lords canteen has been given a roasting for serving a rainbow-coloured 'Pride crumble' dessert. Peers and staff working on the Parliamentary estate have been offered the woke sweet treat, pictured above, to mark Pride month. Portions of the pudding were on offer yesterday for £2.15 with custard. Only last week, rainbow couscous was on the menu in the River Restaurant overlooking the River Thames. But campaigner Fiona McAnena questioned whether the colourful crumble had been created after so-called Progress Pride flags were removed from the cafeteria earlier this week. Ms McAnena, who represents the Sex Matters charity, added: 'Whoever is behind this may think that they are supporting a noble cause. 'But do they really support the reality of what the transgender rights flag represents, including sterilising surgeries, cross-sex hormones that cause permanent physical damage, and rapists in women's prisons?' Tory peer Baroness Nicholson had demanded the cafeteria's Pride flags be taken down as they had not been given proper permission. The latest row comes weeks after Nigel Farage's Reform UK party said town halls under its control would be stopped from flying LGBTQ+ and Pride flags. Reform said it would allow only the St George's Cross and the Union flag to be displayed. 1
BBC News
4 hours ago
- BBC News
Spending review: New stations in £445m rail plan for Wales
Chancellor Rachel Reeves will use her spending review on Wednesday to announce £445m for new rail projects in north and south details are expected on Wednesday, but plans for five new stations in Cardiff, Newport and Monmouthshire, as well as upgrades in north Wales, are on the follows years of complaints of underinvestment in the Welsh railway Treasury said the package had "the potential to be truly transformative". But the Conservatives criticised the lack of support for a new M4 relief road, while Plaid Cymru said the cash was "merely a drop in the ocean compared to the billions Wales is owed". The spending review will set out Reeves' plans for how public services will be funded for years to was not clear on Tuesday evening what the impact of the announcement might be for the Welsh government's day to day spending, with cuts to budgets other than health, schools and defence Wales gets to spend is determined by a calculation based on how England-only departments - such as health and local government - are follows weeks of rows between Welsh and Westminster Labour, as concerns grew over the next Senedd election as polling suggested the party could lose its dominant role in Welsh politics. According to the Treasury, the £445m will be spent on fixing level crossings, building new stations and upgrading existing lines, and is a combination of direct funding and cash for the Welsh said it was the "cornerstone of the UK government's plan to address decades of underinvestment in critical infrastructure that has held back the Welsh economy".Rail funding has become a totemic issue in Welsh politics, with the lack of knock-on funding for Wales from High Speed 2 repeatedly raised with the First Minister Eluned first minister has publicly called for more rail spending from the UK government - one of a list of calls she has made on Sir Keir Starmer in recent say if High Speed 2 had not been classified as an England and Wales project, Wales would be owed between £431m - according to finance secretary Mark Drakeford - or multiple billions, according to Plaid Cymru and previous sums used by senior Labour figures including Welsh Secretary Jo extra money is not connected to HS2, although Labour was keen to make a symbolic sources, and former transport minister Lee Waters, said the sum is more than Wales would have had from the high speed rail project. Welsh Transport Secretary Ken Skates and others have lobbied the UK government figures on a range of projects recommended by transport reviews looking at north and south include new stations at Cardiff East, near the city's Newport Road, and in the west of are hopes for a station in the eastern Newport suburbs of Somerton and Llanwern, and one that will serve the Monmouthshire villages of Magor and Undy, along with improvements to the mainline to allow local services to stations were proposed by a review to boost rail transport in a region that has seen an increase in house building in recent years, but is connected via the congested M4 motorway and has a limited local railway work is estimated to cost £ north Wales, the Welsh government has been pushing for work on the Wrexham to Liverpool route to enable metro-style services, and upgrades on the north Wales mainline to boost the frequency of also wants to commence development work to increase capacity at Chester - a hub for trains from north Wales. Rachel Reeves could also commit more funding to help make coal tips in Wales first minister has previously said that £25m allocated to Wales at last year's October budget was not enough. Looking ahead to the next Senedd election, a senior Labour figure said: "Labour's delivered what the Tories wouldn't, what Plaid can't and what Reform have no interest in."Former transport minister Lee Waters said: "Civil servants calculated that we lost out £431m in Barnett formula funding by the way the high-speed rail project was categorised by the Treasury. This £445 million makes good on that."We will have to wait to see what exact schemes the Chancellor is agreeing to but that figure would allow the priority schemes that the Welsh government and the UK Department of Transport had been working on to go ahead."Taken together this is a very significant package of rail investment, much more than we ever got from the Tories, and will make a real difference to people."We now need to make sure we get a change to how funding works for rail so that this is the beginning of a pipeline of investment into the future"Another Labour source said the "historic investment" was down to the "work of the Welsh Secretary, Jo Stevens, who has delivered Labour's promise to right the chronic underfunding of Welsh rail by the Tories". Welsh Conservative Senedd leader Darren Millar called it a "kick in the teeth", complaining of no extra cash to enable an M4 relief road or for upgrades to the A55 and A40 trunk roads."The promised rail investment falls well short of the £1bn plus in rail funding planned by the previous UK Conservative government for the electrification of the North Wales line."Plaid Cymru's finance spokesperson Heledd Fychan said: "£445m is merely a drop in the ocean compared to the billions Wales is owed on rail, and what Labour – up until they came into power – used to agree with us on."The people of Wales have seen this injustice for what it is – Wales being short-changed by successive Westminster governments. This announcement won't change that."Additional reporting by Gareth Lewis
