Westminster Accounts: ‘The next big scandal’ – Informal groups of MPs given £20m from external organisations since 2019
All-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) have received over £20m worth of funding from external organisations since the 2019 general election, with registered lobbying agencies dominating the ranks of biggest benefactors.
Companies are required by law to sign the consultant lobbyist register if they engage in direct communications with ministers in relation to government policy or legislation on behalf of paying clients.
APPGs are informal interest groups of MPs and peers that facilitate cross-party work on an issue, a country or a sector, but the chair of one of Westminster’s ethics watchdogs has told Sky News they could represent “the next big scandal”.
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What is an APPG and why do they matter?
Search for your MP using the Westminster Accounts tool
The role of lobbying agencies is usually to provide MPs with a secretariat to administer the APPG.
The agencies are paid to provide the service by other outside organisations, which are listed in the parliamentary register.
But Lord Pickles, chair of the advisory committee on business appointments, said: “This is the next big scandal, and I think we need to take action now before it further develops.
“We need to know when people are producing reports that they’re speaking for members of parliament and not for the lobbyists.”
He added: “By and large, the all-party groups are fairly harmless. They perform in a niche in which particular members of parliament are interested.
“But for a number of them, the secretariat comes from professional organisations or lobbying groups and from organisations that have a political axe to grind. And I don’t think there is sufficient transparency in terms of why they’re doing.”
Lobbying industry insiders have defended the role of APPGs in the democratic process as a “force for good” – but one conceded to Sky News “there are bad ones”, while another said a “minority” are funded by organisations “trying to unfairly influence parliamentary decisions”.
From banking, beer and Bermuda, to Christianity, climate change and China, there are now more APPGs than there are sitting MPs, with 746 active groups in the latest register update – a number that has almost doubled since 2015.
The groups have come under greater scrutiny following MI5’s revelation in January last year that Christine Lee, a businesswoman identified as an agent for the Chinese government, had used donations to the Chinese in Britain APPG as part of “political interference activities“.
There has been a particular focus on how MPs have used the groups as justification for accepting gifted travel and trips abroad from foreign governments.
For example, £222,308 of the £242,000 that Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has donated to MPs since the last election came in the form of flights, hotels and hospitality for APPG visits to the country.
But while groups dedicated to foreign countries have so far attracted the most attention, those focused on policy areas make up a much greater proportion of APPGs.
Last spring, the Committee on Standards published a report that called on the government to look again at how APPGs are regulated, warning they could “all too easily become a parliamentary front for an external commercial entity”.
While the report concluded that lobbying was “an important part of a healthy democracy” and that it was “crucial that the interests of different sectors, organisations and communities can be brought to the attention of members and ministers”, it warned there were “few, if any, safeguards in place” for APPGs.
In September, the government responded by saying it agreed that “their informal structures make them potentially vulnerable to improper influence and access” and welcomed the committee’s proposals for a “gatekeeper” to be introduced to approve the establishment of any new APPGs.
Although APPGs can use the parliamentary meeting rooms and a portcullis logo on their publications, they receive no financial support from parliament and many are run with the assistance of external organisations – which include private companies, charities and academic institutions.
Some provide cash donations, but most of the backing comes in the form of benefits in kind. This often amounts to providing a secretariat which handles administrative work, events, trips and the publication of reports.
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Rishi Sunak has reacted to the Westminster Accounts – a joint project from Sky News and Tortoise Media which is shedding new light on the way money and politics interact in the UK.
Who needs to register as a consultant lobbyist?
Analysis by Sky News shows 10 of the top 20 biggest sources of funding to APPGs are registered consultant lobbyists, who have provided millions of pounds worth of services to the groups.
According to the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists, organisations are required by law to sign the register if they are VAT-registered in the UK and engage in “oral, written or electronic communications personally to a Minister of the Crown of Permanent Secretary” on behalf of a paying client in relation to attempts to “make or amend” legislation or policy.
Policy Connect – the biggest player in terms of the monetary value of the services offered – currently provides the secretariat for 10 APPGs on areas such as carbon monoxide, design and innovation, and climate change.
The company, which describes itself as a cross-party thinktank that operates as a not-for-profit social enterprise, has been on the register of consultant lobbyists since 2017 and declared more than 440 clients in that period – including trade and industry bodies, charities, educational institutions, local authorities and private companies.
For example, in the APPG register in 2021, Policy Connect said it was running the secretariat for the APPG on manufacturing based on funding it had received from trade groups such as Make UK, the British Aerosol Manufacturers Association and the Institution of Engineering and Technology; education institutions like the University of Bristol, and private firms such as BAE Systems, Tata Steel, Cummins and Deloitte.
On its website, Policy Connect lists organisations that have paid to join its “supporters programme”. It breaks them down into categories based on the size of their financial contribution, with brackets going from £5,000 up to £70,000.
Policy Connect defended this programme at a hearing of the Standards Committee last year, when challenged by MPs on whether this amounted to charging different rates for access to APPGs.
Claudia Jaksch, CEO of Policy Connect, told Sky News her organisation “provides the capacity to take on the administrative functions from parliamentarians so they can concentrate on the substance of the issues” and said money paid by clients had no connection to the amount of access or involvement they had in the APPGs.
“In relation to the different funding amounts Policy Connect receives, these reflect the size of the funding organisation to ensure a high level of diversity of supporters, and/or the interest of a funding organisation in supporting our work across multiple areas and programmes, and/or the different levels of administrative support and staff time required by different APPGs.
“Regardless of funding amount no organisation receives preferential treatment. Editorial control rests firmly with the parliamentary members of each APPG.”
Another major provider of secretariat services to APPGs is Connect Communications.
It has run the secretariats of 17 APPGs since the last general election, all of them on behalf of multiple clients – which are all declared in the parliamentary APPG register.
In its second-quarter return for the register of consultant lobbyists in 2021, the company recorded “lobbying done on behalf of” the APPGs on water, childcare, digital skills, hydrogen and apprenticeships.
It has also advertised its expertise in this area, offering courses for clients on “how to run an APPG”, including how to identify MPs to sit on an APPG and how to secure media coverage for an APPG’s work.
A website posting about a training course in 2016 says: “APPGs are increasingly seen as an effective means to shaping policy… Connect has unrivalled experience in setting up successful APPGs – come learn from us about how your organisation would benefit from working with APPGs.”
In a statement to Sky News, a spokesperson said: “Connect ensure that groups we are involved with operate in an open and transparent way, fully compliant with the strict rules set by the parliamentary authorities. It is important to note that MPs and peers set the agenda for an APPG and must approve all activity, including the involvement of outside organisations.”
The spokesperson said the lobbying the company had registered on behalf of APPGs relates to things like sending speaking invitations to ministers for an event, adding “this is a technical point and does not reflect an active ‘lobbying’ role”, and that its provision of client training for “setting up successful APPGs” has a “particular focus on ensuring compliance with the strict 32-page rule book set by the parliamentary authorities, including around the required composition of groups, with MPs and peers participating from all parties.”
In the case of both Policy Connect and Connect Communications, the APPG secretariats they provide are funded by multiple clients, but that is not always the case in other APPGs.
Wychwood Consulting runs the secretariats of a number of APPGs on behalf of single clients.
For example, it runs the recently established Central Bank and Digital Currency APPG on behalf of Portdex, a company creating a decentralized digital economy platform using blockchain technology; the Digital Identity APPG on behalf of Yogi, an ID verification company, and it also provided the secretariat for the now disbanded Business In A Pandemic World APPG on behalf of Cignpost, a COVID diagnostics firm.
While there is no suggestion Wychwood Consulting or the APPGs in question have broken any rules, some in the wider industry have raised concerns about the potential problems that could arise from having a single financial backer.
Liam Herbert, who chairs the public affairs group at the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA), told Sky News: “The potential problem is where you have an organisation that might be promoting one single issue from their point of view alone. That’s not the purpose of an APPG.
“The purpose of an APPG is to inform parliamentarians about a wider issue. So if you take one, your sole area of interest, and promote that through an APPG, that’s not very democratic, it’s not very clear and it’s not very transparent.”
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Who is donating money to MPs?
Lobbying is not a bad word
The lobbying industry has recently started the Lobbying for Good Lobbying campaign, calling for greater openness.
Speaking to Sky News at the launch event, Gill Morris, the CEO of DevoConnect – which has provided £192,000 worth of secretariat services to six APPGs since the last election – said: “People need to understand that lobbying is not a bad word, it’s a good word.
“When you have a government of an 80-seat majority, having all-party consensus on an issue is really important … we bring a collaboration together which actually makes sense for government. I know our APPG helped influence getting more money for northern culture in the levelling-up fund. We did that. We know that.”
“Yeah, there are good ones, there are bad ones, but when we get that collaboration and bring them together it’s all-party – and that does have voice.”
Asked whether she believed some APPGs are being used to push a particular corporate agenda, Ms Morris said: “There are really good APPGs and there are others where it’s quite clear that they are a direct point of access … I think it might be true [but] I think probably, most groups do things or operate the way we do.”
Sarah Pinch, a former president of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, said the issue with APPGs was not about how they were funded, but the activity they undertook.
“I think there are a minority of APPGs that are funded by certain organisations who are peddling their line and they are trying to unfairly influence parliamentary decisions through a system that was not set up to do that,” she said.
“APPGs are a force for good. We need to be clear and transparent about who’s involved in them, who’s funding them and who’s influencing them. Because if we’re not, we run the risk, for example, that that could be a health APPG that is funded by the sugar industry, and that is wrong.”
While the data compiled in the Westminster Accounts provides insight into the amount of funding declared by APPGs and their sources, it only captures activity that is required to be registered.
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How you can explore the Westminster Accounts
What needs to be registered?
However, there are publicly visible examples of work by private companies in relation to APPGs that do not break any rules but are not reflected in the parliamentary registers.
One example is Firehouse Communications, which cites its experience dealing with APPGs as part of its pitch to prospective clients on its website.
In a case study, the company explains how it helped an unnamed “leading offshore tax jurisdiction” achieve its policy aims around Brexit.
In its list of challenges faced by the offshore jurisdiction, Firehouse Communications notes that the APPG related to the jurisdiction was “inert”.
Explaining its strategy for assisting the offshore jurisdiction, the company says it worked to “support liaison with [the] APPG and other groups”.
However, Firehouse Communications does not appear in the APPG register or in the register of members’ interests, other than a £3,000 payment it made to Sir Michael Fallon, the former defence secretary, for a speech to a Hungarian thinktank.
Firehouse Communications told Sky News it had provided “no benefit in kind to any APPG on any basis”.
There is no suggestion any of the work it conducted was registerable.
Some in the lobbying industry, however, say the rules around what should be registered and declared should be widened to capture more of the activity that goes on in relation to APPGs.
Liam Herbert, chair of the public affairs group at the PRCA, said: “At the moment, all that is regulated are what’s called consultant lobbyists – so professional companies who do lobbying and public affairs for a living.
“But everyone lobbies and lobbying is fundamentally a central part of our democracy. But a lot of it goes unrecorded and unchallenged and unseen. So almost everybody has an opportunity to lobby. But only the industry who says we lobby for a living is currently regulated.”
A criminal investigation has been launched into the Glastonbury performances of Kneecap and Bob Vylan.
Police announced the decision on Monday afternoon after reviewing video footage and audio of both sets, which took place on Saturday.
It comes after the BBC said it regretted the decision not to pull the live stream for Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury performance, during which frontman Bobby Vylan shouted anti-IDF (Israel Defence Forces) chants.
The punk-rap duo have also had US visas revoked and been dropped by their US representative, United Talent Agency.
Later on Monday, as the story had made headlines throughout the day, drummer Bobbie Vylan released a video statement on Instagram, saying politicians who have spent time criticising the band should be “utterly ashamed” for giving “room” to this over other issues.
He also addressed what was said on stage, saying: “Regardless of how it was said, calling for an end to the slaughter of innocents is never wrong. To civilians of Israel, understand this anger is not directed at you, and don’t let your government persuade you that a call against an army is a call against the people.”
Moglai Bap and Mo Chara of Kneecap perform at Glastonbury. Pic: Reuters
In a statement, Avon and Somerset Police said that after reviewing footage of both performances, further enquiries are required and a criminal investigation is now being undertaken.
“A senior detective has been appointed to lead this investigation,” a spokesperson said. “This has been recorded as a public order incident at this time while our enquiries are at an early stage.”
The force said the investigation will be “evidence-led and will closely consider all appropriate legislation, including relating to hate crimes”.
“We have received a large amount of contact in relation to these events from people across the world and recognise the strength of public feeling,” it added. “There is absolutely no place in society for hate.”
What happened?
Bob Vylan performing on the West Holts Stage, during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset. Yui Mok/PA Wire
During Bob Vylan’s set, the duo performed in front of a screen that showed several messages, including one that said Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to “genocide”.
Bobby Vylan also led chants of “death to the IDF”.
The set was live streamed by the BBC as part of its Glastonbury coverage, but has not been made available on demand.
Politicians including the prime minister have criticised the performance. Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis said the chants “crossed a line” and that there was no place at the festival for “antisemitism, hate speech or incitement to violence”.
A BBC spokesperson said the broadcaster respected freedom of expression “but stands firmly against incitement to violence”.
They added: “The antisemitic sentiments expressed by Bob Vylan were utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves…
“The team were dealing with a live situation, but with hindsight we should have pulled the stream during the performance. We regret this did not happen.”
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What’s the Glastonbury controversy?
Media watchdog Ofcom said it was in talks with the BBC and that the broadcaster “clearly has questions to answer” over the stream.
Irish-language rap trio Kneecap were on stage afterwards. Before their appearance at the festival, there had been calls for Glastonbury to remove them from the bill – as rapper Liam Og O hAnnaidh (who performs as Mo Chara) is facing a terror charge, accused of displaying a flag in support of the proscribed group Hezbollah at a gig in London last November.
Glastonbury organisers kept them on the line-up, but the BBC chose not to stream their set live. An edited version was later made available on demand.
On stage, the band led chants of “f*** Keir Starmer”.
O hAnnaidh’s bandmate Naoise O Caireallain (Moglai Bap) said they would “start a riot outside the courts” for O hAnnaidh’s next appearance, before clarifying: “No riots, just love and support, and support for Palestine.”
Hundreds of people turned out in protest for his first court appearance earlier this month.
After the police investigation was announced, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy criticised the “appalling and unacceptable” scenes at Glastonbury and said the government would not tolerate antisemitism.
She said she had called BBC director-general Tim Davie after the broadcast of Bob Vylan’s set to find out why it had aired, and why the feed had not been cut.
“I expect answers to these questions without delay,” she said.
Ms Nandy said she had spoken to members of the Jewish community, including attendees at Glastonbury, who said they were concerned by imagery and slogans and ended up creating their own “safe space”.
Christopher Landau, the US deputy secretary of state, said the band had been banned from the US ahead of a tour later this year due to their “hateful tirade” at the festival.
Bob Vylan were set to perform in Chicago, Brooklyn and Philadelphia in the autumn. They are due to perform at Radar Festival in Manchester on Saturday and Boardmasters, a surfing and music festival in Newquay, Cornwall, in August.
Sharing a statement on Instagram after the Glastonbury set, Bobby Vylan said: “Teaching our children to speak up for the change they want and need is the only way that we make this world a better place.
“As we grow older and our fire starts to possibly dim under the suffocation of adult life and all its responsibilities, it is incredibly important that we encourage and inspire future generations to pick up the torch that was passed to us.”
The war in Gaza, which has continued for more than 18 months, began after Hamas militants launched attacks in Israel on 7 October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages.
More than 860 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the war began, more than 400 of them during the fighting in Gaza.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza has devastated the enclave and killed around 56,500 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says more than half of the dead are women and children.
A 92-year-old man has been found guilty of raping and murdering a woman born 133 years ago – in what’s thought to be the UK’s longest cold case to reach trial.
Ryland Headley was convicted at Bristol Crown Court of killing 75-year-old mother of two, Louisa Dunne, at her home back in June 1967.
Latest DNA technology – as well as matching palm prints taken at the scene more than 57 years ago – led a jury to find Headley guilty on both charges.
Ryland Headley, now aged 92, has been found guilty of rape and murder. Pic Avon and Somerset Police
The front of Louisa Dunne’s home. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Detective Inspector Dave Marchant from Avon and Somerset Police said forces across the country are investigating whether Headley could be linked to other unsolved crimes.
“This investigation was a blend of new and old forensic techniques – DNA being the latest and greatest…but we were able to utilise that original investigative material,” he said.
On the morning of 28 June 1967, neighbours noticed that Louisa Dunne, born in 1892, wasn’t standing on her doorstep as usual.
They found her lying dead inside her home in the Easton area of Bristol – bruised, blood coming from one ear, vomit in her mouth and her underwear around her ankles.
The police investigation at the time found traces of semen on intimate swabs and on the skirt she was wearing, but it was around 20 years before DNA testing.
Louisa Dunne’s skirt. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Map showing original house-to-house coverage. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
A palm print was also found on one of the rear windows inside the house.
“The original investigation was, by all accounts, massive,” DI Marchant told Sky News.
“Over 19,000 palm print eliminations were taken from men and boys in the Bristol area and beyond. Over 8,000 house-to-house records were completed and several thousand statements were taken,” he added.
But Headley – in his 30s at the time – lived just outside the ring of houses where palm prints were taken.
A post-mortem examination found she had “extensive abrasions” on her face and that the most likely explanation was that a hand had been pressed against her mouth.
The back of Louisa Dunne’s house. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Palmprint images. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Around 20 crates of evidence were stored in Avon and Somerset Police HQ for nearly six decades alongside other cold cases.
The case was reviewed in 2024, with new DNA testing on the sperm found on the skirt Ms Dunne had been wearing.
Investigating officers were told the results showed a DNA match on the national database that was “a billion times” more likely to belong to Headley than anyone else.
“I had to read that email several times to fully digest the content of it and believe what I was reading. Then it was, okay, game on, let’s get this investigation going,” said DI Marchant.
Headley was arrested at his home in Ipswich in November 2024 – he did not give evidence during the trial.
Headley during his arrest. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Louisa Dunne in 1933. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
The jury heard that forensic experts had matched Headley’s palm print, taken on arrest, to that of the one found on Ms Dunne’s window at the time.
The judge allowed the prosecution to raise the fact that Headley had already spent time in jail for committing two other rapes, around a decade after Ms Dunne’s murder.
Both those cases involved attacks against elderly women in similar circumstances.
Prosecutor Anna Vigars KC told the jury these offences demonstrate to all of us that Headley “has a tendency” to act in exactly the same way that we say that he did back in 1967.
“In other words, to break into people’s homes at night and, in some cases, to target an elderly woman living alone, to have sex with her despite her attempts to fend him off, and to threaten violence,” she said.
Ryland Headley is on trial for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Pic: PA
Speaking before the verdict, Louisa Dunne’s granddaughter recalled the moment police told her of progress in the cold case, nearly six decades on: “She said, ‘this is about your grandmother’, and I said, ‘have they caught him?’ It came out, I never thought I’d say anything like that. Have you caught him? and she said, ‘we have a suspect’.”
She described the impact of the attack on her grandmother and that a conviction would bring relief:
“I accepted it. I accepted that some murders just never get solved. And some people just have to live with that emptiness and that sadness.
“I think it’s appalling, absolutely appalling. The poor woman – it must have been absolutely terrifying. And the reality of a rape, I don’t like thinking about, I don’t think anybody does,” she added.
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The Crown Prosecution Service told Sky News that it was not aware of a cold case with a longer period between the offence and trial.
DI Marchant told Sky News it demonstrates the value of reviewing such cases: “I think this investigation shows you should never give up.
“You should never look at an investigation and say, ‘oh, it’s too old, it happened X number of years ago’ and have an arbitrary cut off point. At the time we re-instigated it in 2024… there was a chance a suspect could still be alive and as it turned out – he was.”
The BBC has said it regrets not pulling the live stream of Bob Vylan’s “unacceptable” Glastonbury set – as Ofcom said the broadcaster has “questions to answer”.
The corporation has faced mounting criticism over airing the performance on Glastonbury‘s West Holts Stage, during which the rap-punk duo’s frontman Bobby Vylan led chants of: “Free, free Palestine” and: “Death, death to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces)”.
Sir Keir Starmer condemned the remarks as “appalling hate speech”, while festival organiser Emily Eavis said they “crossed a line” – and media watchdog Ofcom has now also released a statement raising concerns.
This morning, a spokesperson for the prime minister did not directly answer when asked if he still had confidence in BBC director-general Tim Davie.
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What is the Glastonbury controversy?
Footage from Bob Vylan’s set on Saturday showed some of the crowd joining in, as the group performed in front of a screen that said Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to “genocide”.
Afterwards, the BBC said there had been a warning on screen about potential “strong and discriminatory language”, but described the comments as “deeply offensive”.
On Monday, a spokesperson released an updated statement, saying the comments were antisemitic and the performance should have been taken off air.
“The BBC respects freedom of expression but stands firmly against incitement to violence,” the statement said. “The antisemitic sentiments expressed by Bob Vylan were utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves. We welcome Glastonbury’s condemnation of the performance.”
Pic: PA
A judgement to issue a warning on screen while streaming online was in line with editorial guidelines, the spokesperson added, and the performance has not been made available to view on demand.
“The team were dealing with a live situation but with hindsight we should have pulled the stream during the performance. We regret this did not happen.
“In light of this weekend, we will look at our guidance around live events so we can be sure teams are clear on when it is acceptable to keep output on air.”
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An Ofcom spokesperson said: “We are very concerned about the live stream of this performance, and the BBC clearly has questions to answer.
“We have been speaking to the BBC over the weekend and we are obtaining further information as a matter of urgency, including what procedures were in place to ensure compliance with its own editorial guidelines.”
In a statement shared on Instagram on Sunday, Bobby Vylan said: “Teaching our children to speak up for the change they want and need is the only way that we make this world a better place.
“As we grow older and our fire starts to possibly dim under the suffocation of adult life and all its responsibilities, it is incredibly important that we encourage and inspire future generations to pick up the torch that was passed to us.”
The latest developments follows severe condemnation from the prime minister, who said there was “no excuse for this kind of appalling hate speech”.
Mo Chara of Kneecap at Glastonbury. Pic: Reuters
Sir Keir also referenced a previous statement that Belfast rap group Kneecap, who were on stage after Bob Vylan, should have been removed from the line-up after one member was charged with a terrorism offence.
“I said that Kneecap should not be given a platform and that goes for any other performers making threats or inciting violence,” he said.
Ms Eavis, whose father Michael co-founded the festival, said in a statement that Bob Vylan had “very much crossed a line”.
She added: “Their chants very much crossed a line and we are urgently reminding everyone involved in the production of the festival that there is no place at Glastonbury for antisemitism, hate speech or incitement to violence.”
The Israeli embassy posted on X in the hours after the set, saying it was “deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric”.
It said the slogan used “advocates for the dismantling of the State of Israel”.
In a separate post on X on Sunday, Israel’s foreign ministry published graphic footage following the attack by Hamas on the Nova festival in Israel on 7 October 2023, and the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) said it would be formally complaining to the BBC over its “outrageous decision” to broadcast the performance.
Speaking to Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on behalf of the government, Health Secretary Wes Streeting described the chant as “appalling”, especially at a music festival – “when there were Israelis at a similar music festival who were kidnapped, murdered, raped, and in some cases still held captive”.
He added that while “there’s no justification for inciting violence against Israelis… the way in which Israel’s conducting this war has made it extremely difficult for Israel’s allies around the world to stand by and justify”.
Lucy McMullin, who was in the crowd for Bob Vylan, told Sky News: “When there’s children and civilians being murdered and starved, then I think it’s important that people are speaking out on these issues.
“However, inciting more death and violence is not the way to do it.”
Police have said they are reviewing footage of both the Bob Vylan and Kneecap sets to assess whether any criminal offences were committed.
Speaking to Sky News earlier today, women and equalities minister Baroness Jacqui Smith said the comments “clearly” over-stepped the mark.
“I’m surprised that the BBC carried on broadcasting them live when it was obvious what was happening.”
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