Keir Starmer vows war on social media giants unless they impose strict ‘world-first’ restrictions for children

Kemi Badenoch calls for ‘endless war of words’ between US and UK after Trump administration publicly commented on the Henry Nowak murder

Kemi Badenoch has said there needs to be a stop to the “endless war of words” after figures from the Trump administration publicly commented on the Henry Nowak murder.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy has told JD Vance he was wrong to link the murder to immigration.

Conservative Party leader Mrs Badenoch said: “David Lammy has the right to say what he thinks about this issue, but I do think that there is a problem, especially with social media, of so many politicians commenting about what’s happening in other countries.

“David Lammy and others made very vocal criticisms about the death of George Floyd, that is the justification that Americans are now using.

“I think we just need to stop all of this, this endless war of words publicly.

“People should be dignified when talking to foreign counterparts. Let’s keep the negative feedback with our allies in private, otherwise we’re just helping countries like Iran and Russia who want to see us at loggerheads.”

She said she had spoken to US colleagues about the comments.

“I have, but those are private discussions, because I think it is important that where there is feedback and criticism, it is done through private channels.

“I do not like it when I see President Trump being overtly critical about Europe or our Government on social media.”

Daisy Cooper says she is ‘deeply sad’ that Keir Starmer hasn’t acted much sooner on social media ultimatum

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said it is “desperately sad” the Prime Minister has only now issued an ultimatum to tech companies over children sending naked images.

Speaking at a press conference on energy bills on Monday, Ms Cooper said: “I just find it desperately sad that it has taken almost two years for the Prime Minister to do this, and I think it’s desperately sad that he’s now doing it in the context of a leadership challenge rather than doing it because it’s the right thing to do.

“I think all of us were moved when we heard Jess Phillips talking about her pleading with the Prime Minister.

“She had been pleading with the Prime Minister to act on this issue time and time again, clearly we haven’t seen the details of how it would work, and we will scrutinise that, but you know we are two years into this Parliament, and we’ve been wanting to see action.”

Ms Cooper added: “We think these big tech companies that are pouring poison into children’s brains need to be paying a lot more to help with that particular issue, and we want stronger regulation as well.

“So, I hope we do see genuine action by the Prime Minister, but I find it deeply sad that he hasn’t acted much sooner.”

Keir Starmer ‘deeply concerned about the resumption of violence’ as Iran and Israel exchanged missile attacks

Sir Keir Starmer said it was “really important that all parties get back to a ceasefire” in the Middle East after Iran and Israel exchanged missile attacks and air strikes.

The Prime Minister said: “I am deeply concerned about the resumption of violence. It is really important that all parties get back to a ceasefire.

“There are serious negotiations going on, towards a lasting peace.

“It’s really important that we give them ever chance of success because this conflict is already having a huge impact across the world, including here in the United Kingdom.

“So I say to all parties, we all have a responsibility to get back to that ceasefire and it’s really important we’re very clear about that.”

It comes after Iran fired missiles at Israel on Sunday evening for the first time in months, leaving Tehran’s fragile ceasefire with the US hanging by a thread.

Kemi Badenoch continues calls for full social media ban on under 16s

Kemi Badenoch has said the Prime Minister needs to get children off social media rather than taking “piecemeal” action, after he told tech firms they must stop children sending and receiving explicit images on their devices or face a change to the law.

The Conservative Party leader said: “I think the move today is an idea without a proper plan behind it.

“I don’t want to see children being able to send nudes, but I don’t know exactly how the government is looking at this.

“A much simpler way of dealing with these things is getting children off social media rather than piecemeal measures that are tackling the problems issue by issue.

“We’ve got to go much further than that.”

Asked whether she would back a ban on social media that goes up to the age of 18, she said: “I think that 16 is an appropriate age for children to start using social media.”

Why an Andy Burnham win could boost Labour now but pave the way for a Reform majority – analysis by Keith Bays

Labour MPs are out in Makerfield campaigning for Andy Burnham; the man they know will challenge Keir Starmer if he is victorious on June 18.

If the Greater Manchester Mayor wins the by-election, he has a path to Downing Street.

Labour would likely receive a boost with Andy Burnham in No10 due to his popularity with a Survation poll showing 54 per cent of Labour members having a strong positive view of him, but it could be short-lived, and it could open the door to a Nigel Farage majority government.

GB NEWS MEMBERS CAN READ THE FULL ANALYSIS HERE

​Jess Phillips felt ‘relief’ at Keir Starmer speech

Jess Phillips said she felt “relief” at the Prime Minister’s call for tech firms to stop children sending or receiving explicit images.

The former minister, who cited the issue in her resignation letter last month, said: “My reaction is one of relief that this has happened.

“I look forward to working with the Government on what the legislation needs to be to make sure that no child can ever be tricked into taking naked images of themselves for the use of global paedophile networks.”

‘Tech should adapt to the needs of society, not the other way around’ – Keir Starmer

Speaking from London Tech Week, Sir Keir Starmer says: “Today I’m calling on tech companies operating in this country to introduce device controls that prevent children from sending and receiving sexually explicit images.

“Because this is not an impossible challenge.

“These are some of the most innovative companies in the world, and I believe they can solve it.

“But if they choose not to, then we will act and we will change the law.”

He added: “Tech should adapt to the needs of society, not the other way around.”

‘We’re on the precipice of something truly extraordinary!’ – Keir Starmer

Sir Keir Starmer has said the government has simplified online regulations, adding “we’re on the precipice of something truly extraordinary”.

Predicting an online revolution, he asked: “What kind of country do we want to be as it unfolds?”

The Prime Minister asks whether Britain shapes the change or allows it “to shape us”.

Keir Starmer begins speaking at London Tech Week

Sir Keir Starmer began his speech by focusing on a long-running soap factory that became “a symbol of a community left behind” in Warrington, a town in Cheshire.

The factory, which has been transformed into a new AI data centre, is attracting new investment, creating skilled jobs, and generating opportunities, the Prime Minister claimed.

He added: “Young people can look at that site and see not what their community used to be but what it can become.”

Net Zero ‘madness destroying jobs’ as union boss turns on Labour and likens party to Margaret Thatcher’s Tories

Labour’s push for Net Zero has been blamed for “destroying” British jobs by the head of one of the largest Labour-supporting trade unions.

Gary Smith, general secretary of the GMB union, compared Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership to Margaret Thatcher’s, saying energy policies were “closing factories, hitting investment and hitting jobs”.

The Union boss has once again hit out at plans to phase out North Sea oil and gas in a direct attack on Ed Miliband’s suggestion that the economy will benefit by turning to clean energy.

He branded the suggestion as “utter nonsense” and described the policies impact as “shameful”.

Mr Smith told the Radio Times: “Sacking thousands of workers who currently work in the North Sea is economic madness. The impact they’re having is shameful. It’s more akin to Thatcher and what she did to Middlesbrough in the 1980s.

“We’re losing jobs in places like Aberdeen. But remember, many oil and gas workers come from areas like the northeast of England too. Putting these people out of work, stopping future generations going to work in decent, well paid, unionised jobs, that’s just crazy.”

Jacqui Smith accuses Pete Hegseth of ‘lacking in class’ after he used D-Day event to berate Europe over ‘invasion’ of migrants

Baroness Jacqui Smith has accused US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth of “lacking in class” after he used a D-Day event to berate Europe over an “invasion” of migrants.

The Government minister said Mr Hegseth was wrong to make the claim and criticised his decision to do it at a memorial event marking the 82nd anniversary of the Normandy landings.

The former home secretary’s criticism of Mr Hegseth is the latest sign of frustration among ministers at comments from members of US President Donald Trump’s administration.

Over the weekend, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said he had a “robust” conversation with JD Vance over the US vice president’s comments on the Henry Nowak murder.

Skills Minister Lady Smith’s comments came after Mr Hegseth spoke at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer in north-western France on Saturday.

He said today “different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies”.

“Beaches in Spain and Italy and Greece and Bulgaria. Boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late? I pray not, and I believe not.”

Asked if Mr Hegseth was right, Lady Smith told LBC Radio: “No, he’s not right, and no, I think it’s a bit lacking in class to raise it at a ceremony like that.”

Labour has ‘mismanaged our economy!’, says Mel Stride

Sir Mel Stride has launched a scathing attack on the Labour government, claiming the party has mismanaged the economy.

Speaking to GB News, the Shadow Chancellor said: “One of the reasons for the delay is that the Treasury has suddenly appeared panicked for those looking from the outside and turned around to departments to say they’ve got to find some fairly significant cuts in their capital budgets to pay for the ideas or the approach that they think they’re about to come forward with the defence investment plan.

“So none of this feels like something that’s been properly thought through, which is probably why we’ve had the delay on the defence investment plan since last autumn.

“The fundamental problem is that the government has mismanaged our economy, left us in a very vulnerable situation, such that it’s very difficult to afford what is now clear and necessary.

“And the biggest thing that they could do is to get a grip of the welfare bill, get people off benefits and into work.

“We have shown how you could make at least £23billion worth of savings in that area, and then you can do things like pay for defence, then you can do things like get taxes down on businesses so that you can grow the economy.”

He added: “People are speculating feverishly about what’s going to happen to the Prime Minister. Is he going to be replaced by Andy Burnham or somebody else? The reality is, the problem that we have with the government is not who’s leading it.

“It is the fact that the Labour parliamentary party are not prepared to take the kind of bold and sometimes slightly tough decisions to get our country on the right economic footing.”

Mel Stride hits back at Donald Trump weighing up a proposal to acquire the Chagos Islands

Sir Mel Stride has responded to reports that Donald Trump is weighing a proposal to acquire the Chagos Islands and effectively crush Keir Starmer’s surrender plan.

American officials have prepared a plan that would see Washington negotiate its own arrangement to secure control of Diego Garcia, the vital military installation in the Indian Ocean archipelago.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has personally brought the concept to President Trump’s attention, though sources indicate it does not currently represent the White House’s preferred course of action.

The Shadow Chancellor told GB News: “I am very pleased that the Conservative Party applied pressure on this Chagos situation, such that we haven’t ended up in a position where we’re actually paying Mauritius £30 billion for the privilege of continuing to have access to Diego Garcia going forward.

“But the critical thing in terms of our defensive posture will be that we maintain access to Diego Garcia going forward for many years to come.

He added: “I think we have to see what it is the Americans are suggesting here… one of the most important things is that our country needs to make sure that it has access to that base of Diego Garcia to protect our national interests.”

Nearly 200 criminals released from prison by mistake as Labour slammed for leaving 98% of victims in dark

Nearly 200 criminals were released from prison by mistake between April last year to March as Labour has been slammed for leaving 98 per cent of victims in the dark.

Only three victims involved in the cases of 179 mistakenly released prisoners were notified of the Prison Services’s error.

An official report published in April showed there were 179 cases of inmates being let go early.

Of the 179, there were 14 victims who were on the Probation Service’s Victim Contact Scheme, which gives those impacted by a serious and violent crime the right to receive information about the offender, but only three were given notice of the mistake, the Daily Mail reports.

Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy said Labour had “broken” the trust victims place in the criminal justice system.

He said: “David Lammy offered what he called an unequivocal apology for his erroneous release scandal. It was not worth the paper it was written on.

“Victims of crime place their trust in the system to treat them with basic dignity, to tell them, at minimum, when the person who wronged them has been let out of prison by accident. Labour have broken that trust.”

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Labour MP demands Keir Starmer SACK Ed Miliband as he brands Net Zero targets ‘insane’

A Labour MP has demanded Sir Keir Starmer sacks Ed Miliband as he branded latest Net Zero targets as “insane”.

On Tuesday, the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (Desnz) announced the Government aims to reduce carbon emissions by 87 per cent between 2038 and 2042.

The announcement has drawn fierce criticism from those who argue it accelerates deindustrialisation at the worst possible time for British energy security.

Graham Stringer, MP for Blackley and Middleton South, called for the Energy Secretary’s sacking after calling it “insane”, because the Government is not issuing more licences for gas and exploration in the North Sea to generate jobs.

He told GB News: “Whilst further capitalisation of our own gas and oil fields will have a marginal impact on price, it will generate UK jobs. We are generating jobs in Norway and Qatar at the expense of our own. The policy, quite frankly, is insane.”

GB NEWS MEMBERS CAN READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Keir Starmer refuses to exchange ‘UK’s worst stalker’ for British couple jailed in Iran

Keir Starmer has refused to exchange a man dubbed Britain’s “worst stalker” for a British couple jailed in Iran.

No10 pushed back at suggestions of a prisoner exchange after the family of British couple Craig and Lindsay Foreman appealed to the Government.

Iranian authorities had proposed Richard Jan – a biochemist described as the country’s “worst stalker” – in exchange for the Foremans’ in conversations with the Government and the Foreman’s family.

A Government spokesman, however, has robustly denied the claims.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Keir Starmer set to impose internet restrictions

Sir Keir Starmer is set to impose internet restrictions on millions of Britons with a social media ban on under-16s.

The Prime Minister is expected to pursue an “Australian-plus” model following a three-month consultation on Australia’s social media ban, combining restrictions on high-risk platforms for under-16s with curbs on addictive features and tougher age-verification checks.

Today’s anticipated announcement will mark the first phase of the crackdown, requiring technology firms to introduce software that prevents children from taking, storing or sharing intimate images.

Companies including Google and Apple could face fines, restrictions on device sales to minors or criminal penalties if they fail to comply within 90 days.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

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