Keir Starmer says state's failures in Southport murders 'leaps off the page'

Keir Starmer has said the Southport killings by teenager Axel Rudakubana 'must be a line in the sand for Britain' and there must be “fundamental change” in how the country protects its children.

It comes as the government said they will undertake an inquiry into the 'barbaric' murders of three young girls at a Taylor Swift dance class last year. At a Downing Street press conference this morning, the Prime Minister said 'nothing will be off the table' in the probe, promising 'it will lead to change'.

Rudakubana, 18, pleaded guilty to three counts of murder as well as the attempted murder of eight other children and two adults on the first day of his trial on Monday (January 20). Starmer said the conviction led to 'some measure of justice,' but that the state's failure to protect its children 'leaps off the page'.

The Prime Minister said the Southport murders showed “terrorism has changed” with “acts of extreme violence carried out by loners, misfits, young men in their bedrooms”, and he will change the law if necessary to tackle the “new and dangerous” threat.

It follows the revelation that Rudakubana was referred to anti-terrorism programme Prevent three times between December 2019 and April 2021, over his general obsession with violence, and had been visited by police several times in the months before murdering the girls.

"We must make sure the names of those three young girls are not associated with the vile perpetrator but instead with a fundamental change in how Britain protects its citizens and its children," the Prime Minister said this morning.

"In pursuit of that, we must, of course, ask and answer difficult questions, questions that should be far-reaching, unburdened by cultural or institutional sensitivities and driven only by the pursuit of justice. That is what we owe the families."

He added 'there must also be questions about the accountability of the Whitehall and Westminster system,' saying he 'won't let any institution of the state deflect from their failure'.

"This inquiry will leave no stone unturned," he said.