A Welsh minister accused Elon Musk of spreading “utterly unacceptable” misinformation far and wide, fuelling an “appalling” torrent of abuse against a Labour colleague.

Jane Hutt condemned the world's richest man for attacking Jess Phillips, the UK’s safeguarding minister, over her response to child grooming gangs in the UK.

The tech multi-billionaire called for Ms Phillips, who he called a “rape genocide apologist”, to be jailed after she rejected calls for a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham.

Ms Hutt told the Senedd that Ms Phillips has faced appalling abuse in the aftermath.

She said: “I'm sure across the chamber we would respect and understand that it is utterly unacceptable and must be roundly condemned.”