Sir Keir Starmer is set to be grilled at PMQs after announcing a public inquiry into the Southport killings, and vowing to leave no stone unturned in identifying potential failings ahead of the July attack.

Following Axel Rudakubana’s guilty plea on Monday, it emerged that the killer had been referred to anti-terror scheme Prevent three times prior to the attack in which he murdered three young girls and attempted to kill 10 others.

In an address to the nation on Tuesday, the prime minister firmly rejected suggestions of a cover-up by Reform and the Conservatives, saying he would have risked leaving the Southport victims’ families without justice by making information about Rudakubana public ahead of the trial.

Prosecutors will reveal further information about Rudakubana on Thursday ahead of his sentencing.

The former head of counter terrorism policing has called for an urgent increase in resources for counter terrorism or feared lone attackers like Axel Rudakubana will continue to slip through the net.

A public inquiry into the Southport killer was announced on Monday after it emerged he had “contact with a range of different state agencies throughout his teenage years”, according to the home secretary, including three referrals to government anti-extremism scheme Prevent before the killings due to concerns about his obsession with violence.

Former Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu described these agencies as “unfunded, untrained, [and] largely staffed by frontline staff who are overwhelmed by demand”, warning: “This will come with a big bill, but that bill has got to be paid if we want to be safe.”

The former head of counter terrorism policing in the UK has branded the government’s proposal to extend the definition of terrorism to encompass atrocities carried out by lone attackers like the Southport killer “a mistake” .

Former Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu explained that violent individuals could “revel” in being called a terrorist as he also warned against the use of the term “lone wolf” for risk of “glorifying” perpetrators.

After his guilty plea, fresh details emerged claiming Axel Rudakubana had been excluded from secondary school over allegations he was carrying a knife and later returned to attack someone with a hockey stick.

One former classmate told The Guardian he was a “ticking time bomb”, while others told The Times he was an odd pupil who would be disruptive in class, to the point that the phrase “doing an Axel” had become common among the class.

A garage owner who confronted Axel Rudakubana just before the Southport attack said he had no idea of the “unspeakable” horror the agitated teen was about to unleash – as he called for him to never see the light of day again.

Reliving the horrific events for the first time since 18-year-old Rudakubana pleaded guilty, Colin Parry said all he could see was the killer’s eyes when the knifeman, wearing a bright green hoodie and Covid face mask, arrived on Hart Street in a taxi and took a wrong turn into the entrance of his garage.

When the 63-year-old swore at him and told him to pay the driver, who had followed to demand payment, Rudakubana leant forward and replied: “What you gonna do?”

“He’s agitated, shuffling around because the lad realises he’s in the wrong place, yeah, and walks out,” he told The Independent. “Doesn’t run out. He just walked out, but he pushed past the taxi.”

Moments later screams were heard from the Hart Space studio next door, where 26 girls were making bracelets and singing at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday class. By the time Mr Parry arrived at the scene, his colleague was running out carrying an injured child who he laid on the floor in front of him. His white spray suit was soaked red with blood, he recalled.

Expanding terror laws to encompass atrocities carried out by lone attackers like the Southport killer would be a mistake – and such threats are not new, security experts have warned.

Sir Keir Starmer announced a review of terror laws to address “extreme violence carried out by loners, misfits, young men in their bedrooms” following the Southport murders.

Axel Rudakubana, 18, pleaded guilty on Monday to murdering three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, Merseyside, in July.

Online retailers will be forced to put in place tougher checks to stop youngsters buying knives after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said it is “shockingly easy” for children to buy blades.

Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana used a knife bought from Amazon to kill three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, Merseyside, in July.

The Government has promised new laws, which could see retailers forced to ask anyone buying a knife for two types of identification.

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Lord Carlile has backed calls for the Government to crack down on online retailers selling knives to under-18s.

It comes after it was revealed Southport killer Axel Rudakubana was able to order a knife on Amazon when he was still aged 17 and had been convicted over violence.

The sale of knives with a fixed blade of more than three inches long to under-18s is illegal in England and Wales, with retailers facing fines or prosecution if they breach the law.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Wednesday morning, Lord Alex Carlile said: “The companies concerned have indicated that they’re capable of doing online scans while people are going onto their sites, which are a rudimentary but reasonably reliant test of their age.

“And, also, we all have some form of identity.

“Students often have identity cards for their student lives, and so I don’t see any reason why people who are buying things online should not have to establish that they’re at appropriate age to buy those things online.

“It’s no different from going into a bar and being refused service without proving that one is over 18.”

Lord Carlile has called for more regulation of social media companies to prevent potential perpetrators from “learning how to be a terrorist online” in the wake of the Southport stabbing attack.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Wednesday morning, Lord Alex Carlile said: “It is absolutely clear that the online companies are not prepared to scrutinise the content of what is placed on their sites in a way that will ensure that our children and grandchildren do not see dreadful things online when they’re not mature enough to be able to exercise a critical faculty over them.

“So, given that the internet companies are not prepared to do what they should voluntarily agree to carry out, it is time for a regulatory regime to be established which does not question the right of free speech, but which protects the public from unlawful acts.

“If the internet companies are not prepared to do it, then the sanction is on governments – not just our government, but many other governments.

“And as we saw in America earlier in the week, one can switch off the site – Tiktok was switched off for a day.

“Also, they can be fined, fines based upon their world turnover, very big fines.

“So, it is time that we looked at having a proper regulatory regime for our own country, doing what we have to do first, protecting our own country and our own citizens to ensure that people like this perpetrator are not able to learn how to be a terrorist online.”

New measures to use two-factor identification to prevent underage people from buying knives are needed to stop the “absolute devastation” caused by the flow of knives, a minister has said.

Employment minister Alison McGovern was asked about plans for two-factor identification to prevent people who are not old enough to buy knives and whether the technology is workable.

She told BBC Breakfast: “Knife crime is horrendous and we have got to have the new measures that you just mentioned, because we cannot have this flow of knives that can cause such absolute devastation.

“We know that the technology is there to improve verification checks and I think that everyone would want that, every business, every organisation.

“So, the Government will work with organisations to bring in every possible protection to stop knives getting into the wrong hands.”

She said the Government wants to work with retailers but that “in the end, we’ve got to have the right checks in place” and “look at every measure that we can bring forward through legislation”.