Farage exploiting Henry Nowak’s murder against wishes of his family, says Starmer – UK politics live

Key events

Cost of living and high street among top priorities for Makerfield voters, poll shows

Voters in Makerfield rank the cost of living, declining high streets and public services as among the most important issues locally, with many also disillusioned by the political system and distrustful of politicians, according to new research. Hannah Al-Othman has the story.

Starmer offers apology on behalf of state over killing of five Catholics in Northern Ireland by army in 1972

Rory Carroll is the Guardian’s Ireland correspondent.

Keir Starmer has apologised on behalf of the UK government to the families of five people who were shot dead in west Belfast in 1972. (See 12.07pm.)

In April, a coroner concluded that British Army soldiers “did not use reasonable force” in the shooting of a Catholic priest, a father-of-six and three teenagers at Springhill/Westrock on July 9 1972.

Mr Justice Scoffield said Father Noel Fitzpatrick, 42, father-of-six Patrick Butler, 38, and teenagers David McCafferty and Margaret Gargan were unarmed and posed no risk when they were shot.

The coroner said he was unable to conclude whether the other teenager, 16-year-old John Dougal, was armed when he was shot.

He said the teenager was a member of the junior wing of the Provisional IRA but added that on balance he concluded that John had not progressed into the ranks of the adult IRA.

The coroner said even if the teenager had been in possession of a firearm, he was not using it and was likely to have been running away when he was shot in the back.

The families of those killed had called for a public apology and had recently criticised the government over its “silence” after the inquest findings.

The prime minister has now written to the families individually to personally apologise for what happened and the grief and suffering they have endured.

He also made a formal apology at PMQs today. (See 12.07pm.)

He said:

The findings of the recent Springhill inquest into the tragic deaths in July 1972 of Father Noel Fitzpatrick, Patrick Butler, Margaret Gargan, David McCafferty and John Dougal are sobering.

While the circumstances in which the events occurred were undoubtedly challenging, it is the duty of the state to hold itself to the highest standard.

The government accepts and deeply regrets these findings, and recognises their gravity.

On behalf of the government, I want to apologise unreservedly to the families for what happened and for the grief and trauma that they have endured since the tragic deaths of their loved ones.

Ben Habib proposes shelving his Advance UK party to create more space for Restore Britain to take on Reform UK

Ben Quinn is a Guardian political correspondent.

Advance UK, the hard-right outfit set up by former Reform UK deputy leader Ben Habib, has announced it is stepping aside to make way for Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain to become the main force trying to emerge as a rival to Nigel Farage’s party.

Habib used a video message on X to announced that Advance UK would be de-registering as a political party and was “taking a step back” to prevent “confusion” on the party of voters looking for a right-wing alternative to Reform.

Advance UK has a few dozen councillors around England, mainly those who have defected from Reform and other places, while the far-right activist known as Tommy Robinson has identified himself as a supporter in the past.

The move now potentially opens up the potential for Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, to team up with Restore Britain, which was set up by the former Reform MP Rupert Lowe.

Lowe used X to praise Habib’s announcement, adding that his one-time Reform UK colleague and the Advance UK membership would be welcome in Restore Britain, but he added that it was a decision for them to make.

PMQs - snap verdict

In terms of the exchanges between the PM and the leader of the opposition, that was not quite a consensus PMQs. Kemi Badenoch asked about welfare, taunted the PM over his record, and came out with an OK jibe about Starmer being a “caretaker”. But it was all quite gentle, and Badenoch did not really score any hits. Her key decision was not politicise the central news of the day. In fact, Starmer even commended her for her stance on the Henry Nowak murder. (See 12.15pm – did he know in advance she was going to lead on welfare?) Badenoch’s choice of subject matter seems to have come as a disappointment to GB News (aka Reform UK TV), but it meant the Starmer/Badenoch exchanges felt more mature and sensible than they normally do.

One consequence of that was that the most important confrontation of the session came when Nigel Farage asked a question, and Starmer responded. (See 12.46pm.) In PMQs terms, this was a resounding win; Farage was knocked out of the park. But not because Starmer was particularly aggressive, or funny, or because he blindsided Farage with a clever argument; it was a victory of tone. Starmer got it right, and Farage got it wrong. (Unless you are a GB News viewer, perhaps.)

It is hard to imagine that Badenoch is particularly comfortable with being seen as constructive and non-partisan in her dealings with Starmer (particularly if, in doing so, she helped him grind down Farage). This is definitely not her default mode. No doubt normal service will resume next week.

Calvin Bailey (Lab) said that, as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on prostate cancer, he welcomed the news that more black men are being invited in for checks.

He said this was justified because black men have double the risk of getting prostate cancer. But, he said, Reform UK had responded to this news with “divisive weasel words and race baiting”.

Bailey was referring to this social media post from Zia Yusuf, the Reform UK home affairs spokesperson, last night.

On the day the whole political establishment claims we do not live in a two tier country, they announce this.

Note, the NHS makes NO drugs available exclusively to white people.

Starmer said the government was determined to improve cancer care.

Bob Blackman (Con) asked the government to proscribe the IRGC and to take action against Iran-backed charities operating in the UK.

Starmer said proscription-type powers were being introduced for state entities, and he said the government would announce “further steps in coming days”.

Starmer says Reform just offering 'grievance and division' in Makerfield byelection

Andrew Rosindell (Ref) asked about Havering, where Reform won the council in the local elections.

That gave Starmer a chance to have a go at the Reform UK candidate in Makerfield, Robert Kenyon. He said:

I have studied the candidate for Makerfield, the Reform candidate, since he brings up election. A self-professed sexist said women who get abortions do it for vanity purposes, encouraged people not to get the Covid vaccine, and said Russia was within its rights to invade Crimea.

Reform have got nothing to offer but grievance and division yet again.

Starmer criticises Farage for past comments opposing taxpayer-funded NHS

Tristan Osborne (Lab) asked Starmer about NHS treatments for memory loss.

He went on:

A very distressing case was recently brought to my attention by a constituent in a village in my constituency, of a man who could not remember his own words, even though he said it on television that the NHS should not be funded through general taxation.

What can we do to ensure my constituents to ecure clarity on future Kent and Medway NHS funding? And what can we do to help the leader of Reform UK [Nigel Farage – the person who claims not to remember previously proposing a different way of funding the NHS].

Starmer replied:

The Reform leader wants everyone to forget that he called for our NHS to be replaced with an insurance based system. You might want to jot it down to jog his memory.

And then he said that if people can pay, they should pay for NHS treatment. So we can help him by jolting his memory here.

You cannot trust Reform with our NHS. The only way to protect it is to vote Labour.

Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid Cymru leader at Westminster, asked Starmer if he would give more powers to the Senedd.

Starmer said that he had spoken to Rhun ap Iorwerth, the new first minister, and that he would “work constructively, with the first minister and with the government in Wales, because that’s the right thing to do to deliver for Wales”.

Starmer condemns Farage at PMQs, condemning his 'rage' response to Nowak murder as 'unforgivable' snub to victim's family

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, also asked about the Nowak murder.

He said:

Following the horrendous circumstances of Henry Nowak’s death, can I urge the prime minister to consider this?

It is now clear to growing millions in this country that we are living under two tier policing.

The instructions that are given to police officers from police bosses are clear and written down in ink. It says you must treat different ethnic groups in different ways.

Farage suggested that was behind “the upset and the anger at the circumstances of his death, the anger that you saw spilling out in Southampton last night”.

Some MPs jeered at Farage, saying he should condemn the violence.

Farage went on:

If the public lose trust in being treated fairly by the police, can he take some action to end this divisive practice of two-tier policing and make sure that all British citizens are treated the same?

Starmer said: “I don’t believe there’s two-tier policing in this country.”

And he said that he was “really shocked” by Farage’s approach. He said Farage pretended to respect Nowak’s family. But he was acting like this.

Starmer went on:

The grieving family have asked us not to respond in the way that the leader of Reform has responded. They’ve asked us not to. They have lost their son in the most appalling circumstance. They make a simple plea of us as human beings to please not exploit that.

That is their plea to us. We all need to reflect on those words of Henry’s father.

My response – and the response of others, to be fair – has [been focused] on the lessons to be learned so we can deliver justice.

His response has been to appeal for rage.

That’s his response to a father who’s lost his son and asked for that not to happen.

Exploiting this tragedy to create grievance and division would be wrong in any circumstances, but to do it when the family are expressly saying please don’t is unforgivable. It shows who he is.