A court has heard how Sir Keir Starmer’s wife felt “intimidated” by a protest outside their family home, which saw three people charged. Meanwhile, a poll has Sir Keir’s Labour leading the SNP in Scotland – but a candidate for a key target seat has now been suspended.
Wednesday 10 April 2024 21:03, UK
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We’ll be back at 6am, but until then, here are the headlines:
Join us tomorrow for another busy day in Westminster.
The panel are now discussing whether a law that would make it an offence to assault shop workers is needed.
Ex-Conservative special adviser Salma Shah says people are welcoming the legislation and “that is emblematic of the fact that this crime is changing slightly”.
“One of the reasons retailers are applying pressure onto government about this is because they are seeing areal uptick in these kinds of crimes,” she says.
“The only thing I think will be tricky is how you get this legislation through parliament at this point in time in an election context.
“There is other legislation that needs to come through.
“We don’t know when it will come into force.”
Jeremy Corbyn’s former chief strategist, James Schneider, says Labour and the Conservatives are “running a similar grid”.
“Labour are concerned they are going to be seen as weak on crime so they want to talk the same language as the Tories.”
That concludes Politics Hub this evening.
The conversation moves on to the Cass review into gender identity and young people.
Mr Norris is asked if he thinks it has drawn any kind of line under this issue.
The Labour MP says today is a really “significant moment” and some colleagues have described it as a “watershed” moment.
“I’d share that. This is an important review,” he says.
“It’s clearly been done very well. We should thank the review team for doing that and it has pointed us to some very difficult questions around young people and how we meet their needs.”
Asked if the review was potentially kicking the can down the road by calling for long-term research, he says: “The review has highlighted there is a lack of evidence which is fair. It is right for them to say that.”
He adds the review has “been very clear about things that we’ve got to get on with now”.
“I think that’s found that balance and I’d hope people wouldn’t be upset by this,” he says.
Mr Norris is then asked how much weight he would put on protecting minority communities, particularly the trans community, after the murder of Brianna Ghey.
“We have people who are vulnerable and who have some of the worst educational outcomes and we should send support and have a desire to look after them,” he says.
He adds: “We need to dial down that kind of tribal style rhetoric”.
“We’re all people, we’re all together and we have a responsibility to each other,” he says.
“I know that sounds like quite an old-fashioned approach, but it’s certainly mine.”
The Cass report, which was published today, found “remarkably weak evidence” to support gender treatments for children and made 32 recommendations.
Led by Dr Hilary Cass, it was launched in 2020 after a sharp rise in referrals to the Gender Identity Development Service, which was the only specialised service in England for young people experiencing difficulties in the development of their gender identity.
Labour’s shadow policing minister Alex Norris is our next guest and is asked if he supports legislation that would make assaulting a shop worker a separate criminal offence.
He says “yes” and that he has been “trying to introduce legislation to that effect for five-and-a-half years”.
“The reality is in that five-and-a-half years the incidences of violence and abuse against retail workers have trebled,” he says.
“The government has increasingly lost a grip of our high streets. This is a start but frankly, there’s much more that will need to be done.”
Asked why such a law would make a difference, he says it “won’t resolve the problem” but “it helps”.
“It makes it simpler for police and prosecutors,” he says.
“It makes it simpler in the court system so we know that’s got to be a good thing.”
He also says it will “give us another tool both to deter but also to prosecute those who do the wrong thing.”
Today, a major review into gender care for young people found children are being failed.
The Cass report found “remarkably weak evidence” to support gender treatments for children and recommended an “extremely cautious” approach in the future if hormone treatments are given before the age of 18.
Looking at the issue, ex-Conservative special adviser Salma Shah says she is supportive of her former boss Sajid Javid in commissioning this report.
“The primary group that we are talking about are children and young adults and that is where his concern came in,” she says.
“I think we have to focus on that.”
She notes the report was “totally independent”.
Jeremy Corbyn’s former chief strategist, James Schneider, says this issue is a “complex one” and “not uniform”.
“A lot of this heat does not get us very far,” he says.
He says Labour’s position should be based on “science and empathy”.
The discussion moves to new legislation that will make it a crime to assault a shop worker.
Mr Vickers says “this is really important” and he has been calling for this for a “long time”.
“The government imposes a duty on retail workers to uphold the rules so that statutory duty requires statutory protection and that is why we are bringing this forwards,” he says.
The first guest on the show is the Tory party’s deputy chairman Matt Vickers.
He is asked by Adam Parsons if the party’s focus on small boat crossings is a mistake.
Mr Vickers says “no” and “the country is focused on this”.
“It is a really big issue for people out there,” he says.
He insists “there are safe and legal routes” for people to enter this country but “at the moment we have no control”.
“Once we get illegal arrival under control we can then make real decisions,” he adds.
“People are coming here on mass and are enabled by some of the most evil criminal gangs who are able to make profit from the peril of others.”
Our flagship weeknight politics show Politics Hub is live now on Sky News, presented today by Adam Parsons.
The fast-paced programme dissects the inner workings of Westminster, with interviews, insights, and analysis – bringing the audience into the corridors of power.
Adam will be joined by the Tory party’s deputy chairman Matt Vickers, after the prime minister launched a crackdown on shoplifters, and Labour MP Alex Norris.
On his panel tonight are:
Watch live on Sky News and in the stream at the top of this page – and follow live updates here in the online Politics Hub.
Watch Politics Hub from Monday to Thursday on Sky channel 501, Virgin channel 602, Freeview channel 233, on the Sky News website and app or on YouTube.
The longer the Conservatives are in office, “the longer patients wait”, Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has said.
Commenting on patients queuing for a GP appointment, Mr Streeting said: “What a damning indictment on 14 years of Conservative government, that patients are literally queueing around the block to see a GP.
“The Conservatives have cut 2,000 GPs since 2015, leaving millions unable to get an appointment at all. The longer the Conservatives are in office, the longer patients wait.”
The Labour MP went on to say his party would “fix the front door of the NHS with investment and reform”.
“We will train thousands more GPs and cut the red tape that ties up their time, so patients can easily book appointments with their family doctor,” he added.
Earlier today, images on X showed dozens of patients queuing for hours outside a south London GP surgery after struggling to get an appointment online.
It comes after a new poll by the ONS found one in 20 people who call their GP for help are told to call back on another day.
Ireland’s new prime minister, the youngest in the country’s history, has held his first call with Rishi Sunak.
Simon Harris, 37, said it was a “productive and engaging” conversation.
His appointment was officially confirmed yesterday, following last month’s shock resignation of Leo Varadkar.
Father-of-two Mr Harris was the only candidate to put his name forward in the Fine Gael leadership contest.
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