>> morning 930 on tuesday the 7th of january 2025. live across the uk. britain's newsroom with andrew pierce and bev turner. >> good morning. so starmer fights back against elon musk's criticism over the government's handung criticism over the government's handling of the grooming gangs scandal. meanwhile, this is how the prime minister described anyone calling for an inquiry. >> petitions who sat in government for many years, calling for inquiries because they want to jump on a bandwagon of the far right. >> so then the home secretary tried to calm the storm by announcing tougher sentences for groomers. too little, too late. >> home secretary yvette cooper announces child groomers will get tougher prison sentences but still no inquiry.

>> it is never an excuse to use race and ethnicity or community relations as an excuse not to investigate and punish sex offenders. >> survivor anger across the country as the government brands jumping on the bandwagon of the far right in a call for a public national inquiry. also, a blue labour group has broken from the government's position to call for that independent investigation . investigation. >> and the chairman of reform uk, yusuf, joins us on the show this morning. is his party rattled after the tech billionaire elon musk said nigel farage isn't the leader they need and floods, snow and ice. >> there are 200 weather warnings in place this morning as the north is battered by snow and ice, with flooding mainly in the south. hundreds of schools have been closed. this is probably the first day back. have you been impacted? >> let us know. and if you're

overweight or a smoker, get to the back of the queue for nhs surgery as that's how the government is going to try and clear the backlog. >> and people who create sexually explicit fake images will be jailed for two years as the government clamps down on what are called deep fakes. more on that to come. >> is it just me? why are all these schools closed? >> apparently we can't get to school anymore if there's a little bit of snow, like. look, we're in london. it was cold this morning, but you've already done four trips on a motorbike. >> yeah, and it's fine. and the. the roads are virtually deserted. >> to be clear, he's not a hell's angel in his spare time. that's how he gets to and from his other jobs. >> is there any excuse to not come into work? but why are all these schools closed? first day back at school, mums and dads now got a real headache, haven't they? it's a nightmare.

>> schools are closed. maybe we're just being london lucky. london centric. maybe we don't know how bad it is out there. will you send us your photos this morning? gb views @gbnews. com email us and if you've got the kids at home and you're all set there in your pyjamas, send us your pictures this morning. send us pictures watching gb news. and you know, kids will be delighted. >> not me, but also mum to tell us if you're fed up with your school for not opening. >> yeah, absolutely right. a lot to get through this morning. zia yusuf from reform as well. that is going to be very, very interesting. first though, the very latest news with katie bowen. >> bev and andrew. thank you and good morning. it's just gone. 933 these are your latest headunes 933 these are your latest headlines from the gb newsroom. professor alexis jay, who chaired the independent inquiry into child sex abuse, has said this morning that people should just get on with implementing the recommendations made in previous inquiries rather than holding another one. professor jay's comments come as the prime

minister dismissed calls for a national inquiry yesterday, accusing the conservatives of jumping on a bandwagon and amplifying what the far right is saying on child sexual abuse after failing to act for 14 long years. the home secretary, yvette cooper, told the commons yesterday that the government will make it an offence with professional and criminal sanctions to fail to report or cover up child sexual abuse. she added that the government will establish a victims and survivors panel to advise on wider work around the issue. that came as the prime minister defended his position as director of public prosecutions, saying child sexual exploitation is utterly sickening and it was something he had tackled head on whilst in that role. shadow justice secretary robert jenrick mp called once again for a full national public inquiry earlier on gb news. >> i have long advocated whole life sentences for these grooming gang perpetrators and i've said that if there foreign national offenders get them out of our country, deport them. no

ifs, no buts. so they never step foot on this soil of our country again. and the cowardly public officials who did turn a blind eye, they should be prosecuted as well. not a single one has been prosecuted so far, and that is completely wrong. we need to take action, and we need now to have a full national public inquiry. >> while a home office spokesman issued the following statement. we are working at pace across government to drive forward real action to implement the recommendations of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse. severe snow and flooding is causing major disruption across the country this morning, with delays at airports, trains cancelled and a—roads closed. liverpool john lennon airport remains closed right now for snow clearing, with flights expected to restart at 10 am. bristol airport reopened a short while ago after closures to runways overnight.

yesterday, a man's body was recovered from an area of flooding in north yorkshire. major incidents have also been declared in leicestershire and lincolnshire, and east midlands ambulance service has declared a critical incident. a severe flood warning is in place near barrow upon soar, meaning there is danger to life and large scale evacuation is required. river levels there are expected to remain high until tomorrow. a yellow snow and ice warning covering most of the south west, england and wales, the west midlands and the north west of england remain in place until 10 am. this morning. the same warning is in place for western and northern parts of scotland until midday, and in northern ireland until 11 am. those are the latest gb news headlines. now let's go back to bev and andrew for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone. >> sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to

gbnews.com/alerts. >> right. good morning. 936 is britain's newsroom live across the uk on gb news with me, bev turner and andrew pierce. >> while the weather is terrible in some parts of the country, is it so terrible, though, that hundreds of schools have had to be closed today across the uk because of snow and ice overnight? we want to know if you've been impacted. are your home stuck with the kids, or is it more likely grandpa and grandma are stepping into the breach? >> well, this has been a long christmas holiday, let me tell you. my kids are due to go back to school tomorrow, but a lot of schools have gone back today or should have gone back today. and the disruption? you have to have a really good reason to close schools and from what we can see it doesn't look like it's that bad. have we just lowered the bar so much now in terms of anything that becomes difficult to deal with that we've got kids at home today. this is the disruption this causes to their education. but also, as you say,

andrew, to the working life of parents. yeah, there's loads of grandparents at home who've been called in this morning. granny, can you come and look after the kids? >> this is the mindset on the front page of the telegraph today. train services were cancelled between liverpool and london for several hours on sunday after the aslef trade union, which remember got a 15% pay union, which remember got a 15% pay rise in three of their drivers, said to their drivers you can't walk to the trains because there was snow on the platforms. a thin covering of two inches of snow on the walkways between trains and the drivers were instructed by the union. they should have their pay union. they should have their pay docked. just feels their pay, pay docked. just feels their pay, doctor? yeah they should. >> it just feels like any excuse to not go to work. and i'm sorry, but we got lazy in lockdowns and something mentally changed for a lot of people. they took that as the excuse. well, if we can do it then we can do it in the future. any excuse just to not go to work, not go to school, sit at home as if the kids haven't lost enough schooling already. absolutely it is. it's a holiday at home. but maybe, maybe where you are, it

is really that