\n<\/p>\n
Wes Streeting was not the only person doing an LBC phone-in this morning. Sir Mark Rowley<\/strong>, the Metropolitan police commissioner, was on too, and he used his interview to accuse President Trump of talking \u201ccomplete nonsense\u201d about London.<\/p>\n Trump<\/strong> has regularly complained about the level of crime in London, apparently inspired by alarmist reports he has seen on TV or social media, and he criticised the city again in a recent interview with Politico. He said he hated to see what is happening there, and he blamed the mayor, Sadiq Khan.<\/p>\n In an interview last month with GB News, he claimed that there were areas in the capital that were no-go areas for the police, and he claimed sharia law applied there too. He even said the same thing in a speech to the UN in September.<\/p>\n Rowley<\/strong> told LBC this morning that these sorts of comments from Trump were \u201ccomplete nonsense\u201d.<\/p>\n Rowley said:<\/p>\n There\u2019s no no-go areas, that\u2019s completely false.<\/p>\n How anybody in America can suggest the UK is violent is completely ridiculous. The homicide rate in London is lower than every single US state. It\u2019s lower than all their big cities. The murder rate in New York last time I looked is three or four times higher than London per capita.<\/p>\n The homicide rate in London is lower than it is in Toronto, it\u2019s lower than Paris, it\u2019s lower than Brussels, it\u2019s lower than Berlin.<\/p>\n This is a safe city. I\u2019m not going to pretend it\u2019s perfect.<\/p>\n This trend of trying to rubbish London, some of which is driven by politics, we who are proud Londoners need to fight back about it.<\/p>\n Rowley did not specifically talk about Khan, saying he did not want to intervene in a dispute between two politicians.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a006.22 EST<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n <\/span>Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Senior leaders of Sudan\u2019s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been sanctioned by the UK over \u201cheinous crimes\u201d committed during the country\u2019s civil war, the Foreign Office<\/strong> has announced. It says the four sanctioned commanders are \u201csuspected of heinous violence in El Fasher, Sudan, including mass killings, systematic sexual violence and deliberate attacks on civilians\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n I have updated the post at 9.33am with the full quote from Wes Streeting about why he is allowing the trial of puberty blockers to go ahead, as recommended by the Cass report, even though personally he is uncomfortable with the idea. You may need to refresh the page to get the update to appear.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Wes Streeting was not the only person doing an LBC phone-in this morning. Sir Mark Rowley<\/strong>, the Metropolitan police commissioner, was on too, and he used his interview to accuse President Trump of talking \u201ccomplete nonsense\u201d about London.<\/p>\n Trump<\/strong> has regularly complained about the level of crime in London, apparently inspired by alarmist reports he has seen on TV or social media, and he criticised the city again in a recent interview with Politico. He said he hated to see what is happening there, and he blamed the mayor, Sadiq Khan.<\/p>\n In an interview last month with GB News, he claimed that there were areas in the capital that were no-go areas for the police, and he claimed sharia law applied there too. He even said the same thing in a speech to the UN in September.<\/p>\n Rowley<\/strong> told LBC this morning that these sorts of comments from Trump were \u201ccomplete nonsense\u201d.<\/p>\n Rowley said:<\/p>\n There\u2019s no no-go areas, that\u2019s completely false.<\/p>\n How anybody in America can suggest the UK is violent is completely ridiculous. The homicide rate in London is lower than every single US state. It\u2019s lower than all their big cities. The murder rate in New York last time I looked is three or four times higher than London per capita.<\/p>\n The homicide rate in London is lower than it is in Toronto, it\u2019s lower than Paris, it\u2019s lower than Brussels, it\u2019s lower than Berlin.<\/p>\n This is a safe city. I\u2019m not going to pretend it\u2019s perfect.<\/p>\n This trend of trying to rubbish London, some of which is driven by politics, we who are proud Londoners need to fight back about it.<\/p>\n Rowley did not specifically talk about Khan, saying he did not want to intervene in a dispute between two politicians.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a006.22 EST<\/p>\n Members of the House of Lords have proposed \u201ctotally unnecessary\u201d and \u201cvery cruel\u201d amendments to the assisted dying bill in a bid to scupper it, Kim Leadbeater<\/strong>, the MP leading the campaign for the legislation, has said. Kiran Stacey<\/strong> has the story.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n I have beefed up the post at 9.08am to include the direct quote from Wes Streeting<\/strong> about not being able to guarantee patient safety in the NHS if the strike by resident doctors in England goes ahead. You may need to refresh the page to get the update to appear.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n In his LBC phone-in, when asked about his New Statesman interview (see 9.43am), Wes Streeting<\/strong>, the health secretary, also insisted that his comments about the government\u2019s \u201ctechnocratic approach\u201d were not a criticism of Keir Starmer. He said:<\/p>\n No, it\u2019s not criticism of the prime minister.<\/p>\n I think it is a challenge to all of us, because all of us in government and in the cabinet in particular, have a responsibility to get the government\u2019s message across, and sometimes, I think what we\u2019re guilty of is coming on and listing a whole load of stuff we\u2019ve done.<\/p>\n Now that\u2019s a good thing, because we\u2019ve done loads of stuff since the elections to deliver our manifesto.<\/p>\n The problem with a big, long shopping list is you can\u2019t always remember what\u2019s on it, and people walk away thinking, \u2018I kind of heard some stuff they\u2019re doing, but can\u2019t quite remember what it\u2019s about\u2019.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve got to be much better at putting an account of what this government is about and who it is for.<\/p>\n And this is what Streeting compared child deaths in temporary accommodation linked to poverty to the actions of a child killer (see 9.43am) as an example of how to explain policy vividly.<\/p>\n <\/span>Wes Streeting on LBC this morning.<\/span> Photograph: Yui Mok\/PAShare<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a005.26 EST<\/p>\n Ferrari<\/strong> asks Streeting about his New Statesman interview comments complaining about the government\u2019s \u201ctechnocratic\u201d approach.<\/p>\n Streeting<\/strong> says there are a lot of good things that the government is doing. But people don\u2019t always appreciate them.<\/p>\n As an example, he cites Steve Reed, the housing secretary, saying that something like 60 children have died living in temporary accommodation.<\/p>\n He goes on:<\/p>\n Now, if a serial killer had killed over 60 children in our country over that length of time, it would be splashed on the front of every newspaper. We would remember the name of that killer for the rest of our lives.<\/p>\n But in this case, children are quietly dying. Their parents do not have a megaphone or a microphone, and they are dying in shabby temporary accommodation.<\/p>\n Streeting says the government is lifting half a million children out of poverty.<\/p>\n And the homelessness strategy published yesterday includes a specific commitment to reduce the number of families trapped in this sort of accommodation.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Q: Can you rule out challenging Keir Starmer on a joint ticket with Angela Rayner?<\/p>\n Yes, says Streeting<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Q: You are allowing a trial of puberty blockers for children questioning their gender. Some children involved will be as young as 10. Why are you allowing this?<\/em><\/p>\n Streeting<\/strong> says in her report Hilary Cass uncovered a shocking lack of evidence about the effectiveness of these treatments.<\/p>\n As a result, the government stopped the use of puberty blockers, and Streeting says he extended this.<\/p>\n But Cass also recommended a trial, he says.<\/p>\n He admits he is \u201cnot comfortable\u201d about this going ahead.<\/p>\n But he says, in allowing it to go ahead, he is following the clinical advice.<\/p>\n He says he is uncomfortable about the idea of stopping puberty.<\/p>\n But he says other countries use these drugs. There is some evidence that it is better than leaving trans people without treatment, and all the distress that comes with that.<\/p>\n This does not sit comfortably with him, he says.<\/p>\n But, as a politician, he does not want to interfer with clinicians who know far more about this topic than he does.<\/p>\n UPDATE:<\/em> Streeting<\/strong> said:<\/p>\n The Pathway study involves a whole range of treatments and care, including therapeutics or mental health support, but it also included a trial on this puberty blockers thing.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not comfortable, candidly, about it \u2026<\/p>\n I\u2019ve had my constituency office windows put through three times by trans activists, and received all sorts of threats. Since this trial has been announced, I\u2019ve been called all the names under the sun online and received some pretty nasty stuff.<\/p>\n To be honest, the extreme stuff I don\u2019t care about anyway, the political noise I kind of put to one side. I\u2019m following clinical advice \u2026<\/p>\n Now, the clinical advice is to go ahead with the trial. And those who advocate this medication \u2013 and lots of other countries are using medication in these cases \u2013 suggest that for trans people, this is a better course of treatment than leaving them without, and with all of the distress and harm that that can cause.<\/p>\n We\u2019re following that evidence. As I say, it doesn\u2019t sit comfortably with me. I\u2019m trying really hard as a politician not to interfere or block clinical advice by people who are, frankly, far more qualified than me. And, you know, there will be debate on this.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a006.40 EST<\/p>\n Q: Is the BMA more of a political organisation than a health organisation?<\/em><\/p>\n Streeting<\/strong> says it feels like that, but he says he does not want to go over that again today.<\/p>\n Q: Do you regret calling the BMA \u201cmoaning minnies\u201d and accusing them of \u201cjuvenile delinquency\u201d?<\/em><\/p>\n Not really, says Streeting.<\/p>\n He says he was angry because figures show that patient satisfaction with access to GPs has gone up by 60% to 75%.<\/p>\n But, instead of welcoming this, the BMA was still opposing measures to extend online consultations.<\/p>\n But Streeting says he wants to turn over a new leaf in terms of relations with the BMA in the new year.<\/p>\n He says the BMA chair recently apologised for some intemperate language,.<\/p>\n In that spirit, Streeting says, he want to reciprocate. \u201cI regret some of the things I have said too,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n The first caller is a resident doctor who asks why he should listen to Wes Streeting<\/strong> when Streeting called him a juvenile delinquent.<\/p>\n (Streeting actually said that about the BMA.)<\/p>\n Streeting is now talking about the measures the government is taking to help resident doctors. He explained this in an article in the Times. Here is an extract.<\/p>\n I haven\u2019t just listened to resident doctors\u2019 complaints about the competition for jobs. I agree with them.<\/p>\n It used to be that resident doctors competed amongst themselves for specialty training places \u2014 the next rung on the ladder in a medic\u2019s career. Thanks to obscure immigration and visa changes introduced by the Conservatives post-Brexit, they now compete with the world\u2019s doctors.<\/p>\n In 2019, there were around 12,000 applicants for 9,000 specialty training places. This year, that has soared to over 30,000 applicants for 10,000 places.<\/p>\n Taxpayers shell out \u00a34bn a year to train doctors. It is in all of our interests to protect our investments and stop them going offshore.<\/p>\n If our offer is accepted, we will introduce emergency legislation to prioritise UK medical graduates for foundation and specialty training places. International talent will always have a home in our NHS. But this will return us to the fair terms doctors competed on before Brexit.<\/p>\n Along with an extra 4,000 specialty places, including 1,000 this year, the changes will be real and immediate for this year\u2019s applicants. Instead of four doctors competing for every training post, it will now be fewer than two doctors for every place.<\/p>\n After explaining this on LBC, Streeting says he would love to apply for a job with a one in two chance of getting it.<\/p>\n Ferrari<\/strong> jokes that it is best not to get into the topic of what jobs Streeting might want to apply for.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a004.16 EST<\/p>\n Wes Streeting<\/strong>, the health secretary, is being interviewed on on LBC. The presenter is Nick Ferrari.<\/strong><\/p>\n Streeting<\/strong> said the flu was putting the NHS under the worst pressure since Covid.<\/p>\n There is a particularly aggressive strain of flu around, he said.<\/p>\n He said he would be \u201cextremely worried\u201d about this if there were no strikes.<\/p>\n But, with the \u201cdouble whammy\u201d of flu and strikes, he thinks the situation is \u201cdangerous\u201d.<\/p>\n Streeting said he was so worried about this he told the BMA that he would extend their strike mandate, allowing them to strike in January, because that would be preferable to a strike before Christmas.<\/p>\n But they refused the offer, Streeting said. He said he could not understand that, given the risk it poses for patients.<\/p>\n Q: If midnight is the collapse of the NHS, how close to midnight are we? One minute?<\/em><\/p>\n Streeting<\/strong> says he would say that.<\/p>\n There are only a finite number of doctors and staff. With strikes and flu and trolleys on corridor and demand going up, \u201cI don\u2019t think there is a lever I can pull … [to] guarantee patient safety,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n UPDATE:<\/em> Streeting<\/strong> said:<\/p>\n The thing I\u2019m genuinely fearful of is that, even if I throw more money at this situation now, at this time, to get through the next week on strikes, there\u2019s only a finite number of doctors and staff.<\/p>\n There\u2019s only a finite number of care home beds and community based care. So if you\u2019ve got strikes and you\u2019ve got flu and you\u2019ve got all of these trolleys on corridors, and you\u2019ve got demand going up rather than down, I just don\u2019t think there is a lever I can pull, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s an amount of money I can throw, that means I can sit on your programme and guarantee patient safety over the next week.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a pretty terrifying position, not just for me to be in, but for the doctors and NHS staff who are confronting that challenge to be in, because they are the ones that are going to be bearing it on the on the front line.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a005.23 EST<\/p>\n Good morning. Growth figures out today show the economy shrinking in October. This is worse than economists were expecting.<\/p>\n Richard Partington<\/strong> has the story here.<\/p>\n Here is the start of his story.<\/p>\n Britain\u2019s economy shrank unexpectedly in October as consumers held back on spending before Rachel Reeves\u2019s budget and car manufacturing struggled to recover from the cyber-attack on Jaguar Land Rover.<\/p>\n Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed gross domestic product fell by 0.1%, after a 0.1% drop in output in September. City economists had predicted a 0.1% rise in October.<\/p>\n After a fourth consecutive month without growth, economists said the latest snapshot would probably cement a Bank of England interest rate cut next week amid fading inflationary pressures, fears over the sluggish outlook, and rising unemployment.<\/p>\n \u201cThe UK economy has faltered more dramatically than we expected,\u201d said Andrew Wishart, senior UK economist at Berenberg. \u201cThis loss of momentum will bring inflation down more swiftly than we previously anticipated, allowing the BoE to act.\u201d<\/p>\n And Graeme Wearden<\/strong> has more on his business live blog.<\/p>\n Mel Stride<\/strong>, the shadow chancellor, issued this statement about the news.<\/p>\n This morning\u2019s news that the economy unexpectedly shrank in the three months to October is extremely concerning but it\u2019s as a direct result of Labour\u2019s economic mismanagement.<\/p>\n Rachel Reeves promised growth but Labour has no plan for the economy – just their own survival, that\u2019s why Reeves presented a Benefits Budget that rewards welfare not work.<\/p>\n For months, Rachel Reeves has misled the British public. She said she wouldn\u2019t raise taxes on working people – she broke that promise again. She insisted there was a black hole in the public finances – but there wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n But within 20 minutes Stride was contradicted by his own leader, who said the fall in GDP was not unexpected. In her \u2018I told you so\u2019 message on social media, Kemi Badenoch<\/strong> said:<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t unexpected.<\/p>\n As I said at the time, the chancellor\u2019s shambolic dishonesty in the run-up to the budget, slowed down economic activity and killed growth.<\/p>\n Here is the agenda for the day.<\/p>\n 9am: Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has a phone-in on LBC.<\/p>\n 10am: Peers resume their committee stage debate on the assisted dying bill.<\/p>\n 11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.<\/p>\n Afternoon: Keir Starmer meets the Belgian PM, Bart De Wever, in Downing Street.<\/p>\n If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (normally between 10am and 3pm at the moment), or message me on social media. I can\u2019t read all the messages BTL, but if you put \u201cAndrew\u201d in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.<\/p>\n If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.<\/p>\n I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can\u2019t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a004.08 EST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Met police commissioner Mark Rowley says Trump talks ‘complete nonsense’ about crime in London Wes Streeting was not the only person doing an LBC phone-in this morning. Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan police commissioner, was on too, and he used his interview to accuse President Trump of talking \u201ccomplete nonsense\u201d about London. Trump has regularly<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[5032,2947,2173,132,1661,8835,10356,1551,124,1456,81],"class_list":{"0":"post-37062","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-commissioner","9":"tag-complete","10":"tag-crime","11":"tag-live","12":"tag-london","13":"tag-met","14":"tag-nonsense","15":"tag-police","16":"tag-politics","17":"tag-talks","18":"tag-trump"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Foreign Office announces sanctions against four senior RSF commanders over ‘heinous’ atrocities in Sudan<\/h2>\n
Met police commissioner Mark Rowley says Trump talks ‘complete nonsense’ about crime in London<\/h2>\n
\u2018Cruel\u2019 amendments are being used to thwart assisted dying bill, says Kim Leadbeater<\/h2>\n
Streeting says he was not criticising Starmer when he complained about government’s ‘technocratic’ approach<\/h2>\n
Streeting rules out challenging Starmer on joint ticket with Angela Rayner<\/h2>\n
Streeting admits he’s ‘not comfortable’ with allowing puberty blockers trial, but defends following clinicians’ advice<\/h2>\n
Streeting says he regrets some of the language he has used about BMA<\/h2>\n
Streeting says he won’t be able to guarantee patient safety in NHS if resident doctors’ strike goes ahead<\/h2>\n
Rachel Reeves to blame for economy shrinking before budget, Tories claim<\/h2>\n