Grooming gangs: PM hits out at 'people who shout and scream - and do nothing'
Sir Keir Starmer has criticised politicians who "shout and scream, and do nothing" to deal with issues such as grooming gangs - and called for "accountability" for those who failed to prevent the abuse of young girls.
Speaking to our political editor Beth Rigby at the G7 summit in Canada, the prime minister refused to say if he owes anyone an apology for previously dismissing calls for a public inquiry into the scandal, and defended his own record in tackling grooming gangs.
He said his "frustration" is with people who "don't focus on the victims", and noted that he brought the first prosecution for a grooming case when he was Director of Public Prosecutions, changed guidelines for prosecutors, and called for mandatory reporting.
PM hits out at Badenoch
Starmer went on to say that he tries to "remain courteous", but hit out directly at Kemi Badenoch for having done "absolutely nothing" while in government.
"My focus is on the victims on this, not on politicians," the prime minister said.
"I simply gently point out that some of those that are loudest now did absolutely nothing when they had the opportunity."
Asked if it was misjudged to accuse people calling for a national inquiry of jumping on a far-right bandwagon, Starmer emphasised that he was "talking about politicians", and they need to answer for why they did not deal with this when in power.
"I am frustrated in politics when people shout and scream a lot and do nothing when they've got the opportunity to do it. It's one of the worst aspects of politics, in my view," he said.
'There must be accountability'
Turning to the national public inquiry the government is setting up, the prime minister said it "must go wherever the evidence leads".
"And if that means going into questions of ethnicity, or the views that were taken by public officials or others, then that inquiry must go there. No stone will be left unturned," he said.
Asked directly if public officials - be it councillors, police officers, social worker, or others - should be potentially be prosecuted, Starmer said: "My instinct is there must be accountability."
He went on: "Where the inquiry uncovers failure or wrongdoing, then there absolutely should be accountability. And that is amongst the purposes of an inquiry.
"And it's a statutory inquiry as you know, which will therefore mean there is power to compel evidence and witnesses because it's important that it is comprehensive, it's important that it gets to every single issue.
"And as part of that process, there's accountability for individuals who did wrong."