Southport survivor fought to save others, says mum

23 minutes ago Share Save Jonny Humphries BBC News Reporting from Liverpool Town Hall Judith Moritz Special correspondent Share Save

PA Media The Southport Inquiry has been hearing from the families of survivors

A seven-year-old Southport survivor "fought like hell" to save herself and others as the attack took place, her mother has told a public inquiry. The Southport Inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall heard statements from the families of four girls who survived despite being severely injured during the attacks on 29 July 2024. The mother of one of those girls, referred to as C1 to protect her anonymity, said the "most painful of truths" about the attacks carried out by 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana was that there were no adults to help her. C1 was stabbed 33 times at the dance workshop in Southport's Hart Street and was airlifted to Alder Hey Children's Hospital.

Her mother said she had become known as "the girl who was dragged back in", after CCTV footage shown in court captured the moment C1, already wounded, had tried to escape the dance studio building. It showed Rudakubana grabbing her and pulling her backwards into the building to inflict more damage before she escaped, eventually collapsing on the street. A hushed chamber in the town hall building heard that C1's injuries were "vast" and covered "so much of her body and organs". Her mother said: "The damage was catastrophic. The hours and days that followed the attack were a living hell."

PA Media Hundreds of people blew bubbles into the air outside the Town Hall in Southport during a vigil last year

The inquiry heard how her daughter had shielded other children as they were attacked and screamed at them to run. She said that she did not doubt "for one moment" that the actions of the teachers in the class, Leanne Lucas and Heidi Liddle, helped saved lives when they encouraged children to flee. However she added: "The uncomfortable and often unspoken truth of our own reality is that, when the adults left in those first moments, our daughter had to save herself. "It is these untold stories of remarkable strength and bravery that are missing when we have heard other accounts of this day. "I think it is vitally important that those girls are now heard, so that the inquiry can understand the complexities of this experience for everyone."

Family handouts Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice Aguiar and were murdered in the attack on 29 July 2024

She added: "That reality is painful - our children fought alone, they shielded each other, comforted each other, and helped each other and that must be remembered." The inquiry also heard from the father of C3, a nine-year-old girl who was also critically injured that day. He told the inquiry his daughter was: "Stabbed three times in the back by a coward she didn't even see." "She bears the scars, both physically and emotionally, of that terrible day," he said. "We know that she is only a small way down the path that life will take her, and that obstacles will continue to present themselves along the way." Another statement, read by Nicola Ryan-Donnelly, solicitor to the parents of surviving girls, said a "creative" and "full-of-life" seven-year-old remembers the attack "vividly" including how Rudakubana "tried to get her face". "Where she was once an independent and joyful child she now needs constant support, reassurance and protection", her mother had written. The inquiry has adjourned until 8 September and is expected to hear evidence about the circumstances of the attack and Rudakubana's contact with various agencies in the months and years before it. The second phase, expected to start next year, will look at wider issues around how young people become drawn into "extreme violence".

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Starmer refuses to rule out freeze on tax thresholds

Just now Share Save Becky Morton Political reporter Share Save

UK Parliament

Sir Keir Starmer has refused to rule out extending the freeze on tax thresholds, which has seen millions of people dragged into paying higher rates. The freeze on National Insurance (NI) and income tax thresholds, introduced under the Conservatives, is currently due to end in April 2028. But asked during Prime Minister's Questions whether the government still planned to lift the freeze, Sir Keir only said he was committed to Labour's election manifesto. This included a pledge not to increase National Insurance (NI), income tax or VAT - but no specific promise on thresholds.

Government U-turns on cutting disability benefits and winter fuel payments for pensioners have piled pressure on the government's spending plans, with economists saying tax rises are now likely in the autumn Budget. Following major concessions on the government's flagship benefits plan, potential savings of around £5bn will now be delayed or lost entirely.

Tax thresholds - the income levels at which people start paying NI or income tax, or have to pay higher rates - typically increased every year in line with inflation. However, income tax thresholds have been frozen since 2021/22. This means people risk being dragged into a higher tax band, or paying tax on their income for the first time, if they get a pay rise. Extending the freeze until 2029/30 could raise an estimated £7bn a year. In her Budget speech last autumn, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said extending the freeze "would hurt working people" and pledged to lift thresholds in line with inflation again from 2028/29. However, asked by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch if this was still government policy, Sir Keir did not rule out continuing the freeze. "No prime minister or chancellor is going to write a Budget in advance. We are absolutely fixed on our fiscal rules. We remain committed to them," he told the Commons. "We remain committed to our Budget, to our manifesto commitments." The PM's answer contrasted to his previous response to Badenoch, when asked if he stood by Labour's promise not to increase income tax, NI or VAT. His reply to this was simply: "Yes." The government's self-imposed fiscal rules include not borrowing to fund day-to-day spending and to get government debt falling as a share of national income by 2029/29. The rules are designed to reassure financial markets but sticking to them limits the government's options and makes tax rises more likely.

Badenoch also accused Sir Keir of "flirting" with the idea of a wealth tax – something some Labour MPs on the left of the party have called for. Supporters of the idea say a new 2% tax on assets worth more than £10m could raise £24bn per year. However, critics argue such a move could see wealthy individuals leave the country. Badenoch told the Commons: "Let's be honest about what that means, this is a tax on all of our constituents' savings, on their houses, on their pensions, it would be a tax on aspiration." Asked if he would rule out a wealth tax, Sir Keir said Labour had stabilised the economy and "don't need lessons" from the Conservatives. Pressed again on whether he would introduce a wealth tax by Green MP Adrian Ramsay, who suggested "those with the broadest shoulders should carry the largest burden", Sir Keir said: "We can't just tax our way to growth."

The British and Irish Lions outscored the ACT Brumbies five tries to four in Canberra in their fourth straight victory on Australian soil.

In an at times excellent - and at other times troubling - performance, the tourists made their now customary slow start, conceding early to Brumbies back-row Tuaina Taii Tualima.

The wonderful Ollie Chessum, James Lowe and Marcus Smith - on for Blair Kinghorn after the full-back suffered a knee injury - struck for the Lions, but the Brumbies scored a second through Corey Toole.

It was 19-10 to the Lions at the break and they added to their tally when Garry Ringrose and Josh van der Flier scored.

The Brumbies were persistent and a thorough pain for the Lions, never going away.

Hudson Creighton and Liam Bowron matched the Lions' second-half try count to ensure an uncomfortable if victorious evening for the visitors.

"I'm thinking about the Ballon d'Or. I know that, with the season I have had, I am not far."

Paris St-Germain striker Ousmane Dembele goes into Wednesday's Club World Cup semi-final against Real Madrid tipped by many to claim this year's prize for the world's best player.

His goals have already helped a young and vibrant PSG side win the Champions League, Ligue 1 and Coupe de France this season - now he has his eyes on completing a quadruple in the United States.

Not only does the tie at the MetLife Stadium in New York pit the current European champions against the record winners of the competition, it also sees Dembele go head to head with friend and former PSG team-mate Kylian Mbappe.

Mbappe is PSG's record goalscorer with 256 goals after joining them from Monaco on an initial loan in 2017, but it was not until after his departure that football's holy grail - the Champions League - finally ended up in Paris.

Ironically, you could also credit Mbappe's PSG exit last summer with paving the way for 28-year-old Dembele to have the greatest season of his career to date.