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Sir Keir Starmer said he had learned to focus and ‘shut off the noises’ when asked again about the slew of social media posts directed at him by Elon Musk
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Sir Keir Starmer has again hit back at Elon Musk over his slew of social media posts, as he arrived in Poland for talks on a new defence and security pact.
The prime minister is discussing with his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk a new treaty designed to protect Europe from Russian aggression and work together to tackle people smuggling gangs.
The agreement will also do more to tackle disinformation and hybrid threats, Number 10 said.
The talks come after Sir Keir told The Sun he did not have time to focus on Mr Musk’s wild social media posts about him and his party colleagues.
Sir Keir said: “In the end, my experience is focus on what matters. Ignore the noises off. I’ve had noises off for ten years. Learn to focus and shut off the noises.”
Rather than dealing with Mr Musk, Sir Keir said he was focused on his relationship with the US and president-elect Donald Trump.
“That’s why I was very pleased we met in New York, had dinner, and we were able to have constructive discussions,” he said. “All my discussions with him since then have been the same.”
Coming from Ukraine, where Sir Keir signed a 100-year partnership with Zelensky, the UK prime minister has flown to Poland to meet his counterpart Donald Tusk to discuss a new defence and security agreement.
The new UK-Poland treaty will support both countries working together to protect Europe from Russian aggression and work together to tackle people smuggling gangs.
Ahead of the visit, Sir Keir said: “The UK and Poland are longstanding allies and our co-operation stretches back for generations.
“With ever-increasing threats to Europe’s security, now is the time to take our partnership to the next level, so we can ensure we’re tackling the big issues that rebound on the British people at home – from Putin’s aggression to the vile people smuggling gangs trading in human misery.
“It is only through closer collaboration with our most important partners such as Poland that we’ll protect the UK’s national security – the key foundation on which I’ll deliver my plan for change.”
We’re expecting to hear from Sir Keir a little later on today.
The bizarre tirade of social media posts from Elon Musk over the past month has been widely covered up until now.
At the start of January, Sir Keir Starmer hit back at Mr Musk’s “lies and misinformation” as the tech billionaire criticised the government for rejected a national inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal in the series of wild posts.
Today, it’s been reported that Sir Keir has again been speaking about Mr Musk again.
In The Sun, he said: “If I read every tweet I wouldn’t have time to do anything else.”
He added: “In the end, my experience is focus on what matters. Ignore the noises off. I’ve had noises off for ten years. Learn to focus and shut off the noises.”
Max Wilkinson, who has introduced Bill, said there was a “clear market preference for home with solar panels because a relatively small proportion of the price will be rewarded with a decent payback”.
He pointed to research by the MCS Foundation which showed panels on the Labour Government’s target of 1.5 million homes would bolster energy generation by the equivalent of two Sizewell C nuclear power stations (3.2 gigawatt each).
He had earlier told MPs: “This Bill helps us tackle the cost of living and climate change too, a clear win-win.”
Mr Wilkinson quoted from Morecambe and Wise’s Bring Me Sunshine when he said: “‘Let our arms be as warm as the sun up above’ and let us think about how ‘much joy we can bring to each brand new bright tomorrow’ (sic).”
In the Commons at the moment, MPs are debating a Bill proposing new builds to come with solar panels as standard.
The Bill, also known as the Sunshine Bill, has been brought forward by Lib Dem MP Max Wilkinson.
Intervening in his speech, former Tory minister Wendy Morton said: “In the shift towards more solar panels, I fear many of those will go on prime agricultural land.”
She added that “it’s time we need to look at alternatives, look at where the solar panels are being placed as a way of protecting communities and our green belt”.
Mr Wilkinson’s proposal has received support from executives at several companies including renewables firm Ecotricity and the housebuilder Thakeham.
If it becomes law, new builds would come with solar panels covering at least 40 per cent of their ground floor area, with exemptions for smaller roofs which cannot physically accommodate panels, tall buildings more than 15 storeys high, developments where panels would not prove cost-effective, and projects featuring other forms of renewable energy generation.
Responding to Ms Morton’s intervention, Mr Wilkinson said: “She is entirely right.”
Lisa Nandy has rejected claims that Elon Musk’s slew of social media posts about grooming gangs pushed the government into a climbdown on the scandal.
On Thursday, the home secretary announced an audit looking into the current scale and nature of “gang-based exploitation” across the country, as well as local reviews into grooming in some areas.
The change of position came after three Labour MPs from the North West and Manchester mayor Andy Burnham broke ranks to demand a rethink. It also came alongside weeks of pressure including from the billionaire X-owner for a national inquiry into grooming, after the government rejected one.
But, speaking in the Commons, Yvette Cooper said local reviews would provide more answers and change than a nationwide probe.
Asked if the raft of new policies came as a result of the billionaire’s intervention, Ms Nandy said: “I utterly refute that”, insisting that the government has been working on this issue “for a very long time”.
Full story here:
The government announced a raft of new measures to address the grooming gangs scandal after rejecting a national inquiry
The Tories have responded to criticism after leader Kemi Badenoch said the party would look at means-testing the triple-lock pension system.
Under the triple lock policy, the state pension rises each year by whichever is highest out of 2.5 per cent, inflation, or earnings.
After Labour warned pensioners the Tory party was looking to cut their state pension, co-chairman of the Conservative Party defended the idea when speaking to Sky News.
Nigel Huddleston said the party was not looking to scrap the system.
He said: “She [Kemi Badenoch] said, look, millionaires probably shouldn’t get it. Millionaires, not millions of pensioners. Millionaires.
“We probably do need to look at means testing at some of those levels, and I don’t think many viewers would disagree with that.”
The boss of retail giant Next has issued a warning over the impact of Rachel Reeves’ Budget, after the business revealed it was facing a £67m surge in wage costs in the year to January 2026.
The business has blamed the chancellor’s plans to increase employer national insurance contributions and the minimum wage from April. It said it will need to push through an “unwelcome” 1 per cent rise in prices as part of efforts to help offset the hit.
Chief executive and Conservative peer Lord Simon Wolfson said Next would not be cutting jobs through redundancies, but confirmed it would take on fewer workers than normal in the year ahead across its warehouses and retail stores.
He said that employers with part-time and low wage workers will be disproportionately affected by the moves, as costs will rise more steeply for these employees.
“We’re not looking at a dramatic increase in unemployment but… it’s these jobs that are most likely to be lost in the economy,” he said.
He stressed that for Next, it was “not a meltdown situation”.
Good news for investors this morning.
The UK’s FTSE 100 reached its highest ever level following a rally for the index helped by miners and housebuilders amid rising hopes of further interest rate cuts. It surged more than 1 per cent shortly after markets opened on Friday morning to a high of 8,480.57.
Miners Antofagasta, Glencore and Anglo American, and housebuilders Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Redrow were among the big risers.
Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said the rally came as a surprise. He said: “US markets faltered after a blowout session the previous day, while the surprising upstart came in the form of the FTSE 100, which has set the early pace and blew past its previous record high in opening trade.
“The housebuilders were also strong, given a combination of potentially lowering interest rates and some recent updates which have shown robust forward order books, with rises of 2% or more for the likes of Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey, Barratt Redrow and Berkeley Group.
“The FTSE 100 is now ahead by 3.5 per cent this year, and marginally ahead of the previous record level set last May.”
Following news yesterday that the UK economy only grew slightly in November, we’re now getting data on retail sales for December, which again shows a rather gloomy picture.
UK retail sales unexpectedly fell by 0.3 per cent in December, the Office for National Statistics said. It followed a 0.1 per cent increase in November, revised down from a previous estimate of a 0.2 per cent rise.
Analysts had been expecting sales to rise by 0.4% in December, with shoppers stocking up ahead of Christmas.
Erin Brookes, European retail and consumer lead at Alvarez & Marsal, said: “Sales disappointed in December after five months of positive growth, signalling that retailers are already being hit by low consumer confidence on spending.”
Some more this morning on Labour’s plans on the BBC licence fee.
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy was asked on the issue as the fee, which the government has committed to increasing in line with inflation each year until 2027, is to rise to £174.50 in April.
The broadcaster has been cash-strapped in recent years following the licence fee being frozen for two years at £159.
Ms Nandy told BBC Breakfast that the licence fee was “not only insufficient, it’s raising insufficient money to support the BBC, but it also is deeply regressive”.
The Government will use a review of the BBC’s Royal Charter, which will include a public consultation, to consider funding options to support the broadcaster’s long-term future.
Ms Nandy said she has “already started initial discussions with the BBC leadership about the charter review”, that she hopes will “future proof our national broadcaster until well into the latter half of this century”.
She added: “I think the one that has been speculated about is general taxation.
“That’s not something that we are considering, not least because we want to make sure that we protect the BBC from the sort of political interference that we saw under the last government.”
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