POLITICIANS need to do “whatever it takes” to force the government to launch a national inquiry into rape gangs, according to Shadow Policing Minister Matt Vickers.

Asked if he agreed with Reform UK on the need for legislation to establish a statutory inquiry, he told GB News: “Well, you can talk about those five MPs, but I’ll talk about is the issue. This is a huge issue across the country. We’ve heard more than 50 towns affected.

“We need to do whatever it takes to drag the government to having that national inquiry so that these victims can get justice, so that those people responsible for these things are held to account, but also so that anybody who’s found to have covered up.

“We know there is evidence out there that people covered this up, yet not one of those people has been convicted for doing so. We need national inquiry, and we need one now.”

He was also asked if the controversial band Kneecap should be dropped from the Glastonbury music festival, he said: “They most definitely should. There is no place for this sort of stuff in Britain, for those sort of threats.

“Yesterday, we sat in the chamber. We saw the two plaques on the wall, the plaque for Sir David Amess, an incredible parliamentarian whose life was cut short. He was stolen from us. We saw Jo Cox and what happened.

“A horrendous situation, two incredible parliamentarians who had a lot to give. This is a threat to individuals. It’s also a threat to our democracy and our ability to have debates, have discussions, and argue the case for what needs to happen in Britain going forward.

“It can’t be allowed to go on. Glastonbury should ditch them, and that [Arts Council] money should be returned to the taxpayer.”

On Kemi Badenoch apparently leaving the door open for means-testing state pensions, Vickers said: “You should judge us by what we do. Actually, we protected that winter fuel payment for pensioners across the country, while the Labour Party trashed it. They stole it from people without notice.

“Every week, I speak to people in my surgeries who were struggling to make to ends meet, usually single people, usually widows, people on one income, on a fixed income, struggling to get by who had that 300 quid stolen from them.

“The triple lock was a hugely beneficial thing to many pensioners. We brought it in, we protected it, and we continue to fight the corner for it as we march forwards.”

He dismissed a suggestion that the previous Conservative government is to blame for illegal immigrants crossing the Channel in small boats: “It’s rubbish. When you look at where we were at, the numbers were coming down, the number of people arriving was coming down. The number of people who arrived in small boat and being removed, was going up.

‘We were reducing the number of people staying in hotels. Under this government in the last nine months, we’ve got a record number of arrivals. We’ve got more than 30% more people arriving. We’ve got more people staying in hotels, 28% more in hotels, 8,500 more people in hotels.

“And of those people who are arriving here illegally, less of them are being removed than were being removed before the election. It’s a recipe for disaster, but we’ve had a bill in there to look at what the future of border security in this country looks like.

“They’re removing all the deterrents that were put in place. They’re allowing people who arrive here illegally to become British citizens. What sort of message does that send to people across the globe who might want to come here illegally, breaking into our country?

“It’s completely wrong. It’s barmy. But we knew what was going to happen before the election, when this lot got in charge.”