PMQs live: MPs to vote on grooming gangs inquiry after Starmer accuses Badenoch of ‘lies and misinformation’

Conservative former minister Graham Stuart has warned the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will “bring about kind-of a gross, socialist uniformity” in the education sector.

Intervening in Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson’s speech, the MP for Beverley and Holderness told the Commons: “We must all in this House recognise that we follow in the footsteps of giants. Tony Blair, Lord Adonis and others created the academy system which was built on under the last Conservative government and brought about a transformation of English education.

“Why does the Secretary of State want to dismantle the work of decades by members across this House and bring about kind-of a gross, socialist uniformity which will destroy the progress that has been made?”

Ms Phillipson replied: “That’s just simply a mischaracterisation and (Mr Stuart) knows it.”

She later described “my outrage at the excessive and exploitative profit-making we have seen from some private providers” of children’s social care.

The Education Secretary added: “It is shameful, it is unacceptable and it will end.”

The Conservatives are “chasing headlines” with their amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which would decline to give it a second reading, the education secretary has alleged.

Introducing the Bill, Bridget Phillipson told the Commons: “No more lessons learned, no more paper pushing, no more foot-dragging. It is time for government to act.”

She listed the new measures in the Bill to protect children, including “a new legal obligation for safeguarding partners to work hand-in-hand with education”, a duty to establish multi-agency child protection teams, and a new compulsory not-in-school register in every area of England.

Ms Phillipson told MPs: “A vote against this Bill today is a vote against the safety of our children, a vote against their childhoods and against their futures.

“Today, Conservative MPs have a choice. They can choose to back measures to protect children or they can choose to chase headlines. They can choose to transform the lives of the most vulnerable young people in this country, or they can choose to sacrifice their safety for political gain.”

She continued: “I want to be very clear about the conduct of politicians be they on the benches opposite or anywhere else who put the pursuit of headlines today above the safety of children tomorrow – it is sickening and it is shameful.”

Jeremy Corbyn has accused Keir Starmer of “betraying” the health service with a much greater role for the private sector, which he warns will hollow out the NHS.

In one of his first major interventions on an issue outside of the crisis in the Middle East, the former Labour leader also accused Sir Keir of “abandoning” working class voters with a series of broken pledges, in an article for The Independent.

It comes after the Labour leader announced on Monday that private hospitals will provide up to a million extra appointments, scans and operations a year as the government scrambles to cut sky-high waiting lists.

The move is a significant expansion of the independent sector’s role in tackling long delays that have built up in part because of the Covid pandemic.

Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports:

The Government is “open-minded” about the possibility of a further national inquiry into child sexual abuse, No 10 indicated.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman was asked about Home Office minister Jess Phillips’ suggestion in a broadcast interview that nothing was off the table to deal with the legacy of the scandal.

He responded: “The Prime Minister’s position is the same as Jess Phillips’, which is we are open of course and will always listen to what victims want in this case.

“What we have heard from our engagement with victims and survivors group is they want to see action. That is why we are focused on following up the recommendations of Professor Alexis Jay and taking the actions we need to deliver justice.”

Pressed about the matter, he added that “significant” engagement with victims groups had shown “they do not want to see a national inquiry, they want action taken to deliver justice”.

He added: “But as the Prime Minister said on Monday we will always remain open-minded. We will always listen to local authorities who want to take forward inquiries, or indeed further allegations that need to be followed up.”

Sir Keir Starmer said Treasury minster Tulip Siddiq has “acted appropriately” in referring herself for investigation over links with the deposed former prime minister of Bangladesh.

Tory MP Gregory Stafford told the Commons: “First of all, we had a Chancellor who embellished her CV, then we had a transport secretary with a fraud conviction, and now we’ve got an anti-corruption minister who is being investigated for corruption.

“Now, I know the prime minister likes living in free accommodation, but does he really think it’s appropriate that his minister is being given free housing by the political allies of some very dubious foreign regimes?”

Sir Keir replied: “The City minister has acted appropriately by referring herself to the independent adviser. We brought in our new ministerial code to allow ministers to establish the facts and I’m not going to give a running commentary on that.”

The new Tory advert states: “Do you think there should be an inquiry into rape gangs? Keir Starmer doesn’t.”

Sir Keir Starmer has appeared to threaten to reverse the funding settlement given to Scotland in the Budget, after being challenged by the SNP over the government’s winter fuel allowance cut.

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn told MPs: “Outside of this place, temperatures continue to plummet, energy bills continue to rise, and the winter fuel allowance has been unacceptably taken away from so many vulnerable pensioners.

“The prime minister intimated prior to Christmas that he had no regrets about any of the decisions that he has taken in office. Does he understand that the public do?”

Sir Keir replied: “We took some tough decisions. They led to a Budget that has delivered the largest settlement since devolution began to Scotland. If he thinks that we should now reverse that, then he should say so … Now the SNP have the money, the power, so no more excuses for the non-delivery which we see in Scotland.”