Keir Starmer hits back at Elon Musk over misleading paedophile prison release claim

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has come under fire after wrongly claiming convicted paedophiles were being freed in order to 'imprison people for social media posts'

Keir Starmer has hit back at Elon Musk after the X chief said no one should visit Britain as paedophiles are being freed from prison.

The tech billionaire lashed out after he was snubbed from the UK Government’s International Investment Summit on October 14. Posting on his social media platform, Mr Musk said: “I don’t think anyone should go to the UK when they’re releasing convicted pedophiles in order to imprison people for social media posts.”

No sex offenders have been let out of prison early under the Government’s scheme to ease pressure on overcrowded jails. The snub from the high-profile summit came after his comments during the Southport riots, when he claimed civil war in the UK was “inevitable” and repeatedly attacked Mr Starmer.

He also spread a fake report that the UK was building internment camps in the Falkland Islands for rioters - but deleted the tweet after a backlash. Mr Starmer gave Mr Musk’s latest diatribe short shrift while speaking to reporters on a visit to the UN General Assembly in New York.

The PM said: “Well, what he said is in stark contrast to the very strong view around the breakfast table this morning by investors, nearly all of whom are coming to the Investment Summit. They described this morning's meeting with the UK as the best of the meetings they've had this week at UNGA.

“That's their words, not mine, that there's a really strong window of opportunity now with the UK, given the changes we've brought about, our number one mission on economic growth and to talk them through it.” Referencing Mr Musk’s firm Tesla, he said he would “encourage investment from anywhere”.

No10 said SpaceX - one of Mr Musk’s companies - had been invited to the summit. The row shows the new Government is less enthusiastic about courting Mr Musk than Rishi Sunak who did a cosy fireside chat with him at an AI summit in November.