Keir Starmer to launch national inquiry into grooming gangs

Keir Starmer will launch a national inquiry into grooming gangs after receiving the recommendations of an independent report on the scandal.The prime minister said a new statutory inquiry was “the right thing to do” based on the findings submitted by Louise Casey, who has carried out a months-long inquiry into the abuse of young girls.Speaking to reporters travelling with him to the G7 summit in Canada, Starmer said Casey recommended “a national inquiry on the basis of what she has seen”.“I have read every single word of her report and I am going to accept her recommendation. That is the right thing to do on the basis of what she has put in her audit,” he said

Labour ‘staking everything’ on billions in investment to reverse UK’s decline

Labour is “staking everything” on using billions of pounds of investment to reverse Britain’s decline, Angela Rayner has said, promising people would feel the housing crisis ease by the end of the parliament.The UK housing secretary is now in a race to persuade housing associations to take on social housing projects, with nearly £40bn for affordable and social homes to be spent over 10 years, the culmination of lengthy negotiations with the Treasury.She admitted it was the start of a long road to attract associations under huge financial pressures to invest again in social housing. Many are turning down opportunities from developers when they offer section 106 homes as part of their social housing obligations.Rayner said it was still unclear whether the majority of the homes would be for social rent

Civil service is ‘too remote’ from people’s lives across UK, says minister

The Whitehall civil service is too remote from people’s lives and needs to be “turned inside out” as part of plans to drive three of Keir Starmer’s missions from outside London, a Cabinet Office minister has said.Georgia Gould, a former leader of Camden council who had a meteoric rise after her election as a Labour MP last year, said the government’s plan to move thousands more civil service jobs out of London was not about just “having offices in places” – and Whitehall civil servants needed to be more familiar with the day-to-day problems in frontline services from health centres to family hubs.She said her job was to help close the “big gap between those doing the frontline operational roles and those who are making policies” by helping them to work together, share data and come up with new ideas about how to improve people’s lives – especially those who “fall through the cracks” of different public services.Gould told the Guardian that Whitehall working would be “turned inside out”, as the Cabinet Office announced Starmer’s health mission would be based in Leeds, its opportunity mission in Sheffield and its growth mission in Darlington, with civil servants working with local government and frontline workers to pioneer new approaches.The Cabinet Office announced in May that major Whitehall government buildings were to be shut by ministers as they seek to shed 12,000 civil servant jobs in London, while moving thousands of roles to cities across the UK

Ministers step up efforts to quell growing rebellion over UK welfare bill

The government is intensifying efforts to quell a growing rebellion over welfare cuts, with whips stepping up contact with MPs and strategists drawing up plans for a cabinet reshuffle in case of resignations.Ministers are taking a carrot-and-stick approach by laying out extra support for people who face losing their benefits, while also warning mutinous MPs of the consequences of voting against the plans.Several MPs said that whips were strengthening efforts to bring them into line after Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, sought to ease concerns by promising extra protections for vulnerable people.Some MPs say there have been suggestions that the vote on cuts could be treated as a confidence issue, with those rebelling facing suspension from the whip or even deselection. No 10 and government sources strongly denied this

Russia adviser Fiona Hill’s alarming conclusion | Letter

Fiona Hill’s assessment of the Russian threat to Britain is a classic example of how a seemingly rational argument based on a false premise and scanty evidence can lead to a mad conclusion (Russia is at war with Britain and US is no longer a reliable ally, UK adviser says, 6 June). It is especially alarming that this conclusion was reached by one of the three principal authors of the recent strategic defence review.The false premise is that Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is the first step to make Russia “a dominant military power in all of Europe”. Evidence that Britain is already under attack is provided by “the poisonings, assassinations, sabotage operations … cyber-attacks and influence operations .

Ministers to offer olive branch on welfare plans to avert Labour rebellion

Ministers are to offer mutinous Labour MPs an olive branch on the government’s welfare plans to help avert a major rebellion in a crucial vote early next month.Liz Kendall, the welfare secretary, wants to reassure angry MPs who have threatened to rebel over fears that sick and disabled people will be hardest hit.The Guardian has been told she will put “non-negotiable” protections for the most vulnerable benefits recipients on the face of the welfare reform bill when it is published next week, providing additional support to those with the most severe conditions who will never work.But with Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, ruling out a U-turn on disability benefit cuts and government aides insisting there will be no substantial change to the bill, it is unclear whether the tweaks will be enough to prevent a rebellion that could even risk a defeat.Labour MPs are demanding big changes to the proposals first put forward in March in the welfare green paper, including a rethink on eligibility for personal independence payments (Pip) for disabled people and benefits for carers