Minister 'utterly refutes' Elon Musk prompted action on grooming gangs
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Lisa Nandy has said she "utterly refutes" claims Elon Musk's intervention on UK grooming gangs prompted action from the government. The culture secretary told Sky News: "We're not a government that conducts government by social media.". Tech billionaire and Trump ally Mr Musk spent the first fortnight of 2025 accusing the government of failing to do enough about the historical grooming gangs scandal, attacking Sir Keir Starmer and safeguarding minister Jess Phillips specifically.
Politics latest: Starmer talks on new pact to 'protect national security'. On Thursday, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced a plan for government-backed local grooming gang inquiries and other measures she said would support victims of the scandal that saw organised gangs across the UK's towns and cities sexually exploiting hundreds of vulnerable young women and girls.
Put to Ms Nandy that Mr Musk's intervention prompted action from the government, she said: "I utterly refute that. "We brought forward the Children's Wellbeing Bill a couple of weeks ago. That is legislation that we announced, quite significantly in advance of any noise that we saw on social media.
"We've been very focused on this issue, and it was part of our manifesto. "We were very outspoken about it in opposition, and we've continued to be outspoken about it in government and waste no time in acting.". She added: "These things can't be magicked up overnight, we've been working on them for a very long time.".
