Indy TV

There were shouts of “shame” in the Commons after Reform’s Lee Anderson asked Labour’s Jess Phillips if she is part of child grooming gang cover up.Labour’s safeguarding and violence against women and girls minister appeared disgusted and told Mr Anderson his question did not deserve a response during the session on Monday (28 April).Addressing the Labour minister, Mr Anderson said: “Thousands of young white British working class girls have been raped, tortured and abused by Pakistani grooming gangs, and yet this minister here refuses to support a full national public enquiry. Is she part of the cover up.”After shouts of “shame”, rang out, Ms Phillips said: “There is absolutely no way I would be part of any cover up.” More

Kemi Badenoch suggested transgender people can use disabled toilets after the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman. Judges ruled that the terms “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act refer to a biological woman and biological sex, in a decision that could have wide-ranging ramifications for trans women’s rights to use services and spaces reserved for women.Asked if trans people now need to have their own facilities, the Conservative Party leader told Good Morning Britain on Monday (28 April): “Most, if not all, organisations have a way of dealing with this. Not having gender neutral loos is one of the easiest things that you can do. Almost all businesses I see have disabled loos. They are unisex, different from gender neutral. Trans people can use those.” More

An LGBTQ+ MP has shared her fears of the impact the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman will have on her when she accesses facilities such as toilets.Kate Osborne, Labour MP for Jarrow and Gateshead East, told a Lesbian Visibility Week debate in Westminster Hall on Thursday (24 April) that she is misgendered frequently and suspects she will be “challenged even more now” after judges ruled that the terms “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act refer to a biological woman and biological sex.”Whilst the impact on my life will be problematic, the impact on my trans siblings’ lives is going to be significantly worse,” Ms Osborne added. More

Grant Shapps says he is barred from sharing his theories on why Donald Trump is “in cahoots” with Vladimir Putin.The former defence minister told Times Radio he’s “got some theories” as to why Trump “seems to support the tyrant”, but he’s held up by a 30-year closure rule.”I have some theories as to why, but I may have to wait for the 30-year rule to talk about them,” Mr Shapps said.The rule refers to the release of public records after a thirty-year closure period. The Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 reduced the closure to 20 years. More

Reform UK’s Ann Widdecome says she is not “teaming up with any losers” in a dig at the Conservatives and senior MP Robert Jenrick.Ms Widdecombe’s comments, made during an interview with Times Radio on Wednesday (23 April), come after Mr Jenrick said he would bring a “coalition together” in order to end the electoral battle between the Reform and the Tories.When asked by Daniel Finkelstein if she would “team up” with Mr Jenrick, Ms Widdecombe replied: “Absolutely not. I’m not teaming up with any losers. Reform is winning. Reform is at the top of the polls.” More

Kemi Badenoch accused Sir Keir Starmer of “not having any balls” regarding his reaction to the Supreme Court’s ruling on the definition of a woman.Last week five judges ruled that the terms “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act refer to a biological woman and biological sex, in a decision that could have wide-ranging ramifications for trans women’s rights to use services and spaces reserved for women.Asked if the PM still believed that a transgender woman was a woman, his official spokesman said: “No, the Supreme Court judgment has made clear that when looking at the Equality Act, a woman is a biological woman. That is set out clearly by the court judgment.”The Conservative leader labelled the prime minister a “weather vane who twists in the wind” on Wednesday (23 April) following Sir Keir’s U-turn on his views. More

Sir Keir Starmer has made a call to “lower the temperature” on debates over the Supreme Court’s ruling on the definition of a woman.It comes after the prime minister’s spokesperson, when asked if Sir Keir still believed that a transgender woman was a woman, said: “No, the Supreme Court judgment has made clear that when looking at the Equality Act, a woman is a biological woman. That is set out clearly by the court judgment.”Responding to Kemi Badenoch, who questioned the prime minister on his U-turn on his previous statement that trans women are women, the Labour leader responded: “This is the time now to lower the temperature, to move forward and to conduct this debate with the care and compassion that it deserves.” More

Sir Keir Starmer has urged the public to reclaim the English flag, sharing his worries about the far-right claiming ownership of it during a Downing Street reception held to mark St George’s Day.“I do understand the fight over the flag… but that’s why we’ve got to reclaim it. It belongs to all of us,” the prime minister said.On Tuesday night (22 April), Sir Keir pointed to the riots following the Southport stabbings, which were fuelled by online misinformation and which the PM has previously blamed the far-right for.Sir Keir said he had seen “people throwing bricks at the very same police officers I was shaking hands with” when he visited the scene of the stabbings, adding: “And that’s why the battle for our flag is really important because that is what happened and that was only last year.” More