Keir Starmer’s Elon Musk response LIVE: PM defends his record on grooming gangs

Posting on X today, the Prime Minister wrote: “We inherited a broken NHS, with millions of people languishing on waiting lists. Their lives on hold.

“My government is delivering our Plan for Change. Our reforms to elective recovery will end backlogs and provide millions more appointments, making our NHS fit for the future.”

The former head of a national inquiry into child sexual abuse has warned against “politicising” the issue, as she urged the Government to act on the “full implementation” of reforms set out in her 2022 report.

Professor Alexis Jay distanced herself from calls in Westminster for a new independent review and said instead the introduction of measures which she recommended two years ago was “critical”.

Labour is now under pressure to launch a fresh probe into child sexual abuse from Reform UK and the . The latter refused a request for a public inquiry into events in Oldham while in government.

Prof Jay said: “Our mission is not to call for new inquiries but to advocate for the full implementation of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse’s recommendations. A child protection authority is critical to this process.”

Campaign group Act on IICSA, which is chaired by Prof Jay, said in an accompanying statement: “We urge the Government to provide a clear timeline to deliver on these commitments.

“Politicising the issue of sexual violence fails to acknowledge its lifelong impact and hinders the implementation of vital and urgent overhaul to our systems required.”

The Government said it was working “at pace” to deliver the reforms set out in the 2022 review, which found abuse was “endemic” across society in England and Wales.

It comes as the Prime Minister is expected to respond on Monday to ‘s flurry of attacks on his record in tackling historical grooming gang cases as director of public prosecutions (DPP).

Sir has so far resisted speaking about the slew of online posts by the tech billionaire, who is a close ally of US President-elect , which included calling him “complicit in the rape of Britain”.

Sir was touring a hospital today with Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

The PM is still yet to respond directly to Mr Musk’s barrage of attacks on the government over the weekend.

Health minister Karin Smyth said the Government is committed to implementing the recommendations from Professor Alexis Jay’s report on child sexual abuse.

Asked on ITV’s Good Morning Britain whether there will be a new national inquiry into grooming gangs, she said: “We’ve had the Alexis Jay inquiry, which, as as you know, took seven years, cost millions of pounds, and those 20 recommendations that she made were not implemented by the last government.

“So our approach has been to take those recommendations… we are committed to implementing those and working across Government.

“It is difficult to make sure that that happens, but we have the great leadership and experience of both Keir Starmer making sure that happens, and my colleague, Jess Phillips, and others who’ve got direct experience of making sure that these evil perpetrators are brought to justice and that victims are supported.

“So we want to support those people to have their voices heard and to make sure that the lessons are learned and those recommendations are implemented.”

She added: “I expect that the Prime Minister and others will be asked about that further.

“But it’s a big report, seven years’ worth of work. We need to get on with implementing those recommendations.

“Alexis Jay did such great work with victims to make sure their voices were heard in that report.

“They deserve that their voice is being heard, and they deserve those recommendations to be implemented, and that’s the work that we’re getting on with.”

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