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Shadow home secretary suggests ministers should have released more information about Southport attacker last summer
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, has been giving interviews this morning, where he was restated Tory suggestions that ministers wrongly withheld information from the public about the Southport attacker, Axel Rudakubana, last summer. This is what Philp told Times Radio.
I think it’s just important the inquiry looks at all of this, gets to the truth both about what happened beforehand, but critically also the government’s response afterwards, and what they knew when and whether they should have put more information into the public domain.
It appears they withheld information about the perpetrator, potentially, on CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] advice.
William Shawcross [who conducted an inquiry into Prevent, the anti-radicalisation programme] has raised questions over that, saying that if you leave a void, then speculation fills it, and William Shawcross is obviously an expert lawyer, and also says there’s quite a lot you can say about these incidents afterwards.
But clearly in this case, the government, it appears, didn’t share information which they had in their possession.
Starmer expected to hit back at 'cover-up' claims in press conference on public inquiry into Southport attack
Good morning. Keir Starmer is due to give a statement, and hold a press conference, within the next hour to discuss the government’s decision to hold a public inquiry into the Southport attack.
According to briefing in advance, Starmer is also keen to use the event this morning to refute claims that there was some sort of cover-up last summer because information about the attacker, Axel Rudakubana, was withheld from the public. Reform UK politicians were particularly vocal in amplifying these claims, and they were a factor that led to the rioting that broke out in some parts of northern England, with attacks on hotels housing asylum seekers. The police insisted there was a limit to what they could say about Rudakubana because the release of information about his violent background could prejudice a trial. Starmer is expected to repeat those points this morning, with reference to his background as a former head of the Crown Prosecution Service.
Yesterday Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, was sticking to his claim that there was a “cover-up”. The Conservatives are not going that far, but Kemi Badenoch has suggested ministers were wrongly holding back information from the public. On the Today programme this morning Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, suggested there was a case for loosening sub judice rules to allow the police to say a bit more about a suspect ahead of a trial.
Here is the agenda for the day.
8.30am: Keir Starmer holds a press conference about the decision to hold a public inquiry into the Southport attack.
Morning: Starmer chairs cabinet.
10am: Prof Alexis Jay, chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, gives evidence to the Commons home affairs committee about the implementation of the recommendations in her report published in 2022.
10.30am: Charlie Taylor, chief inspector of prisons, gives evidence to the Lords justice and home affairs committee.
After 12.30pm: Yvette Cooper, the home seceretary, is due to make a statement to MPs about the inquiry into the Southport killings.
3.30pm: Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, gives evidence to a joint session of the Lords’ environment and climate change committee and its science and technology committee.
5.10pm: Darren Jones, chief secretary to the Treasury, gives a speech to the Institute for Government’s annual conference.
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