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Nicola Sturgeon has said Cop26 needs to see “significant uplift” in the ambition to cut greenhouse gas emissions from the world’s most polluting countries, and also said the conference must recognise growing levels of anger at inaction, particularly from younger generations.She also suggested the controversial Cambo oilfield in the North Sea, which has been backed by the UK government, should be reviewed.Speaking in front of an audience of students and young people in Glasgow a week before the UN’s climate summit begins, Ms Sturgeon called on world leaders to take “credible action” to achieve net zero.She also warned that without the conference resulting in more determined action from governments, such events could serve to further inflame tensions over politicians’ handling of the climate crisis.Speaking about recognising the “fundamental issues of fairness and justice that lie at the heard of the climate crisis”, she said young people “will live their lives with the climate that my, and preceding generations have created”.“All leaders at Cop26 must truly understand the concern, the entirely justified anger, that so many young people across the world feel.”“I know that in some ways, what Cop26 represents – rich countries coming together to haggle and negotiate over the future of the planet – might intensify rather than alleviate your anger.”“On the need for climate action there is no doubt at all that your generation is far ahead of mine.“I know that some of the most challenging interactions I’ve had on climate policy have been with young activists – I’ve been pushed to go much further and faster, and quite rightly so.”She said one key measure of whether the conference could be considered a success was how it was regarded by young people.She said: “For all of us in positions of leadership today, there is a really important standard that we must hold ourselves to: Can we look you and your peers across the world in the eye and say we’re doing enough? Right now the simple answer to that question is no, we’re not.“So a fundamental test of Cop26 is that it starts to turn that no into yes.”Speaking more widely about what was required to get to this point, Ms sturgeon focused on the countries with the biggest greenhouse gas emissions, which she said must “step up the most”, and urged them to sign up to emissions cuts by 2030.Countries must “be clear in their ambition to reach net zero”, she said.“To be credible their pledges must be backed by action.”“The hard fact is this: keeping 1.5 alive – which has become the strapline almost, for Cop26 – is vital, but it mustn’t just become a face-saving slogan, it must be real.” More

Exclusion zones outside schools are an option to prevent “idiot” anti-vaxxers spreading “vicious lies” to children, Sajid Javid has said.The health secretary’s comments came after Priti Patel said it was “completely unacceptable” for people to be intimidating and harassing children, teachers and parents outside the school gates.Earlier this month the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said that 79 per cent of schools surveyed had been targeted by anti-vaxxers.After Sir Keir Starmer proposed exclusion zones outside schools, Mr Javid said: “There are options, in terms of whether it’s an exclusion zone or potential action, I think it’s got to be done at local level, with local police.”Addressing a recent incident, the cabinet minister told Sky News: “These people are doing so much damage.“First of all here you have three children that are injured, actually physically injured, and that’s heart-breaking to see, children going about what they should be doing, going to school every day, and you’ve got frankly these idiots outside their school spreading vicious lies. It is becoming a growing problem as time goes by.”Speaking over the weekend, Sir Keir said it was “sickening” that those against vaccinations were demonstrating at schools gates, as his party urged the government to allow councils to use exclusion orders.“Labour believes the law around public spaces protection orders (PSPOs) urgently needs to be updated so that local authorities can rapidly create exclusion zones for anti-vax protests outside of schools.”PSOPs have previously been used to deter protestors outside abortion clinics, but gaining permission to impose one takes time and significant consultation, and Labour is calling on the government to expedite the process.Elsewhere, Mr Javid also said he was “leaning towards” compulsory vaccines for NHS staff after a public consultation on the issue closed last week.Mr Javid declined to say when the move would come in to force, saying “it will take some time to get it through Parliament” and he would then want to give people time to come forward to get their jab.But he added: “I don’t want to put a timeframe on it but it wouldn’t be months and months.” More

Sajid Javid has admitted it is “impossible to know” how much of the NHS backlog will be cleared in the next three years — despite unveiling billions extra in funding.The health secretary said 5.7 million people were now on the waiting list — the highest number since records began — but also estimated that it could be as high as at least seven million.It comes after the Treasury announced a £5.9 billion package aimed at clearing the backlog, including £3.8 billion in extra spending to get the health service “back on track” after the Covid crisis.But asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme whether he could promise the backlog would be cleared after three years, he replied: “No, I can’t do that. I don’t think anyone can do that.Pressed on how much of the backlog will be cleared, Mr Javid added: “I’m not gong to put a number on it — it’s impossible to know because I don’t know how many people eventually come back to the NHS.“With this investment, this £6 billion investment in capital, in equipment, alongside the investment we’ve announced through the levy of £12 billion a year going into the NHS and care systems — this is what’s going to drive down that waiting list and make sure more people get seen as quickly as possible.”However, concerns have also been raised about staffing levels and whether the sum unveiled by the Treasury will be enough to clear the considerable backlog.The government is also due to announce whether to make vaccines mandatory for NHS staff which Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, said was a “mistake” and could lead to thousands of NHS staff not being able to work.“First thing I would say is that I want all NHS staff to be double vaccinated,” Sir Keir told Good Morning Britain.“I think forcing them is a mistake — it’s better to encourage,” he added. “The problem I fear we’re going to get is that you’re going to have thousands of NHS staff who can’t work any longer, just when we’ve got massive vacancies in the NHS as it is.“If I was to ask myself is the problem in our hospitals in terms of the virus, or is the problem in our schools where we aren’t going through the vaccination programme quickly enough — I’d say it was the second of those.”Mr Javid said on Monday he was “leaning towards” making jabs compulsory after a public consultation on the issue closed last week, but stressed a “final decision” had not been made by the government.Elsewhere, the health secretary said he would wear a mask in the Commons on Budget day — but declined to repeat his call for Conservative colleagues to act as an example to the rest of the public.“If I’m in the chamber on Budget day, given it will be packed, I will be, yes,” Mr said. “The guidelines are clear, it’s for people to make a personal decision on how they see the risk of them and those around them, and this is obviously a workplace setting, so it’s going to be a decision for them, but I can speak for myself.” More

A delay in the UK’s participation in EU research programmes because of a row about the Brexit deal is beginning to hurt British science, MPs have warned.A report by the European Scrutiny Committee said UK academic institutions are being “frozen out” of key projects on the continent while London and Brussels continue to argue about Northern Ireland.In December, the EU provisionally agreed to the UK participating in its new research and space programmes, including the flagship Horizon Europe fund and the Copernicus Earth observation project.However, final approval from Brussels is tied to the outcome of Northern Ireland protocol negotiations, according to EU research commissioner Mariya Gabriel.Conservative MP Sir Bill Cash – chair of the select committee – shared his frustration that British research institutions remain “frozen out of key projects and funding despite agreement on participation”.The Brexit-backing Tory said: “With each passing day the opportunities are missed, British institutions are left high and dry while science marches on without them and the returns on our financial contribution edge lower.”Sir Bill added: “This needs to be addressed swiftly, so we’re calling on the government to lay out the steps it is taking to ensure UK participation is formalised.”Although Brussels has instructed funding bodies to treat the UK as an associate member of the programme in the initial stages, concrete grant agreements can only be signed once the UK gets final approval.MPs on the committee will get the chance to grill Brexit minister David Frost on Monday about the state of negotiations with the EU.British officials have described talks held in Brussels this week as “constructive” following EU Commission proposals to ease trade barriers stemming from the agreed Brexit deal.But it is understood the two sides are still far apart when it comes to Lord Frost’s demand for an end to the European Court of Justice (ECJ)’s role in trade arbitration.UK sources warned that real progress must be made soon on “governance” issues, saying a process of “endless negotiation” had to be avoided.A team from the commission is set to travel to London on Tuesday for several days of intensive discussions, before Lord Frost and commission vice president Maros Sefcovic meet in person in Westminster for talks at the end of the week. More

Poorer households have been found to pay as much as 50 per cent more on their energy bills than those with more money, according to data analysed by the Labour Party.The figures show Britain’s poorest 10 per cent of households pay on average £756 a year per person for electricity, gas and other fuels. This is compared with an average of £504 per person in the richest households, as well as a national average of £530.It was also revealed that those living in poverty pay a significantly higher proportion of their household budget on energy bills, with the poorest households spending around seven times as much of their funds on energy as the richest households, and three-and-a-half times the national average.After the figures were published on Sunday night, Wes Streeting, shadow child poverty secretary, accused the government of “leaving working families to pay the price for the chaos in our energy sector”.“Boris Johnson ought to be getting a grip on the cost-of-living crisis, but instead he’s making it worse with his jobs tax and the £1,000-a-year cut to Universal Credit,” he said.Talking up the party’s proposals to curb the effects of the UK’s energy crisis on its poorest people, Mr Streeting said Labour were demanding ministers “urgently cut VAT on domestic energy bills for six months, to help people through this winter”. He also said his party’s plan to “insulate millions of homes would ease the pressure on households, making bills cheaper and homes warmer”. The news comes after weeks-long criticism of the government and the energy sector for failing to do more to tackle rising gas prices after the energy price cap rose by more than £100 earlier this month. As of 1 October, the cap on what energy companies could charge households for their monthly consumption rose by £139 for people on default tariffs and £153 for people on pre-payment meters. As a result, millions face higher monthly bills.Keith Anderson, the chief executive of Scottish Power, said on Thursday the market faced months of tumult that could shrink the market all the way back to just five or six companies unless the cap, set by Ofgem, was reviewed.Without government and regulatory intervention, he told the Financial Times Britain is “in danger of just sleepwalking into an absolute massacre”.The Liberal Democrats have called for a windfall tax on gas producers profiting from record-high prices to help support struggling households and businesses through the winter.Party officials said wholesale gas prices had risen from 56p/therm during the first half of the year to 150p/therm, and are now reaching 300p/therm. Before that, natural gas prices had never reached 100p/therm, they added.Serica Energy, a North Sea gas company responsible for 5 per cent of the UK supply, had already stated it expects “significant returns” due to the increase, the Lib Dems said.Sir Ed Davey, leader of the party and a former energy secretary, condemned “fossil fuel companies [for] raking it in hand over fist through this gas crisis”. “The least they can do is pay a little more in tax to help struggling families get through the winter,” he said, adding: “If Rishi Sunak is serious about tackling both the climate emergency and the cost-of-living crisis, he would introduce this one-off tax.”The so-called windfall tax would look to raise funding to insulate people’s homes, slash energy bills and protect skilled jobs.Asked about the new data from Labour, a government spokesperson said in a statement: “Protecting consumers is our top priority which is why our energy price cap will remain in place. We are also supporting vulnerable and low-income households further through initiatives such as the £500m Household Support Fund, Warm Home Discount, winter fuel payments and cold weather payments.“Domestic fuels such as gas and electricity are already subject to the reduced rate of 5 per cent of VAT.”Additional reporting by agencies More

A £5.9bn billion package aimed at tackling NHS waiting lists in England will form part of chancellor Rishi Sunak’s autumn Budget, the Treasury has said.However, previous estimates suggest the sum may not be enough to clear the enormous backlog in care and end long delays faced by patients.The number of people waiting for routine hospital treatment in England has hit 5.6 million people, the latest NHS figures show – the highest number since records began in 2007.The chancellor will set out £3.8bn in extra spending to get the health service “back on track” after the Covid crisis, with investment going into diagnostic services, surgical hubs and boosting bed capacity.Roughly £2.1bn of the new package will not go directly on care, however, and will instead be spent on “digitising” the NHS, as the government attempts to push the health service into an efficiency drive.The Treasury said the additional spending comes on top of the government’s plan to spend £8bn on tackling the backlog for non-emergency treatments over the next three years.But the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers groups said last month that the NHS needed an extra £10bn each year for the next three years just to cover the costs of Covid and tackle the significant treatment backlog.And independent charity the Health Foundation estimated in September that it would cost up to £16.8bn for the next three years to clear the backlog in NHS elective care and return hospital waiting times to 18 weeks.The NHS announcement comes as Mr Sunak faces pressure from both Labour and backbench Conservative MPs to increase efforts to help families and businesses struggling with rising costs.Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves told The Andrew Marr Show that the chancellor should be doing more to “ease the cost-of-living price crisis” and help businesses “who have had a torrid 18 months”.She said the opposition would slash the rate of VAT on gas and electricity bills from 5 per cent to 0 per cent for six months and abolish business rates.Labour said its own analysis of government figures showed that people in the poorest 10 per cent of households are paying an extra £250 a year more for their energy bills than the richest 10 per cent.Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey called on Mr Sunak to announce a windfall tax on gas producers to help provide more support for families struggling with their fuel bills.“Fossil fuel companies are raking it in hand over fist through this gas crisis. The least they can do is pay a little more in tax to help struggling families get through the winter,” Sir Ed told The Independent – estimating a windfall tax could raise up to £10bn.Tory MPs are keen for the chancellor to slash business rates as part of a major overhaul of the system. But reports suggest only minor changes will be announced at Wednesday’s Budget, despite Mr Sunak’s pledge last year to carry on “fundamental review” of rates.Rother Valley MP Alexander Stafford – one of the red wall MPs who won seats in traditional Labour-voting territory in 2019 – told The Independent a business rate cut was overdue.“I want to cut as many taxes as we can, because it creates new businesses, jobs and wealth,” he said. “We also need to show voters that the jobs are coming back … Any party needs to worry about the next election.”Despite the swathe of pre-Budget announcements, Mr Sunak would not be drawn on whether he could rule out tax rises before the next election. He told Sky News’s Trevor Phillips on Sunday: “You’re asking me to do my Budget live on your show – I’ll do it in parliament on Wednesday.”The chancellor rejected calls from England football star Marcus Rashford to extend the government’s free school meal programme. He told Andrew Marr the government had moved to “a more normal way of doing things” after putting extra money into school meals during the Covid crisis.Labour said the £500m Mr Sunak has set aside for new “family hubs” and other measures to support parents with young children could not make up for a decades of cuts. Ms Reeves called the plan a “pale imitation” of Labour’s Sure Start programme.The chancellor was also forced to admit that his £7bn pre-Budget pledge for new transport projects contained only £1.5bn of new money. Pressed on how much was new, the chancellor conceded £4.2bn had previously been announced. “What we’ve done is top that up,” he told Sky News.The Treasury insisted that the £5.9bn announced for the NHS was all new spending. The government claimed the additional money will support the aim to deliver around 30 per cent more on checks, scans and procedures for non-emergency patients by 2024-25, compared to pre-pandemic levels.Describing the funding package as “game-changing”, Mr Sunak said: “We are committed to getting health services back on track and ensuring no one is left waiting for vital tests or treatment.”Health secretary Sajid Javid, said the extra money would support “the delivery of millions more checks, scans and procedures for patients across the country”.The government hopes the extra investment in IT and data services to create digital patient records will speed up working practices in the NHS. “Business as usual won’t be enough,” said Mr Javid.Reports suggest the chancellor is preparing to lift the freeze on public sector pay and announce an increase in the minimum wage from the present rate of £8.91 an hour, but he gave little away in his interviews on Sunday.Ahead of Wednesday’s Budget, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) director Paul Johnson warned Mr Sunak that “the level of promise is pretty high relative to the level of resource available”.Mr Johnson told Times Radio: “I think there is a political danger nevertheless that the promises, the big promises on levelling up, the big promises on net zero, big promises on health and so on are going to be pretty hard to fund within what remains a fairly tight envelope.” More

Seats held by seven cabinet ministers are in line to receive tens of millions of pounds of development cash despite previously being judged as not needing the funds, triggering fresh accusations of bias in “levelling up”.The constituencies of Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, and Stephen Barclay, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, are on a list of “priority places” ahead of a new £1.5bn annual fund.Yet all three – plus those of Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis, trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan, chief whip Mark Spencer and Robert Jenrick, the former communities minister – had been classed as “most developed” and unlikely to receive grants.The revelation, from research for The Independent, has provoked a fresh outcry over a post-Brexit shake-up of development spending, after delays that have already swiped around £1.5bn from needy areas this year.Independent experts warned ministers are ignoring where “need is greatest” and making a mockery of Boris Johnson’s celebrated pledge to level up the country.Labour accused the government of “funnelling money to richer cabinet ministers’ constituencies”, after similar controversies over different funding pots.The long-promised UK Shared Prosperity Fund – to replace the loss of the £1.8bn-a-year EU structural funds – is already mired in controversy, after being delayed until next year.The government promised to match the pre-Brexit grants – to build local economies by attracting businesses and jobs – but even a stopgap £220m fund, for 2021-22, has yet to hand out any money.A total of 100 “priority places” were announced, across England, Scotland and Wales, for that stopgap UK Community Renewal Fund to help them “prepare” for grants from the £1.5bn Shared Prosperity Fund to follow next year, although other areas will also be eligible.That list sparked anger by excluding some poorer areas – Liverpool, Sheffield, Knowsley, Carlisle, Plymouth and Preston – that received the EU funds.Now research by the House of Commons library has revealed that seven cabinet ministers’ seats were in low-priority “most developed” areas under the old scheme – but are now first in line for many millions of pounds each.They are in the local authorities of Richmondshire, in North Yorkshire (Mr Sunak’s constituency), King’s Lynn & West Norfolk (Ms Truss’s), Fenland, in northeast Cambridgeshire (Mr Barclay’s), Newark and Sherwood, in Nottinghamshire (Mr Spencer’s and Mr Jenrick’s), Northumberland (Ms Trevelyan’s) and Great Yarmouth (Mr Lewis’s). More

Rishi Sunak rejects Marcus Rashford’s call for free school meals extensionBoris Johnson faces criticism over his handling of the energy and supply chain crises, as exclusive polling for The Independent has found two-thirds of voters say he has performed badly.In addition, only 41 per cent of people polled for this website by Savanta ComRes said they were confident in how the government was handling the economy – just days before Rishi Sunak is due to set out his budget.Earlier on Sunday the chancellor rejected a fresh plea from Marcus Rashford to extend free school meals, saying the government had already acted to help children and has now “transitioned to a more normal way of doing things” post-Covid.Viewers of Mr Sunak’s Budget speech on Wednesday may not get many surprises because the Treasury has already trailed some £20bn of investment ahead of time.The spending spree includes some £7bn to “level up” transport outside London, though not all of it is new money; £500m for family support including new children’s centres; and £5bn for health research and genome sequencing.Show latest update

1635087350Labour demands government brings in Covid plan B restrictions nowLabour has called on Boris Johnson’s government to bring in its so-called “plan B” restrictions to tackle the surge in Covid cases, writes Adam Forrest.Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said ministers must listen to scientific advisers asking for tougher curbs – including the mandatory wearing of masks in public places and a return to work-from-home guidance.“We think we should follow the science – if the scientists are saying work from home and masks, we should do that,” Ms Reeves said on The Andrew Marr Show.Jon Sharman24 October 2021 15:551635086210Opinion: What’s really happening in the Budget? These are the signals so farThe autumn Budget is on Wednesday, when we will get the usual tsunami of numbers about the economy and public finances, together with a string of things that the government is spending money on, writes Hamish McRae.That will be followed by a series of protests from the various lobby groups about the underfunding of their areas of interest, plus another set of protests from other lobbyists about the rising burden of taxes to pay for all this.There is nothing wrong with all this. Quite the reverse, for it is a key part of the whole democratic process that public spending and taxation should be scrutinised in this way. But the noise of the competing interest groups drowns out the signals that might tell us what is really happening.Jon Sharman24 October 2021 15:361635085190Will Rishi Sunak lose his battle to avoid winter lockdown?There is a wearily familiar pattern to Boris Johnson’s public statements during the Covid crisis, writes Adam Forrest.The prime minister tells us he hopes there will be no need for a lockdown, then belatedly bows to the data and announces another round of restrictions.Will the same cycle play out during a fourth wave this winter? The astute political commentator Gary Neville is in little doubt about what happens next.Jon Sharman24 October 2021 15:191635084002Opinion: The Budget is a golden opportunity to set out an economy that works better for consumers – they should take itThe strong economic recovery following the initial shocks of the pandemic defied most expectations, writes Rocio Conta.Yet there are concerning signs that our bounceback is starting to falter. The economy remains smaller now than in February 2020, and the rate of growth has slowed considerably since earlier this year.Some consumers have managed to increase their savings in the past 18 months, but many haven’t been so fortunate. For them, the result is an erosion of living standards, exacerbated by the recent rises in the price of fuel, energy and food.Jon Sharman24 October 2021 15:001635082130Exclusive: Johnson’s government has handled energy and supply crises badly, say two-thirds of votersTwo in three people think Boris Johnson’s government has botched its handling of the energy and supply crises which have seen firms collapse and empty supermarket shelves, exclusive polling for The Independent has found.The same survey found the majority of voters are “not confident” about the prime minister’s handling of the economy, as his chancellor Rishi Sunak prepares to set out his Budget plans next week, writes Adam Forrest.Some 64 per cent of voters said the government has handled the country’s supply chain problems and lorry driver shortages “badly”, according to the survey by Savanta ComRes.Jon Sharman24 October 2021 14:281635080968Conservative MP urges Johnson to deliver on devolutionJake Berry, who chairs the Northern Research Group of Conservative MPs, called on Boris Johnson to deliver on his promise of devolution.The Conservative MP for Rossendale and Darwen and former northern powerhouse minister spoke about foreign direct investment on BBC Radio 4’s The World This Weekend.He said: “Frankly after the Covid pandemic, the government doesn’t have enough money on its own to make the commitment to level up these communities and we want to see new businesses with good highly paid jobs … locating in the regions of the UK.”He added: “It’s really important the prime minister delivers on his promise of devolution, so you have mayors who can go out and talk to the world…”I do think Andy Burnham has done a good job in Greater Manchester in the area of attracting foreign direct investment.”Jon Sharman24 October 2021 14:091635079741Sunak reveals pre-Budget speech ritualsRishi Sunak has revealed his “pre-game routine” will be to have a Twix and a can of Sprite before delivering his Budget on Wednesday.The chancellor, who has a self-confessed “sugar problem”, and has previously said he was a “total coke addict” – before clarifying that he meant the fizzy drink, not the class A drug – was asked on Times Radio whether he had any rituals or superstitions ahead of the event.And he said: “I have a general pre-game routine, pre-match routine, for when I have to do parliamentary things which is, look, I have a sugar problem so I tend to have a Twix and a can of Sprite, even though my favourite thing is Coke but I save that for afterwards.”But I have a Twix and a can of Sprite which Lisa who runs my office always make sure is sitting there on my desk in parliament, so that is my immediate pre-game kind of booster.”Mr Sunak also said his children “have a lot of input generally on the tie selection and I sometimes wear some bracelets that they make”.Jon Sharman24 October 2021 13:491635078601Sunak won’t commit to wearing face mask in CommonsRishi Sunak has refused to commit to wearing a mask inside the crowded Commons chamber.The chancellor dodged questions on whether he though cabinet colleague Jacob Rees-Mogg was right to say Tory MPs did not have to wear face coverings because of they had a more “convivial, fraternal spirit” than Labour.But he suggested it was “appropriate” for MPs to decide to go without a mask in the Commons. “The government guidance is for people to make decisions based on what they think is appropriate based on the circumstances they are in.”“Every workplace is going to be different depending on how many people are there, how long you’re there for, whether you know the people or not.”Jon Sharman24 October 2021 13:301635077461Nike suspends trainer recycling programme over Brexit costsNike has suspended its Reuse-a-Shoe recycling scheme in the UK as the recycling industry grapples with high costs related to Brexit, writes Kate Ng.Customers looking to send their old shoes off for recycling can still collect a recycling bag from Nike stores to be sent to one of the brand’s four distribution centres in Belgium.But now, they must pack the items themselves and pay for postage, which was previously paid for by Nike.Jon Sharman24 October 2021 13:111635075961Vaccines minister insists Covid-19 ‘plan A’ is workingThe new vaccines minister Maggie Throup says the government’s current approach to the surge in Covid-19 cases is working – refusing to say whether “plan B” measures could be introduced.Speaking to LBC, Ms Throup refused to say whether further restrictions such as mandatory masks or work from home guidance. “The data right now shows that ‘plan A’ is working.”Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, said earlier today that ‘plan B’ was not yet needed. However, some elements of the tougher measures are already in place – warning the public about the rising risk of coronavirus, and giving extra help to areas suffering “enduring transmission”.Minister have thus far resisted more interventions, which would include mandatory face masks and advice to work from home.Jon Sharman24 October 2021 12:46 More