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Cabinet minister Grant Shapps has denied that the Queen’s irritation over a lack of action in tackling the climate crisis was partly directed at Boris Johnson’s government.Elizabeth II was captured talking about next month’s crucial Cop26 summit in Glasgow – expressing her concern about still not knowing “who’s coming” to the talks.The monarch was also heard to say she found it “irritating” when “they talk, but they don’t do” as she was filmed chatting at the opening of the Welsh Senedd in Cardiff.Asked by Sky News whether the Queen was referring to lack of action from the UK government, Shapps said: “Well she specifically referred to who was coming [to the summit], actually – so I don’t think it was intended in that sense.”Shapps also insisted that the comments were made “not intending it to be overheard”, rather than an attempt to offer a pointed message to world leaders.The transport secretary added: “I think comments made in private should stay private, but we all share the desire to see progress made and we know there will be hundreds of leaders coming to Glasgow for Cop,” he told Sky News.“We will wait to see whether it lives up to – whether they all live up to – expectation, it’s very important we get this job done,” Shapps added.It comes as reports indicate China’s president Xi Jinping is set to snub talks in Glasgow, in what would be a major blow to hopes of a successful summit.Boris Johnson has been warned that Xi will not attend next month, according to The Times, with one Whitehall source saying new emission reduction commitments from China were “now looking less likely”.Shapps said he wanted the Chinese president to attend Cop26, but added: “Let’s wait and see actually what happens in a couple of weeks’ time. I would rather see it officially actually,” he told Times Radio.The cabinet minister also said that a “huge” number of world leaders were expected to join the UK-hosted summit, describing world leaders who decide not to attend as “outliers”.Australian prime minister Scott Morrison said on Friday he would attend the Cop26 summit in Glasgow, as his conservative government faces global pressure to take further action to cut carbon emissions.“I confirmed my attendance at the Glasgow summit which I’m looking forward to attending,” Morrison said. “The government will be finalising its position to take to the summit. We’re working through those issues.”Meanwhile, US climate envoy John Kerry has said the summit could end without all nations agreeing to the carbon emissions cuts needed to stave off devastating levels of climate change.Kerry declined to single out China, but said some countries would fall short and leave “gaps” in the cuts needed to achieve the target of keeping global warming within 1.5C once the conference was over in mid-November. More

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will come to Scotland next month to hold an “alternative Cop26” aimed at pushing for radical action on the climate crisis.The left-wing MP said a series of events would challenge the “weak politicians” who will be discussing targets to cut carbon emissions at the UN summit in Glasgow.Among the programme organised through his Peace and Justice Project is a “climate justice cabaret” as well as a panel with trade union leaders and two in conversation-style events.Corbyn said he wanted to “raise up the voices of others” during the happenings in Glasgow and Edinburgh between 8 and 11 November.“We need radical and rapid change to our dangerously broken and destructive political and economic system,” said the Islington MP. “Our future is being stolen from under us by a coalition of big polluters and big banks, propped up by weak politicians too scared to take them on.”The former Labour leader added: “That change must be environmental but also social and economic. Our crises of inequality, climate, Covid-19 and democracy are all linked.“The climate is a class issue at home and an international justice for the world. Those who have done the least harm suffer the most and the first. That’s why the demands of workers and the global south need to be at the centre of our campaign for climate justice.”“I can’t wait to be in Scotland during Cop26 to add my voice – and more importantly raise up the voices of others – to propose radical and rapid change.”Corbyn remains suspended as a Labour MP over his response to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)’s report into antisemitism in the party.The MP used an event at the fringes of last month’s Labour conference to accuse his successor Sir Keir Starmer of giving the Tory government a “free pass time and again”.On climate change, Starmer has reaffirmed Labour’s to the ambitious target of achieving the “substantial majority” of greenhouse gas emission cuts by 2030 – a commitment made under Corbyn’s leadership.Labour has also committed to invest an extra £28bn every year until 2030 to tackle the climate crisis, a plan outlined during the party conference at Brighton last month.Last month former Unite union boss Len McClusky claimed Starmer had agreed a backroom deal to lift Corbyn’s suspension, but then rowed back on it following a backlash. More

Brexit minister Lord Frost said that the EU must make a “significant” concession on the European Court of Justice if there is to be a deal over the Northern Ireland Protocol.The EU has offered a package of major compromises aimed at easing the transit of goods between Great Britain to Northern Ireland.But Lord Frost has made clear the EU’s proposals as they stand are unacceptable – insisting the role of the bloc’s court in resolving trade disputes is removed.“They will need to if we are to find a solution – there needs to be significant change if we are to get an agreed solution,” the Brexit minister said in an interview with Politico.He added: “All I can say is the governance issue needs to be addressed seriously and if the EU are willing to have a conversation about that on which they move off existing positions obviously we will be happy to have that conversation.”Lord Frost did offer some warm warms for the EU trade proposals ahead of a working lunch with the European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic in Brussels on Friday.The Commission has laid out measures to slash 80 per cent of regulatory checks and dramatically cut customs processes on the movement of goods, especially food and farming produce, between GB and the island of Ireland.“We do recognise that the EU has made an effort here,” said Lord Frost. “The detail is important, but we are studying them constructively. Clearly they have proposed some changes, we do need to understand that detail and we’ve begun that conversation, but there’s quite a long way to go.”However, Lord Frost insisted that the British demand for an end to the role of the European court in arbitration – despite signing up to exactly that just two years ago – is “where we need to end up.”The Brexit negotiator said: “Obviously theirs is not the only proposal on the table and our Command Paper and the legal text that we sent the Commission this week are where we need to end up, and we need to begin that conversation.”Sefcovic has insisted the role of the court will remain in place as previously agreed. “We cannot have access to the single market without the supervision of the European Court of Justice.”The EU chief also said he said he has no mandate to “renegotiate” the protocol after he spoke to Northern Ireland’s political leaders on Thursday.“I have no mandate to renegotiate the protocol … the withdrawal agreement, protocol and trade and cooperation agreement, we signed it, we ratified it, it’s international law and I think we should respect it,” Sefcovic said.Some EU member states have reportedly urged Brussels chiefs to draw up contingency plans for a trade war with the UK should both sides fail to reach an agreement.France, Germany and the Netherlands are pushing for the EU to be ready with retaliatory measures if the UK triggers Article 16 to suspend trading arrangements in the protocol, according to the Financial Times.Boris Johnson signed up to protocol as part of his Brexit agreement in 2020, but has since argued it was agreed in haste and was no longer working for the people of Northern Ireland.The prime minister’s former adviser Dominic Cummings said earlier this week that Downing Street’s plan was always to “ditch the bits we didn’t like”.Senior DUP MP Ian Paisley Jr also claimed Johnson made a personal promise that he could later “tear up” any protocol commitments made with the EU.Frost denied that he had planned to tear up the Brexit deal he signed last year, but claiming the protocol arrangements were always “a little bit provisional and open to review”.He said: “We knew that some elements of the protocol would possibly be difficult to make work in practice, and some aspects of it were left open for the discussions in 2020 and afterwards.” More

A council tax hike of 10 per cent would needed without an urgent government cash injection, just to allow social care to “stand still”, according to a new analysis.In a stark warning to Rishi Sunak ahead of the autumn spending review in a fortnight, Age UK said the chancellor’s decisions will “determine whether social care services continue to wither and die”.Money the government is planning to raise from a national insurance rise will mainly go to the NHS over the next three years, with the charity adding this will leave social care “desperately short of the funds required”.At the Conservative Party conference, Mr Sunak did not rule further increase in council tax bills in order to pay for social care — an issue Boris Johnson has promised to “fix”.Age UK, which is urging central government to provide the funds, agreed with the recent view of the Health and Social Care Select Committee, suggesting annual funding for social care must increase by £3.9 billion by 2023-24.According to the charity’s own analysis, if Mr Sunak does attempt to fill the gaps by allowing authorities to increase bills, council tax would need to be hiked by 10 per cent in the next year — to raise £3.3 billion.The organisation also warns that the amount of cash raised would be “highly unequal” across the country, intensifying the “postcode lottery that already affects social care”.Caroline Abrahams, the charity director of Age UK, said: “For the sake of millions of older and disabled people, social care needs a big injection of extra funding now and over the next few years — but it should come from central government, not by massively hiking council tax.“Our new analysis shows the even if you make local people pay a whopping 10 per cent in council tax — on top of the 19 per cent average rise we’ve seen in recent years — it still won’t give social care all the money it needs.”She added: “Social care provision is too important to too many people for its fate to depend on local politics and local tax bases.”A previous analysis by the Local Government Association (LGA) has warned that council tax may have to rise to plug the black hole in the care system, claiming that authorities face extra cost pressures of almost £8 billion by 2024/5 — “just to keep vital local services running at today’s levels”.And last week, the Institute for Government, a respected think-tank, said the sector would need billions of pounds more and substantial council tax rises.Ms Abrahams added: “The stakes could not be higher: his [Mr Sunak’s] decisions will determine whether social care services continue to wither and die, just about stand still or, more optimistically, get stronger over the next three years.“It was the prime minister who made the promise to give older people dignity in later life through his social care reforms — a fantastic goal — but it’s the chancellor now, above all, who will determine whether we make progress towards it, or not.” More

EU lorry drivers on British roads will be allowed to make unlimited pick-ups and drop-offs as rules are temporarily relaxed by ministers in a bid to ease the supply crisis.Transport secretary Grant Shapps has altered limits on trading rights in order to allow more deliveries.Mr Shapps hopes the waiver will help fix fuel and food shortages as complains grow over empty shelves. To try and ease the crisis — a Europe-wide problem exacerbated in the UK by Brexit — a consultation is being launched on companies’ “cabotage” rights.Whitehall is proposing to extend them to strengthen supply chains and prevent shops running out of goods or putting prices up.Cabotage rules govern the transport of goods or passengers within one country by a transport operator from a different country.Currently hauliers from the EU can only make up to two trips between two places in the UK within one week.The measures would allow foreign operators to pick up and drop off goods an unlimited number of times over a two-week period before they return to their country of origin.If approved after the one-week consultation, the proposals would come into force before the end of the year and last for six months.Mr Shapps said: “The long-term answer to the supply chain issues we’re currently experiencing must be developing a high-skill, high-wage economy here in the UK.“Alongside a raft of other measures to help the road haulage industry, we’ve streamlined the testing process and announced thousands of skills boot camps to train new drivers.“These new measures are working – we’ve been seeing up to three times more applications for HGV driving licences than normal as well as a deserved rise in salaries.“The temporary changes we’re consulting on to cabotage rules will also make sure foreign hauliers in the UK can use their time effectively and get more goods moving in the supply chain at a time of high demand.”The Government said the cabotage changes would apply to all types of goods but be “particularly beneficial” to food supply chains and imports that arrive from ports.Retailers have expressed fears ongoing supply chain problems will result in higher prices and empty shelves into December.A build-up of cargo in Felixstowe has led to shipping company Maersk opting to divert vessels away from the Suffolk port, while similar logjams have been seen elsewhere in the world, including in the US. More

UK trade negotiators should prioritise economic growth over the environment in trade deals, according to a leaked official document. The paper, drawn up by officials at the Department for International Trade, says environmental safeguards should not be treated as a red line when other countries do not want to include them in agreements. It comes a month after it was revealed that the UK secretly dropped climate promises to get a trade deal with Australia’s government, which is hostile to action on climate change.In the latest document, circulated to around 120 officials this week before being leaked to Sky News, department bosses say the “economic case” for reducing trade barriers should take precedent.The UK is currently trying to negotiate a trade deal with Jair Bolsonaro’s far-right Brazilian government, whose policies on Amazon deforestation have caused an international outcry.Campaigners have suggested that the UK should use trade deals as leverage to encourage Brazil’s government to stop its deforestation policies.But the leaked document says: “[The government] should not refuse to liberalise on products of environmental concern where there is an economic case for liberalisation, or partner interest is so strong that not doing so would compromise the wider agreement.“In these cases, we should continue to liberalise and address carbon leakage risk (in general, as well as any marginal additional risk from the fair trade agreement) using those FTA levers outlined in this note and non-FTA levers outlined elsewhere.”It adds: “HMG should not pursue a conditional liberalisation approach. This is due to the very high negotiability challenge (little precedent and proven difficulty of raising with partners on related issues) and WTO compliance issues/creating double standards with trade partners.”The overall economic case for free trade agreements is relatively weak, with the government’s estimates putting the benefits of even the largest agreement with the US at less than 0.16 per cent of GDP over 20 years. But the government has effectively accepted that this deal will not happen under president Joe Biden, and is instead focusing on other deals with even smaller economic benefits. Yet ministers are politically desperate to be able to point to concrete wins from leaving the EU, with other benefits so far few and far between.The Department for International Trade downplayed the significance of the leaked document, but trade experts say the approach it outlines is clearly already being pursued by civil servants.Opposition parties also criticised the approach.“It’s really shocking to see a document going round government where they’re essentially saying, ‘never mind about climate change, never mind about the environment, Bolsonaro is a difficult guy, if you want a trade deal from Brazil, and he wants to sell us stuff from a rainforest, we probably shouldn’t get in the way that much because otherwise we won’t end up with a trade deal’ – really?” said Emily Thornberry, Labour’s shadow international trade secretary to Sky News.A Department for International Trade spokesman said: “This is not government policy, and is not being considered by ministers.” More

Intensive talks to revise the Northern Ireland Brexit deal will get under way in Brussels on Friday, amid growing speculation that the two sides could close in on a compromise.Brexit minister Lord Frost, who negotiated the original deal but now wants to overhaul it, will meet EU Brexit chief Maros Secfovic for lunch to kick off proceedings.The UK side warned of a “substantial gap” between the two parties ahead of the discussions, but accepted that Brussels had made a “considerable effort” to address British concerns about the protocol.But on the eve of the meeting Mr Sefcovic cautioned that he had “no mandate” to change the treaty and that any policy changes would have to be accommodated within it.“I have demonstrated I can do a lot, I am testing flexibility within the protocol but we should respect it and look how practically we can resolve the problems linked to protocol,” he told BBC NI’s The View programme on Thursday night, adding: “I am ready to go at big lengths to achieve that.”It will be the pair’s first meeting since the European Commission unveiled a “far-reaching” package of proposals to soften parts of the deal, which is causing disruption to trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. But despite pledges to simplify new bureaucracy and dramatically cut the number of spot checks, the package did not address the most eye-catching EU red line – the European Court of Justice’s (ECJ) role overseeing the agreement.The UK originally signed up to have the ECJ oversee the Northern Ireland protocol two years ago, but now says it should be ditched from the agreement.But the red line laid out by Lord Frost has little to do with the disruption apparently being caused by the protocol, and appears to be more an ideological objection.The Brexit minister says removing the role for the court is about not having disputes “settled in the court of one of the parties”. But he has not tried to blame the ECJ for having any practical effect on trade or the functioning of the protocol.EU officials say almost nobody in Northern Ireland has raised the ECJ as an issue during meetings about the protocol. They say their proposals are effectively an opening offer which “lays the ground” for talks with the UK over the issue.But they say they are “focused on solving practical problems” raised by people on Northern Ireland rather than necessarily meeting UK red lines like ECJ jurisdiction.The success of the talks – which both sides say they want to be over by Christmas – will likely hinge on how serious the UK is about removing any trace of the court’s influence from Northern Ireland. But a classic Brussels “fudge” compromise could be the in the offing.Mr Sefcovic did his best to avoid the issue of the court when presenting the package of reforms at a press conference in Brussels on Wednesday. Pressed on the issue he eventually repeated the EU line that it was not possible to be in the single market and not be subject to the court. Some on the EU side, including Ireland’s foreign minister Simon Coveney, have expressed suspicions that raising the issue of the court could be a way to torpedo the EU-UK relationship for political reasons. Lord Frost has denied this and says there is little domestic political benefit to talking about Brexit – although his party won a majority on the issue just two years ago.Suspicions were raised further this week after senior unionist figure Ian Paisley Jr claimed that Boris Johnson told him “personally” that “he would, after agreeing to the protocol, sign up to changing that protocol and indeed tearing it up”.Neale Richmond, the Brexit spokesperson for one of Ireland’s coalition governing parties Fine Gael, describe the revelation as “unbridled duplicity”. Mr Paisley’s DUP party has opposed the protocol from the start and wants Mr Johnson to trigger Article 16, suspending its provisions – and would likely be disappointed if both sides were satisfied by a compromise. Ultimately, Brussels believes the ECJ needs to be involved in overseeing the deal because it is the ultimate arbiter of European Union law. The bloc does not want another body setting precedents in European law for the whole of the EU, which would have far-reaching and long-term consequences for the nature of the single market. But some observers of the talks believe a compromise that squares this circle could be possible. The Times newspaper reports that the commission might be open to creating a new independent arbitration panel to oversee disputes, with the ECJ only called in to interpret narrow matters of EU law as a last resort after dispute resolution has failed.Officials in Brussels on Thursday denied they were familiar with such a plan, but did not immediately reject the idea out of hand. The commission says its position on the ECJ is well established and widely known. EU member states, who have had little to say on Brexit in recent months, have swung behind the commission’s plans. Germany’s top diplomat Miguel Berger said his country fully endorsed the proposals, describing them as “substantive and constructive”. He added: “We expect the same from our British partners. Stop challenging the protocol – let’s find practical solutions!”Ahead of Friday’s meeting a UK government spokesperson said: “We welcome the considerable effort made by Vice President Sefcovic and his team to address the issues that have arisen on the protocol. “We are studying the proposals positively and constructively. Our officials are working closely with their EU counterparts to understand the detail. “Nevertheless it is clear there is still a substantial gap between our two positions. Accordingly there is much work to do. Both we and the EU now have proposals on the table. We need to discuss them intensively in the days to come to see if the gaps can be bridged and a solution found which delivers the significant change needed. Lord Frost will meet with Vice President Sefcovic in Brussels tomorrow to begin this process.” More

Frustration is mounting at Treasury foot-dragging over support for industries facing shutdown this winter because of the dramatic spike in energy prices.Business department sources said there was “a real sense of urgency from our side” to push ahead with a package drawn up by business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng earlier this week following emergency talks with energy-intensive industries.But the Treasury has so far withheld agreement, with a formal response not expected until next week.And chancellor Rishi Sunak signalled apparent reluctance to intervene in comments at the G7 summit in Washington, where he said it was “not the government’s job to come in and start managing the price of every individual product”.Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused ministers of going “missing in action” as industry voiced fears that gas shortages could force widespread closures of plants within weeks Meanwhile, domestic suppliers Colorado Energy and Pure Planet were added to the list of 11 which have folded since the beginning of September.The boss of manufacturing giant Ineos, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, warned that a prolonged cold spell sparking extra demand for gas could “shut down industry”.And he blamed government decisions to run down the UK’s gas storage capacity, telling ITV: “That’s a strategic issue for energy supplies in the UK – you need some storage, and we’ve got 10 days.”But the warning was blasted as a “complete red herring” by government sources, who said that the constant availability of North Sea gas meant that the UK cannot run out of the fuel, protecting it from being held to ransom by supplier countries like Russia at times of crisis.“A country like Germany needs large storage facilities because it is 90 per cent dependent on Russia for gas,” said one official. “We have the best gas storage facility in the world, which is called the North Sea. We have vast reserves of gas which we can tap into at any time. The current concern is not security of supply, it is cost.”Details of Mr Kwarteng’s proposed bail-out have not yet been revealed to industry, but the package is understood to revolve around government-backed loans to nurse viable companies through the period of unusually elevated gas prices – running as much as 10 times their level a year ago – rather than grants to prop up ailing firms.Reports suggest Mr Sunak is applying tough “value for money” tests to any financial support.Speaking in Washington after attending a G7 finance ministers’ summit, the chancellor said: “We’re prepared to work with business and support them as required.“But in general I believe in a market economy, as it’s served us very well in this country. It’s not the government’s job to come in and start managing the price of every individual product.”Welcoming the business secretary’s engagement on Monday, the chair of the Energy Intensive Users Group Dr Richard Leese said that industry wanted to see “an equally swift response” from the Treasury.But speaking during a visit to a steel mill in Sheffield on Thursday, Sir Keir said that ministers were instead “squabbling” over their response.The Labour leader said it would be “unforgivable” if a short-term spike in energy prices led to lost jobs.“What the steel sector needs is support and action from the government,” he said. “What we have got is a government that is missing in action.“It is not having discussions that it should be with the sector. It is not doing what is necessary to save the jobs that are at risk. They have put the ‘out of office’ sign up. That is not acceptable.”The director general of the Confederation of Paper Industries, Andrew Large, told The Independent that there will be real concern if a support package is not in place by early next week.“Speaking to ministers, we made the point that time is of the essence, and we need a workable plan for industry in days or weeks, not weeks or months,” said Mr Large. “It is not out of our timeframe yet, but we are worried it could slip out of our timeframe. We are ready to give the Treasury a bit of breathing space, but by the end of this week or the start of next we will be rattling their cage again.”He urged ministers to follow the lead of the EU, which has already authorised measures on state aid and tax reliefs to ease the burden on high energy-use businesses.“We believe we have made a strong case that this is an unprecedented situation and that the cost to the UK of further disruption to industry and society, in terms of lost jobs and plant closures, is greater than the cost of the support needed in the next weeks and months.”Even with a sizeable proportion of energy costs hedged as a protection against price fluctuations, large paper companies are facing losses of as much as £50m as a result of the price spike, he said.And he warned that a package offering only loans rather than grants or reliefs would be of “limited usefulness” to businesses reluctant to add to the debts built up during the Covid pandemic.UK Steel, which also took part in this week’s talks with Mr Kwarteng, warned that temporary shutdowns and pauses in production were becoming a “fact of life” for many businesses. And there were fears that further delays in finding a solution will make the UK industry less competitive, leading to longer and more frequent shutdowns.Meanwhile, Sunak insisted that there will be a “good amount of Christmas presents available” this year despite the ongoing supply chain crisis.A build-up of cargo in Felixstowe has led to shipping company Maersk opting to divert vessels away from the Suffolk port, while similar logjams have been seen elsewhere in the world including in the US.“We’re doing absolutely everything we can to mitigate some of these challenges,” said Sunak. “They are global in nature so we can’t fix every single problem but I feel confident there will be good provision of goods for everybody.”But Starmer said ministers should have drawn up plans months ago to deal with widely-predicted labour shortages.“People will look at pictures of Felixstowe which has got containers that are unable to move and scratch their heads and say ‘Why is there not a plan to get us through this?’” said the Labour leader.“At the moment the government is sitting back and saying this is somebody else’s problem.” More