Wes Streeting was not the only person doing an LBC phone-in this morning,Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan police commissioner, was on too, and he used his interview to accuse President Trump of talking “complete nonsense” about London,Trump has regularly complained about the level of crime in London, apparently inspired by alarmist reports he has seen on TV or social media, and he criticised the city again in a recent interview with Politico,He said he hated to see what is happening there, and he blamed the mayor, Sadiq Khan,In an interview last month with GB News, he claimed that there were areas in the capital that were no-go areas for the police, and he claimed sharia law applied there too.

He even said the same thing in a speech to the UN in September.Rowley told LBC this morning that these sorts of comments from Trump were “complete nonsense”.'Complete nonsense.' Met Police Chief Sir Mark Rowley rubbishes Donald Trump's claims about violence in London under Sadiq Khan.pic.

twitter.com/m5Vpg1qqxrRowley said:There’s no no-go areas, that’s completely false.How anybody in America can suggest the UK is violent is completely ridiculous.The homicide rate in London is lower than every single US state.It’s lower than all their big cities.

The murder rate in New York last time I looked is three or four times higher than London per capita,The homicide rate in London is lower than it is in Toronto, it’s lower than Paris, it’s lower than Brussels, it’s lower than Berlin,This is a safe city,I’m not going to pretend it’s perfect,This trend of trying to rubbish London, some of which is driven by politics, we who are proud Londoners need to fight back about it.

Rowley did not specifically talk about Khan, saying he did not want to intervene in a dispute between two politicians.Senior leaders of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been sanctioned by the UK over “heinous crimes” committed during the country’s civil war, the Foreign Office has announced.It says the four sanctioned commanders are “suspected of heinous violence in El Fasher, Sudan, including mass killings, systematic sexual violence and deliberate attacks on civilians”.I have updated the post at 9.33am with the full quote from Wes Streeting about why he is allowing the trial of puberty blockers to go ahead, as recommended by the Cass report, even though personally he is uncomfortable with the idea.

You may need to refresh the page to get the update to appear.Wes Streeting was not the only person doing an LBC phone-in this morning.Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan police commissioner, was on too, and he used his interview to accuse President Trump of talking “complete nonsense” about London.Trump has regularly complained about the level of crime in London, apparently inspired by alarmist reports he has seen on TV or social media, and he criticised the city again in a recent interview with Politico.He said he hated to see what is happening there, and he blamed the mayor, Sadiq Khan.

In an interview last month with GB News, he claimed that there were areas in the capital that were no-go areas for the police, and he claimed sharia law applied there too,He even said the same thing in a speech to the UN in September,Rowley told LBC this morning that these sorts of comments from Trump were “complete nonsense”,'Complete nonsense,' Met Police Chief Sir Mark Rowley rubbishes Donald Trump's claims about violence in London under Sadiq Khan.

pic.twitter.com/m5Vpg1qqxrRowley said:There’s no no-go areas, that’s completely false.How anybody in America can suggest the UK is violent is completely ridiculous.The homicide rate in London is lower than every single US state.

It’s lower than all their big cities.The murder rate in New York last time I looked is three or four times higher than London per capita.The homicide rate in London is lower than it is in Toronto, it’s lower than Paris, it’s lower than Brussels, it’s lower than Berlin.This is a safe city.I’m not going to pretend it’s perfect.

This trend of trying to rubbish London, some of which is driven by politics, we who are proud Londoners need to fight back about it,Rowley did not specifically talk about Khan, saying he did not want to intervene in a dispute between two politicians,Members of the House of Lords have proposed “totally unnecessary” and “very cruel” amendments to the assisted dying bill in a bid to scupper it, Kim Leadbeater, the MP leading the campaign for the legislation, has said,Kiran Stacey has the story,I have beefed up the post at 9.

08am to include the direct quote from Wes Streeting about not being able to guarantee patient safety in the NHS if the strike by resident doctors in England goes ahead.You may need to refresh the page to get the update to appear.In his LBC phone-in, when asked about his New Statesman interview (see 9.43am), Wes Streeting, the health secretary, also insisted that his comments about the government’s “technocratic approach” were not a criticism of Keir Starmer.He said:No, it’s not criticism of the prime minister.

I think it is a challenge to all of us, because all of us in government and in the cabinet in particular, have a responsibility to get the government’s message across, and sometimes, I think what we’re guilty of is coming on and listing a whole load of stuff we’ve done,Now that’s a good thing, because we’ve done loads of stuff since the elections to deliver our manifesto,The problem with a big, long shopping list is you can’t always remember what’s on it, and people walk away thinking, ‘I kind of heard some stuff they’re doing, but can’t quite remember what it’s about’,We’ve got to be much better at putting an account of what this government is about and who it is for,And this is what Streeting compared child deaths in temporary accommodation linked to poverty to the actions of a child killer (see 9.

43am) as an example of how to explain policy vividly.Ferrari asks Streeting about his New Statesman interview comments complaining about the government’s “technocratic” approach.Streeting says there are a lot of good things that the government is doing.But people don’t always appreciate them.As an example, he cites Steve Reed, the housing secretary, saying that something like 60 children have died living in temporary accommodation.

He goes on:Now, if a serial killer had killed over 60 children in our country over that length of time, it would be splashed on the front of every newspaper.We would remember the name of that killer for the rest of our lives.But in this case, children are quietly dying.Their parents do not have a megaphone or a microphone, and they are dying in shabby temporary accommodation.Streeting says the government is lifting half a million children out of poverty.

And the homelessness strategy published yesterday includes a specific commitment to reduce the number of families trapped in this sort of accommodation,Q: Can you rule out challenging Keir Starmer on a joint ticket with Angela Rayner?Yes, says Streeting,Q: You are allowing a trial of puberty blockers for children questioning their gender,Some children involved will be as young as 10,Why are you allowing this?Streeting says in her report Hilary Cass uncovered a shocking lack of evidence about the effectiveness of these treatments.

As a result, the government stopped the use of puberty blockers, and Streeting says he extended this.But Cass also recommended a trial, he says.He admits he is “not comfortable” about this going ahead.But he says, in allowing it to go ahead, he is following the clinical advice.He says he is uncomfortable about the idea of stopping puberty.

But he says other countries use these drugs.There is some evidence that it is better than leaving trans people without treatment, and all the distress that comes with that.This does not sit comfortably with him, he says.But, as a politician, he does not want to interfer with clinicians who know far more about this topic than he does.UPDATE: Streeting said:The Pathway study involves a whole range of treatments and care, including therapeutics or mental health support, but it also included a trial on this puberty blockers thing.

I’m not comfortable, candidly, about it …I’ve had my constituency office windows put through three times by trans activists, and received all sorts of threats,Since this trial has been announced, I’ve been called all the names under the sun online and received some pretty nasty stuff,To be honest, the extreme stuff I don’t care about anyway, the political noise I kind of put to one side,I’m following clinical advice …Now, the clinical advice is to go ahead with the trial,And those who advocate this medication – and lots of other countries are using medication in these cases – suggest that for trans people, this is a better course of treatment than leaving them without, and with all of the distress and harm that that can cause.

We’re following that evidence.As I say, it doesn’t sit comfortably with me.I’m trying really hard as a politician not to interfere or block clinical advice by people who are, frankly, far more qualified than me.And, you know, there will be debate on this.Q: Is the BMA more of a political organisation than a health organisation?Streeting says it feels like that, but he says he does not want to go over that again today.

Q: Do you regret calling the BMA “moaning minnies” and accusing them of “juvenile delinquency”?Not really, says Streeting.He says he was angry because figures show that patient satisfaction with access to GPs has gone up by 60% to 75%.But, instead of welcoming this, the BMA was still opposing measures to extend online consultations.But Streeting says he wants to turn over a new leaf in terms of relations with the BMA in the new year.He says the BMA chair recently apologised for some intemperate language,.

In that spirit, Streeting says, he want to reciprocate,“I regret some of the things I have said too,” he says,The first caller is a resident doctor who asks why he should listen to Wes Streeting when Streeting called him a juvenile delinquent,(Streeting actually said that about the BMA,)Streeting is now talking about the measures the government is taking to help resident doctors.

He explained this in an article in the Times.Here is an extract.I haven’t just listened to resident doctors’ complaints about the competition for jobs.I agree with them.It used to be that resident doctors competed amongst themselves for specialty training places — the next rung on the ladder in a medic’s career.

Thanks to obscure immigration and visa changes introduced by the Conservatives post-Brexit, they now compete with the world’s doctors,In 2019, there were around 12,000 applicants for 9,000 specialty training places,This year, that has soared to over 30,000 applicants for 10,000 places,Taxpayers shell out £4bn a year to train doctors,It is in all of our interests to protect our investments and stop them going offshore.

If our offer is accepted, we will introduce emergency legislation to prioritise UK medical graduates for foundation and specialty training places.International talent will always have a home in our NHS.But this will return us to the fair terms doctors competed on before Brexit.Along with an extra 4,000 specialty places, including 1,000 this year, the changes will be real and immediate for this year’s applicants.Instead of four doctors competing for every training post, it will now be fewer than two doctors for every place