Nandy denies government pressured into grooming gang review by social media
Lisa Nandy has claimed “we’re not a government that governs by social media” despite it appearing that home secretary Yvette Cooper yesterday announced an urgent national review of the scale of grooming gangs after pressure on internet platforms driven by US-based tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, the culture secretary said:
We’re not a government that governs by social media. We govern for the real world.
Victims have been warning over and over again, telling the same story about the systems that were supposed to protect them, protecting themselves, and young women who weren’t believed because they were young, they were female, and they were working-class.
We know what needs to be done, and as a government we are wasting no time in getting on and making sure that we deliver for those young women.
Nandy said there was “far too much heat on social media [and] not enough light,” adding “I don’t agree for a moment that this government is being driven by what happens on social media.”
On Thursday, Cooper said Louise Casey, who produced a report into sexual abuse in Rotherham, would lead a three-month review into what was known about the scale and extent of grooming gangs.
Cooper said Casey would examine data not available to the initial national inquiry into gangs led by Prof Alexis Jay, and would look into the ethnicity and demographics of abusers and victims, as well as “the cultural and societal drivers for this type of offending, including amongst different ethnic groups”.
Key events
Rowena Mason
Rowena Mason is the Guardian’s Whitehall editor
Rachel Reeves has said she is not going to let her critics get her down after a bruising week of speculation about whether she could be ousted as chancellor.
Reeves said she is qualified for the job and has the ideas to turn things around, amid worries about falling business confidence and the rising cost of government borrowing.
“I haven’t taken it personally this week. It’s political,” she said on the BBC’s Political Thinking with Nick Robinson. “Some people don’t want me to succeed. Some people don’t want this government to succeed. That’s fair enough. That’s their prerogative. But I’m not going to let them get me down. I’m not going to let them stop me from doing what this government has got a mandate to do, and that is to grow the economy, to make working people better off.
“People have been through a tough time the last few years. The cost of living crisis has taken its toll. Our economy has not been competitive enough. People’s wages have stagnated. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Read more of Rowena Mason’s report here: I won’t let critics get to me, says Reeves after speculation about her future
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy this morning said the government would accept a “majority” of the recommendations set out by Prof Alexis Jay aimed at preventing future child sexual abuse, but stated that “There are a few where we looking at whether at the way in which we implement them.”
Ministers have previously asserted that the government was planning to implement the 20 recommendations “in full.”
Nandy denies government pressured into grooming gang review by social media
Lisa Nandy has claimed “we’re not a government that governs by social media” despite it appearing that home secretary Yvette Cooper yesterday announced an urgent national review of the scale of grooming gangs after pressure on internet platforms driven by US-based tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, the culture secretary said:
We’re not a government that governs by social media. We govern for the real world.
Victims have been warning over and over again, telling the same story about the systems that were supposed to protect them, protecting themselves, and young women who weren’t believed because they were young, they were female, and they were working-class.
We know what needs to be done, and as a government we are wasting no time in getting on and making sure that we deliver for those young women.
Nandy said there was “far too much heat on social media [and] not enough light,” adding “I don’t agree for a moment that this government is being driven by what happens on social media.”
On Thursday, Cooper said Louise Casey, who produced a report into sexual abuse in Rotherham, would lead a three-month review into what was known about the scale and extent of grooming gangs.
Cooper said Casey would examine data not available to the initial national inquiry into gangs led by Prof Alexis Jay, and would look into the ethnicity and demographics of abusers and victims, as well as “the cultural and societal drivers for this type of offending, including amongst different ethnic groups”.
Welcome and opening summary …
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of UK politics. Here are your headlines.
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy has defended the government decision to call a three-month review into what was known about the scale and extent of grooming and rape gangs, and said “We’re not a government that governs by social media”
On the BBC’s Political Thinking with Nick Robinson podcast the chancellor Rachel Reeves has said she is not going to let her critics get her down
Opposition Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who has criticised the Labour government decision to remove the winter fuel payment in favour of a means-tested benefit, has said the Tories will consider means testing the triple-lock on pensions
Retailers in Great Britain experienced a surprise fall in sales last month, as supermarkets and food stores had their worst Christmas since 2013, according to official figures
Prime minister Keir Starmer is expected to be in Poland. Former business secretary and now Conservative peer Alok Sharma is appearing at the Covid inquiry.
It is Martin Belam with you today. You can reach me on email at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
Article by:Source – Martin Belam
