Starmer says ‘of course’ he has faith in safeguarding minister Jess Phillips
Keir Starmer has reaffirmed his confidence in Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister, despite some grooming gang survivors calling for her resignation. (See 8.51am.)
Speaking to broadcasters this morning, he said:
The most important thing in relation to the grooming gangs is that we have the national inquiry and that absolutely gets to the truth and to justice.
Asked if he had faith in Phillips, Starmer replied:
Yes, of course, I do.
Jess has been working on issues involving violence against women and girls for many, many years.
According to PA Media, Starmer intends to reach out to victims in the light of what has happened.
Key events
DfE welcomes figures showing school attendance rates in England improving, though still below pre-Covid levels
Richard Adams
Richard Adams is the Guardian’s education editor.
School attendance rates in England continued to improve in the last academic year, according to data released by the Department for Education (DfE), although returning to pre-pandemic levels has been slowed by a core of severely absent pupils and higher levels of absence among pupils with special educational needs.
The figures for the autumn and spring terms of 2024-25 show an across the board decline in absences compared with the previous year. There was a sharp fall in the number of pupils classed as persistently absent, missing 10% or more of classroom sessions, down by more than 100,000 to nearly 1.3m. But the number who were severely absent after missing 50% or more rose slightly by 8,000, to 166,000.
In state primary schools the absence rate dropped to 5.2% and in secondaries to 8.1%, continuing the gradual recovery from the spike seen after the Covid pandemic. But both remain above pre-Covid levels of 3.9% and 5.2% respectively, with absence because of illness remaining the major factor.
A DfE spokesperson noted that the current Covid inquiry was “laying bare” the extent of the impact on children and school absence:
This government is taking the action needed to get our kids back in school, with the biggest improvement in attendance in a decade last academic year. Absence is down, persistent absence has plummeted and we are slowing the stubborn rise in severe absence.
Through free breakfast clubs in every primary school, an attendance mentoring programme, and ensuring earlier intervention for children with special needs we are creating a school system that serves not just some children, but supports every child to achieve and thrive.
But the Liberal Democrats pointed to figures showing that persistent absence among children with special needs increased to more than 72,000 over the period, up by more than 8,000 in a year.
Munira Wilson, the Lib Dem education and children spokesperson, said:
Children with special needs are missing more school than ever before – with the very system meant to support vulnerable children posing a serious risk to their future.
Starmer says ‘of course’ he has faith in safeguarding minister Jess Phillips
Keir Starmer has reaffirmed his confidence in Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister, despite some grooming gang survivors calling for her resignation. (See 8.51am.)
Speaking to broadcasters this morning, he said:
The most important thing in relation to the grooming gangs is that we have the national inquiry and that absolutely gets to the truth and to justice.
Asked if he had faith in Phillips, Starmer replied:
Yes, of course, I do.
Jess has been working on issues involving violence against women and girls for many, many years.
According to PA Media, Starmer intends to reach out to victims in the light of what has happened.
Starmer rejects claim return of man deported to France under ‘one in, one out’ scheme has left plan ‘in tatters’
Keir Starmer has insisted his approach to tackling small boats crossing the Channel remains on course despite an Iranian man re-entering the UK after being returned to France.
Speaking to broadcasters today, Starmer said the man, who now claims to be a victim of modern slavery, would be “fast-tracked back out of the country”.
He told broadcasters:
We know he hasn’t got a claim to make, therefore we’ll remove him very, very swiftly.
So his return journey back to United Kingdom is completely pointless, and it’s really important I make that absolutely clear.
The man had been returned from the UK to France in September under the “one in, one out” deal struck over the summer, but came back across the Channel in a small boat a month later, PA Media reports.
Starmer denied that the government’s approach to stopping small boats was “in tatters”, while earlier, David Lammy, the deputy prime minister, said the identification and detention of the Iranian man was a sign of “progress”.
Mahmood says violence against women and girls ‘national emergency’ as recorded sexual offences reach record high
Rajeev Syal
Rajeev Syal is the Guardian’s home affairs editor.
The Office for National Statistics report also says that the number of sexual offences, including rape, recorded by the police is at a record level since current reporting methods were established.
The report says:
There have been general increases in police recorded sexual offences over the last decade, largely because of improvements in police recording practices. There was a 9% increase in YE [the year ending] June 2025 (to 211,225 offences), compared with the previous year (193,684 offences). This is partly because of the introduction of two new sexual offences subcodes in January 2024. These subcodes relate to sending or sharing intimate photographs or films following the Online Safety Act 2023.
Around 34% (72,804 offences) of all sexual offences recorded by the police in YE June 2025 were rape offences. This was a 6% increase, compared with YE June 2024 (68,970 offences).
But the ONS also says that the police recorded crime figures are not a good way of measuring trends over time, because new offences are created, police recording methods change, and there has been an increase in the number of victims reporting offences.
The ONS also looks at Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) figures, and these are considered a more reliable guide to trends over time because the CSEW measures if people say they have been a victim of crime, regardless of whether or not the offence was reported to the police.
It says;
When analysing long-term trends, we use the 16 to 59 years age range to give a comparable data time series. The prevalence of sexual assault among people aged 16 to 59 years has fluctuated between 1.5% and 3.0% over the last 20 years. Over the last 10 years there has been an increase in sexual assault, after a previous decrease from YE March 2005 to YE March 2014. In the YE March 2025 survey, 2.4% of people aged 16 to 59 years had experienced sexual assault, compared with 1.7% in the YE March 2015 survey.
Commenting on the figures, Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, said these figures showed why the government was treating violence against women and girls as a “national emergency”. She said:
These figures tell us what, tragically, many have long known: violence against women and girls is a national emergency.
It is encouraging to see from this data that victims are coming forward, and that police and prosecutors are acting. These crimes too often go unreported, and we cannot solve a crisis until we can see it fully.
Now, we must redouble our efforts to eradicate this evil. That’s why this government has made it our mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, as part of our Plan for Change.
As home secretary, I will ensure police have the tools to relentlessly pursue dangerous offenders and that victims receive the support they need.
Homicide rate in England and Wales down to lowest rate for at least two decades, ONS says
The number of homicides recorded by police in England and Wales has dropped to its lowest level since current methods of reporting began in 2003, PA Media reports. PA says:
Some 518 homicides were recorded in the year to June, including 444 offences of murder and 68 of manslaughter, according to a report from the Office for National Statistics.
This is a drop of 6% from 552 in the previous year and 27% below the pre-pandemic total of 710 in 2019/20.
The current method of recording homicides dates from 2002/03, when the figure stood at 1,047 – although this includes the 173 victims of serial killer doctor Harold Shipman.
The homicide rate in the year to June stood at 8.4 offences per million people – the lowest level since the 1970s, the Home Office said.
New crime figures for England and Wales published this morning also show there were 51,527 knife offences recorded by forces in the 12 months to June, down year on year by 5%.
Other types of police-recorded offences increased, with shoplifting up 13% year on year to 529,994 – just below the recent all-time high – and theft from the person at 145,860, up 5%.
Reform’s only Black branch chair quits over ‘harmful’ migration debate
The only Black branch chair of Reform UK has left the rightwing populist party, saying the tone of Britain’s migration debate is “doing more harm than good”, Chris Osuh reports.
Cleverly wrongly claims Tory deportation policy would not retrospectively impact people with indefinite leave to remain
Peter Walker
Peter Walker is the Guardian’s senior political correspondent.
The Conservatives’ policy of retrospectively removing the right to live in the UK from large numbers of families appears to be causing confusion even among shadow ministers, with James Cleverly arguing this morning that the plan would not affect life for people who already have indefinite leave to remain.
Quizzed about the proposals, as set out in an interview over the weekend by Katie Lam, a junior Home Office frontbencher for the Tories, Cleverly, the shadow housing secretary, denied that people already with ILR could be removed under a future Conservative government.
He told Times Radio:
That’s not the full detail of the policy. That’s not quite the right interpretation of the policy. What we’re saying is indefinite leave to remain needs to be tighter.
Pressed on whether the changes would be retrospective, he said:
Retrospective changes are not what we are talking about as our policy.
This is curious, given that the Conservative plans on ILR, as set out in a draft bill presented by the shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, explicitly sets out that people with ILR can have this removed if they commit a crime, claim any kind of benefits, or earn less than £38,700 for six months or longer. The section is even titled “Revocation of Indefinite Leave to Remain in certain circumstances”.
Assuming this is still the policy – and Kemi Badenoch’s spokesperson said it was on Wednesday, and even explicitly defended the retrospective aspect – it is unusual for someone like Cleverly, who was both home secretary and shadow home secretary, to not be across the details.
In fairness to him, while Philp’s bill was tabled in May, few people paid much attention before Lam’s comments. The details of how the deportations would work, including whether it might involve splitting up families, are also still unclear.
Claire Coutinho claims Tony Blair’s thinktank ‘catching up’ with Tories after it says 2030 ‘clean power’ target should be dropped
The Tories have welcomed a report from the Tony Blair Institute (TBI), the former Labour’s PMs thinktank, saying the government should drop its plan to decarbonise electricity production in the UK by 2030.
Claire Coutinho, the shadow energy secretary, claimed that the TBI was “catching up” with the Conservative party – even though the thinktank tank is not supporting the Tory call for the 2050 net zero target to be abandoned.
In a report, the TBI said that, while the 2030 clean power mission was laudable when it was launched as one of Keir Starmer’s five missions in 2023, the government should now be focusing more on cost of living issues. The TBI report said:
Launched in the middle of the gas crisis and in a low-interest environment, [the clean power misison] was right for its time, but circumstances have changed. The UK now needs more than a decarbonisation plan. It needs a full-spectrum energy strategy built on growth, resilience and abundant clean electricity. This means prioritising cost, flexibility and long-term stability – the real building blocks of electrification – not just short-term emissions cuts …
To focus minds across government, the clean power 2030 mission should therefore be reframed as cheaper power 2030, net zero 2050.
The UK’s commitment to net zero remains firm. Britain led the world in enshrining the Climate Change Act, and that legal duty stands. While some have suggested walking back the country’s commitment to the Climate Change Act or to achieving net zero by 2050, that choice would amount to rolling back progress. The question is no longer whether to decarbonise, but how – how to deliver clean power affordably, securely and with public support.
This passage does not mention the fact that Blair himself was at one point one of those suggesting “walking back” on net zero 2050. Blair has subsequently clarified his thinking, and his thinktank backs the Climate Change Act – unlike the Conserative party, that wants to repeal it.
But this did not stop Coutinho this morning claiming that Blair is on her side. She said:
I’m glad Tony Blair’s thinktank has been copy-and-pasting my speeches. Energy is prosperity and the priority for any energy policy has to be dealing with the fact that we have got the most expensive electricity in the world.
The Conservative party are the only party with a plan to cut bills. We will axe the carbon tax to cut bills for every family instantly. It’s good that the TBI is catching up – and now it’s time for Ed Miliband to adopt our cheap power plan to cut electricity bills by 20% tomorrow.
Commenting on the TBI report, a spokesperson for Miliband’s energy department said:
This report rightly recognises that clean power is the right choice for this country. This government’s clean power mission is exactly how we will deliver cheaper power and bring down bills for good.
As Kiran Stacey and Helena Horton report, the TBI may be on to something; ministers believe they may have to accept that they won’t be able to achieve the clean power 2030 target because they need to keep energy bills down.
Renewable energy investment should come from defence budgets, say retired military leaders
Investment in renewable energy should be counted under defence expenditure, says a group of retired senior military personnel, because the climate crisis represents a threat to national security, Fiona Harvey reports.
