No, they clearly aren’t trying to appear racist, or even directly court their votes. They just don’t want to actively feed into the idiotic theories that stoke tensions.

Oh man, I haven’t heard that one before. Bona fide quality conspiracy theory 👍

No one even mentioned Zionism or Israel…

It’s more that it’s a tactical choice to avoid polarising people. There’s nothing material to gain by attending the protests, and much to lose in terms of pissing off the far right more and destabilising a precarious situation.

The shit-stirrers like Farage would immediately whip up some bullshit that Labour MPs attending anti-fascist protests is “proof” that the government are choosing to politically punish the far right protesters. The last thing Starmer wants is a resurgence of disorder.

Even though being anti-fascist is an obvious virtue, I presume it’s to avoid the appearance of prosecuting the rioters for political reasons. Starmer wants to make it purely about the lawbreaking rather than their political aims.

That’s not denial, it’s looking at the evidence.

It’s not used as a healthcare metric. This is just debunking reports that a healthcare policy was directly causing an “explosion” in suicides.

We’ll see what he tells parliament, but IMO it’s reasonable for him to follow the science, get more trials done ASAP and approve the medicine if the evidence shows. As long as these kids get appropriate care in the meantime without delay.

Approving medicine counter to scientific advice sets a bad precedent, may cause more issues, and might attract lawsuits from terfs etc.