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Rishi Sunak should apologise for his transgender jibe which was made while Brianna Ghey’s mother was in parliament, Gordon Brown has told Sky News.

The former PM was speaking to the Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge a day after the current occupier of Number 10 joked during Prime Minister’s Questions about Sir Keir Starmer’s record on gender recognition, while Esther Ghey was on the parliamentary estate.

Peter Spooner, the father of murdered transgender teenager Brianna, has also told Sky News he thinks Mr Sunak should say sorry for what he called the “degrading” and “dehumanising” remark made in the Commons on Wednesday.

Mr Sunak had accused Sir Keir of having difficulty in “defining a woman” during an attack on Labour Party U-turns. The PM has refused to apologise and said his comment had been “absolutely legitimate”.

Mr Brown has had his own moments of regret – including calling a voter he had just met a “bigot” after a discussion on immigration.

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He later returned to the woman’s house to apologise – telling waiting journalists that he was a “penitent sinner”.

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Mr Brown told Sophy Ridge: “Prime ministers make mistakes. I don’t think you can say that every prime minister will fail to make some mistakes, but I think you should apologise if you get things wrong.

“And I mean it is a very sad and really tragic, tragic case of a family in grief.

“I know, he’s said he’s compassionate about the family, but perhaps he should do what I had to do on one or two occasions and apologise. And I do accept that if you make mistakes, you’ve got to correct them quickly.”

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Transgender remark ‘comment on U-turns’

Speaking on a wide range of topics, Mr Brown stated that a second Donald Trump presidency would “cause a lot of damage to jobs in Britain”.

The New Labour titan said European countries should warn the US about the dangers the world would face if Mr Trump returns to the White House.

“I would normally say British leaders should keep out of American politics, and they would say any American leader should keep out of British politics,” he said – but “we’ve got to sound some worry”.

Mr Brown added: “If Donald Trump were elected, he’s promised a 10% tariff on goods. So you’ve immediately got a trade war.”

And this trade war would “actually cause a lot of damage to jobs in Britain”.

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Chants of ‘shame’ at PM after transgender jibe

Mr Brown, who was the UK’s chancellor for a decade, said that this year is different to 2016 in that Mr Trump actually has policies to scrutinise – including leaving the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and potentially withdrawing support for Ukraine.

This – and uncertainty about his policies in China and the Middle East – “are huge issues not just for America, but for the whole of the world – and particularly issues for Britain, and Europe as well”, according to Mr Brown.

He added: “I think in this instance, we’ve got to speak out and say, look, we are worried about what the policies that he’s proposing are.”

Donald Trump campaign in Las Vegas last month. Pic: AP
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Donald Trump campaigning in Las Vegas last month. Pic: AP

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Mr Brown, who left parliament in 2015 having been ejected from Number 10 in 2010, now campaigns on child poverty in the UK.

He told Sophy Ridge that there is an “emergency” and a “crisis” at the moment with regard to young people and the cost of living.

A combination of factors, including the ending of support payments for energy, inflation, the two-child benefits cap and other matters have left families unable to afford basics like toothpaste, soap, shampoo and winter coats.

He highlighted examples of schools which have set up washing machines to ensure students have clean clothes.

“And so you’ve got a cleanliness problem, you’ve got a health problem, and something has got to be done to make life better because we are sacrificing the future of thousands of children on the altar of failing to take into account that we’ve got to do more about that poverty,” he said.

Mr Brown backed Sir Keir Starmer’s plan to look at reforming Universal Credit – and highlighted his continuing disapproval for the two-child benefit limit.

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‘It breaks my heart as a parent’

This refers to the policy of restricting means-tested financial support to families with three or more children.

He stopped short of calling on Sir Keir to scrap it, but said he never liked it and said reviewing Universal Credit is the “right thing”.

Labour has not said if it would scrap the policy.

On Labour’s U-turn on green policies, Mr Brown revealed he had not been asked by the current party leadership for his advice.

He noted that he did not want to be a “backseat driver” or to “pontificate from the outside” – but added that “the situation has changed and “we are in a new fiscal cycle”.

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The former chancellor said: “Our economy is not growing.

“I mean the best we can hope is we get to 1% over the next year and that will not be enough to keep standards of living rising or alternatively to pay for our public services.

“So these are difficult decisions that Keir Starmer, [shadow chancellor] Rachel Reeves have got to make.

“If they asked for my private advice, I said I’ll give it.”

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‘Shameful’ that black boys in London more likely to die than white boys, says Met Police chief

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'Shameful' that black boys in London more likely to die than white boys, says Met Police chief

It is “shameful” that black boys growing up in London are “far more likely” to die than white boys, Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley has told Sky News.

The commissioner told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that relations with minority communities “is difficult for us”.

Sir Mark, who came out of retirement to become head of the UK’s largest police force in 2022, said: “We can’t pretend otherwise that we’ve got a history between policing and black communities where policing has got a lot wrong.

“And we get a lot more right today, but we do still make mistakes. That’s not in doubt. I’m being as relentless in that as it can be.”

He said the “vast majority” of the force are “good people”.

However, he added: “But that legacy, combined with the tragedy that some of this crime falls most heavily in black communities, that creates a real problem because the legacy creates concern.”

Sir Mark, who also leads the UK’s counter-terrorism policing, said it is “not right” that black boys growing up in London “are far more likely to be dead by the time they’re 18” than white boys.

“That’s, I think, shameful for the city,” he admitted.

The Met Police chief’s admission comes two years after an official report found the force is institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic.

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Police chase suspected phone thief

Baroness Casey was commissioned in 2021 to look into the Met Police after serving police officer Wayne Couzens abducted, raped and murdered Sarah Everard.

She pinned the primary blame for the Met’s culture on its past leadership and found that stop and search and the use of force against black people was excessive.

At the time, Sir Mark, who had been commissioner for six months when the report was published, said he would not use the labels of institutionally racist, institutionally misogynistic and institutionally homophobic, which Casey insisted the Met deserved.

However, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who helped hire Sir Mark – and could fire him – made it clear the commissioner agreed with Baroness Casey’s verdict.

After the report was released, Sir Mark said “institutional” was political language so he was not going to use it, but he accepted “we have racists, misogynists…systematic failings, management failings, cultural failings”.

A few months after the report, Sir Mark launched a two-year £366m plan to overhaul the Met, including increased emphasis on neighbourhood policing to rebuild public trust and plans to recruit 500 more community support officers and an extra 565 people to work with teams investigating domestic violence, sexual offences and child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Watch the full interview on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips from 8.30am on Sunday.

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Unite votes to suspend Angela Rayner over Birmingham bin strike

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Unite votes to suspend Angela Rayner over Birmingham bin strike

Labour’s largest union donor, Unite, has voted to suspend Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner over her role in the Birmingham bin strike row.

Members of the trade union, one of the UK’s largest, also “overwhelmingly” voted to “re-examine its relationship” with Labour over the issue.

They said Ms Rayner, who is also housing, communities and local government secretary, Birmingham Council’s leader, John Cotton, and other Labour councillors had been suspended for “bringing the union into disrepute”.

There was confusion over Ms Rayner’s membership of Unite, with her office having said she was no longer a member and resigned months ago and therefore could not be suspended.

But Unite said she was registered as a member. Parliament’s latest register of interests had her down as a member in May.

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The union said an emergency motion was put to members at its policy conference in Brighton on Friday.

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Unite is one of the Labour Party’s largest union donors, donating £414,610 in the first quarter of 2025 – the highest amount in that period by a union, company or individual.

The union condemned Birmingham’s Labour council and the government for “attacking the bin workers”.

Mountains of rubbish have been piling up in the city since January after workers first went on strike over changes to their pay, with all-out strike action starting in March. An agreement has still not been made.

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Rat catcher tackling Birmingham’s bins problem

Ms Rayner and the councillors had their membership suspended for “effectively firing and rehiring the workers, who are striking over pay cuts of up to £8,000”, the union added.

‘Missing in action’

General secretary Sharon Graham told Sky News on Saturday morning: “Angela Rayner, who has the power to solve this dispute, has been missing in action, has not been involved, is refusing to come to the table.”

She had earlier said: “Unite is crystal clear, it will call out bad employers regardless of the colour of their rosette.

“Angela Rayner has had every opportunity to intervene and resolve this dispute but has instead backed a rogue council that has peddled lies and smeared its workers fighting huge pay cuts.

“The disgraceful actions of the government and a so-called Labour council, is essentially fire and rehire and makes a joke of the Employment Relations Act promises.

“People up and down the country are asking whose side is the Labour government on and coming up with the answer not workers.”

SN pics from 10/04/25 Tyseley Lane, Tyseley, Birmingham showing some rubbish piling up because of bin strikes
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Piles of rubbish built up around Birmingham because of the strike over pay

Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman said the government’s “priority is and always has been the residents of Birmingham”.

He said the decision by Unite workers to go on strike had “caused disruption” to the city.

“We’ve worked to clean up streets and remain in close contact with the council […] as we support its recovery,” he added.

A total of 800 Unite delegates voted on the motion.

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Binance’s CZ threatens to sue Bloomberg over Trump stablecoin report

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Binance’s CZ threatens to sue Bloomberg over Trump stablecoin report

Binance’s CZ threatens to sue Bloomberg over Trump stablecoin report

Binance co-founder CZ has dismissed a Bloomberg report linking him to the Trump-backed USD1 stablecoin, threatening legal action over alleged defamation.

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