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Boris Johnson must “get off the sun lounger and start being a statesman” to prevent the crucial Cop26 climate talks turning into a failure, Labour has said.The prime minister has failed to take the summit seriously enough or be “candid” enough with the British public on the scale of action needed to address the climate crisis, the opposition party claims.In a speech on Wednesday, Labour’s shadow business secretary Ed Miliband will say the UK and other nations are “miles away” from where they need to be ahead of next month’s UN conference in Glasgow.And in a broadside to Mr Johnson’s holiday in the run-up to the talks, he will say: “It’s time for the prime minister to get off his sun lounger, be a statesman and make Glasgow the success we need it to be.”The senior Labour MP will also criticise Johnson’s government for failing to do enough to help industry adapt to Britain’s energy crisis.“Ministers are turning on each other when they should be turning outwards to engage with industry and take action by intervening,” he will say. “We can’t sit back and watch whole British industries go to the wall.”The former Labour leader – who was at the Copenhagen UN climate summit in 2009 as climate change secretary – will say Mr Johnson’s government has failed to properly set out what Cop26 should achieve.World leaders are under pressure to take action to meet the goals of the Paris accord to keep global temperature rises to below 2C above pre-industrial levels and aim to keep them to 1.5C – beyond which the worst impacts of climate change will be felt.Mr Miliband will say we need to cut emissions by 12 billion tonnes a year in 2030 to meet the 2C target and 28 billion tonnes for achieving the 1.5C goal. But on the basis of current pledges made, there will only be a maximum reduction of four billion tonnes by 2030, he will warn.“We need to be candid about the truth of where we are barely a fortnight from the start of Cop26. We are miles away from where we need to be,” the Labour frontbencher will tell an event hosted by the think tank Green Alliance on Wednesday.“We cannot let Cop26 be the greenwash summit … Above all, finally, at the 11th hour, the prime minister must treat this summit with the seriousness which it deserves.”Mr Miliband will point to a UK trade deal with Australia, which does not include Paris temperature commitments, and the potential new coal mine in Cumbria just as the UK government is pushing other nations to end their dependence upon coal.He will also criticise Johnson’s government for cutting its aid budget at a time when trust between developing and developed countries is key. “The government have been at best bystanders and at worst, contributors to global inaction,” he will argue.Meanwhile, the Green Party is calling on the government to commit to a binding carbon tax at Cop26, describing it as one of the “greatest levers” to drive change in society.The Greens propose the tax should start at £100 per tonne of every carbon dioxide released, rising to £500 per tonne by 2030. The party claimed the tax yield would provide a “dividend”, which would prevent poorer Britons being hit with higher costs.The demands for action come after Cop26 president Alok Sharma said pledges made by G20 countries in Glasgow will be “make or break” for keeping the goal to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C within reach.Mr Sharma has said the summit must have a negotiated outcome that drives increased ambition up to 2030, and deliver a long-promised 100 billion US dollars a year in finance for poorer countries.In a speech in Paris on Tuesday, less than three weeks before Cop26, Mr Sharma warned leaders of major economies such as China: “I say to those G20 leaders, they simply must step up ahead of Cop26.”Chancellor Rishi Sunak is expected to use Wednesday’s meeting of G7 finance ministers in Washington to call on advanced economies to take on action to reduce carbon emissions.Mr Sunak will also urge G7 countries to boost their support for vulnerable countries. But the chancellor has faced heavy criticism for looking to save billions of pounds by “recycling” money from an International Monetary Fund (IMF) windfall as UK aid spending. More

The UK government is on course for a diplomatic collision with Brussels as Brexit minister Lord Frost warned it would be a “historic misjudgement” for the bloc not to rewrite key parts of the agreement.Accusing the EU of being “disrespectful” to Britain, Lord Frost demanded leaders effectively tear up the Northern Ireland protocol he negotiated alongside Boris Johnson just two years ago and replace it with a new treaty.Delivering a speech in Lisbon, he risked inflaming tensions, claiming the bloc was attempting to “encourage UK political forces to reverse the referendum result or least keep us closely aligned with the EU”.The minister suggested that the government was prepared to trigger Article 16 of the Northern Ireland protocol – which allows each side to override large parts of the agreement – if fundamental change could not be achieved.“The EU and we have got into a low-equilibrium somewhat fractious relationship,” he said. “Fixing the very serious problem we have in the Northern Ireland protocol is a prerequisite for getting to a better place.”He added: “For the EU now to say that the protocol – drawn up in extreme haste in a time of great uncertainty – can never be improved upon, when it is so self-evidently causing such significant problems, would be a historic misjudgement.”The address came just 24 hours before the EU is set to unveil its own proposals for fixing the Northern Ireland situation, which Brussels said would be “far-reaching”. Late on Tuesday, it was reported that the European Commission was willing to remove the majority of post-Brexit checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain.Brussels’ proposals will offer to lift 50 per cent of customs checks on goods and more than 50 per cent of checks on meat and plant products, according to The Guardian.The existing protocol has created barriers to trade across the Irish Sea and led to a shortage of some goods supplied from Great Britain.Louise Haigh, the shadow Northern Ireland minister, said Lord Frost’s speech “sets the stage for another destabilising stand-off, with the agreement businesses and communities need further away than ever. This approach is stoking tension while solving nothing.”Lord Frost’s language will also do little to dissuade observers in EU capitals who think Britain is deliberately trying to torpedo the EU relationship, possibly for domestic political advantage. Among those is Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney, who this weekend warned the UK might be looking to engineer “a further breakdown in relations”.Former No 10 Europe adviser Raoul Ruparel said that while there was “nothing much new” in the Brexit minister’s speech, “the language on replacing the protocol was stronger than before and may well alarm some in the EU”.“It also makes it a bit harder for the EU side to compromise or for a landing zone to be found,” he added.Lord Gavin Barwell – former chief-of-staff to Theresa May – said that the government was now using the deal “hailed” by ministers just last year “to further undermine our relationship with some of our closest friends in an increasingly dangerous world”.The UK’s Brexit minister told his audience: “Viewed from our perspective, we look at the EU and don’t always see an organisation that seems to want to get back to constructive working together.”Citing a row over vaccines, threats to energy supplies, and an EU ban on shellfish, he said: “Overall, we are constantly faced with generalised accusations that we can’t be trusted and that we are not a reasonable international actor.”Asked why Britain should be trusted as an international partner when it was tearing up an agreement painstakingly negotiated and implemented just 10 months ago, Lord Frost said with a smile: “We always sign treaties in good faith and intend to implement them.”Lord Frost repeated concerns he had previously voiced about the effects of the protocol, which he said was “disruptive”, “causing serious turbulence” and “damaging large and small businesses” by restrictive trade.And he said the alleged problems with the agreement he negotiated showed “we were right” – claiming that he had privately expressed concerns about the deal he publicly presented was a success.Defending Brexit, he added: “To suggest that there is something wrong in people deciding things for themselves is somewhat disreputable, even disrespectful to the British people and our democracy.”Following the speech, Liberal Democrat home affairs and Northern Ireland spokesperson Alistair Carmichael described the government’s approach as “a badly written farce”.“The same minister who just months ago was trumpeting the government’s botched Brexit deal now says it’s intolerable and has to be changed,” he said.“After all the upheaval British businesses have suffered and all the challenges they face now, they need certainty and support from the government, not more pointless posturing. The solution to disruption and shortages is working together with our friends and neighbours, not picking needless fights.“Boris Johnson’s Conservatives have got to stop talking so casually about breaking international law. Every time they do this, it weakens the UK’s standing with our closest neighbours and around the world.”Baroness Chapman, the shadow Brexit minister, said the government had failed to “approach the occasion with maturity and in the spirit of cooperation”.“Lord Frost has effectively asked to rip up the agreement he negotiated – and the prime minister signed – just two years ago,” she said.“For months, Labour has been calling on the government to drop the rhetoric and make the Northern Ireland protocol work for businesses and consumers on both sides of the Irish Sea.”Dominique Moisi, a political scientist and senior adviser at the Paris-based Institut Montaigne, said the speech by Lord Frost was “aggressive” and delivered in a way to divide Europe.“A very eloquent, intellectually brilliant and rather aggressive text, and the fact that it was delivered in Lisbon in Portugal is a perfect symbol of what the British have tried to do during the Brexit negotiations and failed, ie to divide the Europeans,” he told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme.“He is reiterating the British position from Lisbon, the oldest ally, he has repeatedly said so, of Great Britain, and he goes on saying, ‘well, we have people in central Europe, eastern Europe, who think exactly like us on the basic issue of relationship with the United States. So it’s divide and rule again.” More

Lord Frost accuses EU of using Northern Ireland to try to reverse referendum resultBrexit minister David Frost has used his speech in Lisbon today to accuse the EU of using Northern Ireland to try to reverse the 2016 referendum result. The minister said that the Northern Ireland Protocol is the “biggest source of mistrust” between the UK and EU as he called for the protocol to be revised.“I do understand why the EU finds it difficult to come back to an agreement that was reached only two years ago. Though obviously, that in itself is far from unusual in international relations,” Lord Frost said. “Equally, there’s a widespread feeling in the UK that the EU did try to use Northern Ireland to encourage UK political forces to reverse the referendum result, or at least to keep us closely aligned with EU.”It came as eleven European countries signed a declaration criticising the UK over its “inappropriate” stance towards post-Brexit fishing arrangements – the government of Jersey announced in late September that only a small number of French vessels would be given fishing permits to work in its waters. Show latest update

1634022469Good morning, and welcome to The Independent’s rolling UK politics coverage. Stay tuned as we bring you the latest updates as the government backs the business secretary’s energy bailout plan and the defence sector is the latest to be hit threatened by the crisis. Thomas Kingsley12 October 2021 08:071634023009Defence sector could halt due to energy crisisWithout fresh funds factories could be forced to halt production of critical inputs such as high-tech ceramic coatings, steel components and bespoke glassware, according to government and industry sources. Such products are used in a range of high security environments, including nuclear reactors, laboratories, ships and submarines.Our Economics Editor Anna Isaac and political correspondent Ashley Cowburn have the full story below: Thomas Kingsley12 October 2021 08:161634023798PM ‘to back’ plans for energy firms bailoutBoris Johnson will reportedly back plans to loan millions to help industries hit by the rise in global gas prices.Despite concerns from the Chancellor Rishi Sunak, No 10 will reportedly back plans submitted by business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng. The government came under fire from heavy industry leaders as soaring energy costs threatens to shut businesses including factories. The Times reported that companies threatened with closure would be given loans to prevent them from shutting down over the winter, and to stop thousands of jobs being lost.Mr Kwarteng held talks with industry leaders last week, and ministers and officials are set to continue speaking to businesses throughout this week.He has pledged to keep the energy price cap in place to help households struggling with rising costs.Thomas Kingsley12 October 2021 08:291634024309UK job vacancies reach 20-year high, according to latest figuresUK job vacancies have reached a record high according to latest figures from the Office for National Statistics. According to the report, vacancies hit 1.1 million between July and September, the highest level since 2001, with the largest increases in the retail and motor vehicle repair sectors. Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the increase was “encouraging.”“The number of expected redundancies remained very low in September, there are more employees on payrolls than ever before and the unemployment rate has fallen for eight months in a row,” he added. Thomas Kingsley12 October 2021 08:381634025048Rishi Sunak criticised for looking to save billions of aid by ‘recycling’ money from IMF windfallRishi Sunak has been criticised for looking to save billions of pounds by “recycling” money from an International Monetary Fund (IMF) windfall as aid spending.Campaigners believe the chancellor is preparing to use a large portion of the windfall in the overseas aid budget rather than on top of it. Andrew Mitchell MP, who led the Tory rebellion against the aid cut, said the move would have a “devastating effect on humanitarian causes British people care about and send a terrible message about global Britain”.Our reporter Liam James has the full story below: Thomas Kingsley12 October 2021 08:501634025895There’s ‘hot demand’ for workers, Bank of England member saysDame DeAnne Julius, a founder member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, said the latest unemployment numbers showed there was a “hot demand for workers”.“There’s clearly a reluctance there in the labour market on the supply side of people to come back to work fully,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, adding that many people were “sitting on the fence” about returning to their pre-pandemic careers.Asked whether the growth in average weekly earnings pointed to a higher-wage economy of the kind Prime Minister Boris Johnson has hailed, the economist said: “The evidence is still out on that one.”Thomas Kingsley12 October 2021 09:041634026688National Insurance levy for health and social care would have to double in decade to keep up, IFS saysThe Institute for Fiscal Studies said the levy announced by Boris Johnson to pay for extra spending on health and social care may have to more than double by the end of the decade to keep up with increasing demands. The think tank said the rising cost of healthcare in an ageing population was eating into funds available for services such as the courts, prisons and local government.IFS director Paul Johnson said: “Rishi Sunak, a Conservative Chancellor, is presiding over an increase in the tax burden to record levels in the UK and an increase in the size of the state to levels not seen since the days of Mrs Thatcher.”Yet the combined effects of ever-growing spending on the NHS and an economy smaller than projected pre-pandemic mean that he is still likely to be short of money to spend on many other public services.”On central forecasts, there will be little or no scope to increase spending on things like local government, the justice system and further education, after a decade of sharp cuts.”Thomas Kingsley12 October 2021 09:181634027192Minister refuses to apologise to public over government Covid failingsThe Cabinet Office minister refused to apologise when asked repeatedly this morning.“I suppose you want to start with an apology to the British public?” Kay Burley asked Stephen Barley this morning as he appeared on Sky News.Watch the full interview here:Thomas Kingsley12 October 2021 09:261634027549UK tomato and cucumber farmers shut down over energy crisis and labour shortagesSome tomato and cucumber growers have already shut down production because they cannot afford to heat greenhouses while potato farmers are struggling to absorb massive increases in the cost of cold storage, the National Farmers Union has said.The National Farmers’ Union said British farms were in an “even more precarious position” than they had been in the early days of the pandemic when close to a third of the food industry was forced to close down overnight.“We have a very real risk now of exporting parts of our farming industry overseas and reducing the capacity of UK agriculture to feed the country,” said the NFU’s vice president, Tom Bradshaw.Our reporter Ben Chapman has the full story below: Thomas Kingsley12 October 2021 09:321634028426‘Lights will not go off this winter,’ says Octopus Energy bossThe boss of Octupus Energy Greg Jackson has assured customers that lights will not go off this winter amid the country’s energy crisis which has seen several energy firms go bust. Writing in City AM, the boss of the British firm specialising in sustainable energy said the UK has an “unhealthy dependence on fossil energy imports.” “Last year nearly 45 per cent of UK electricity came from renewable sources,” he said. “In fact, it’s now cheaper to generate power from renewable sources than from fossil fuels. But unfortunately the price for electricity is still set by the price for generating it from fossil fuels, and so is still hooked to those prices. “The only solution is increased energy independence through renewables, with gas to back it up,” he added. Thomas Kingsley12 October 2021 09:47 More

Boris Johnson’s former health secretary Matt Hancock has been handed a new role with the United Nations as a special representative to Africa.Mr Hancock said he was “honoured” to have been named by the UN as an envoy tasked with helping Africa’s economy recover from the Covid crisis.The Conservative MP resigned as health secretary four months ago after he was caught breaking social distancing rules by kissing an aide in his office.“Honoured to be appointed United Nations Special Representative,” the backbench Tory tweeted on his new job.“I’ll be working with the UN and UN Economic Commission for Africa to help African economic recovery from the pandemic and promote sustainable development.”Vera Songwe, the UN’s under secretary general, praised Mr Hancock’s “success” in helping shape Britain’s vaccine rollout.She said the “acceleration of vaccines that has led the UK move faster towards economic recovery is one testament to the strengths that you will bring to this role”.It follows Tuesday’s damning report by MPs on parliament’s science and health select committees, which found that the delay in imposing lockdown was among the UK’s worst-ever public health failures.The report offered some vindication Hancock, however – describing his April 2020 target to have 100,000 Covid tests a day as “an appropriate one to galvanise the rapid change the system needed”.But former Downing Street strategist Dominic Cummings rejected the idea that Hancock had been the one who galvanised the system.“There already was a [testing] target before Hancock blurted it out on TV,” Cummings told Sky News. “The problem with the target was not having a target; the problem is it should have been more than 100,000.”Johnson’s former senior adviser added: “The way [Hancock] announced it caused a lot of problems – it wasn’t the fact of having a target of 100,000, which was already in place.”In his acceptance letter for the UN job, posted on Twitter, Hancock wrote: “As we recover from the pandemic so we must take this moment to ensure Africa can prosper.”Tory MP Tom Tugendhat, chair of the foreign affairs select committee said Hancock’s new job was a “fascinating and important”, adding: “Boosting the economies of Africa is one of the most essential tasks of this generation.”Hancock and his girlfriend Gina Coladangelo were spotted in the Swiss Alps on their first holiday as a couple.He stepped down as health secretary in June, several days after the couple’s affair during the pandemic was exposed to the press.The MP recently drew comparisons to Alan Partridge over a Twitter video of him meeting people in his West Suffolk constituency.“It’s been good to see you,” one woman said while touching his arm. “You’ve been brilliant.”“Well, you know – we’ve got through it haven’t we? And now coming out the other side,” Hancock replied. More

The Conservative MP who mixed up cabinet ministers Sajid Javid and Nadhim Zahawi and allegedly claimed “they all look the same to me” has been let off with a warning by his party.James Gray became embroiled in a race row after he was reported to have made the derogatory remark at an event for St John’s Ambulance, where both ministers were guests.The 66-year-old MP denied the quote attributed to him that “they all look the same to me” – but admitted saying he thought the ministers look alike.Condemning his remarks, a Conservative Party spokesperson said: “These comments were misjudged. We do not tolerate racism or discrimination of any kind.”The Independent understands that Mr Gray has been reminded by Tory chief whip Mark Spencer of the standards expected of him as an MP – but no further action has been taken.St John’s Ambulance was swift to take action over the comments, asking the MP to step back from his role as a parliamentary advocate for the ambulance service.A spokesperson for the charity said: “St John does not tolerate racism in any way, shape or form. We spoke with James Gray following the event about our values as an open, inclusive and progressive charity.”Labour also condemned his reported remarks, and challenged Boris Johnson to take “firm” disciplinary action against Mr Gray.Taiwo Owatemi MP, Labour’s shadow minister for women and equalities, said: “Enough is enough. These reported remarks from James Gray are shameful and completely unacceptable.”She added: “Boris Johnson needs to change his habit and take firm action here, making clear that racist language has no place in a mainstream political party. These remarks simply cannot go unchallenged.”An eyewitness at the recent parliamentary event told the MailOnline – which first reported the comments – that Mr Zahawi immediately had a private conversation with Mr Gray following his speech.But he denied he was spoken to by Mr Zahawi after the incident, and said says he is “very close friends” with both ministers, who are among the most high-profile politicians in Westminster.He told the MailOnline: “The notion that this is some sort of racist remark is ridiculous. They are two very good friends of mine. I said, ‘I am sorry to confuse the two of you. You two look very alike.’ I said, ‘I am sorry if I got you two mixed up.’”Mr Gray was forced to apologise only last month for a “foolish remark” suggesting a bomb should be planted in a senior Labour MP’s office.At the time Mr Gray said he meant “no offence” with the comment about Labour chair Anneliese Dodds, which he posted in a WhatsApp group ahead of the opposition’s conference in Brighton.The timing of the remark particularly raised concern among MPs because it was at the Conservative Party conference in the same city in 1984 that Margaret Thatcher was targeted by a bombing that killed five people. More

Ten European countries have joined France in condemning Britain’s approach to post-Brexit fishing access.In a joint statement the 11 states, including Germany, Italy, Spain, and Belgium, call on the UK to abide by the terms of the Brexit agreement.The countries are angry that the UK has set high barriers for fishermen to get licences, which they say goes beyond the deal struck between the two countries.While boats which have historically fished in an area should retain access under the Brexit deal, authorities in Jersey are requiring onerous geolocation data records to prove this.As a result many French fishermen are being effectively barred from the area.France has threatened retaliation at a national of European level, including hinting that it could cut off power exports to UK territories. The statement says the geolocation requirement “is not provided for in the deal, and is not required by European regulations”.It adds: “We therefore call on the United Kingdom to promptly respond and undertake further technical work work in accordance with… the agreement.”The issue is running in parallel to, but separate from concerns about the Northern Ireland Brexit deal, which is dominating the UK-Eu relationship. French Europe minister Clement Beaune: “The European Union scrupulously implements the agreement it reached with the United Kingdom. We expect the same from Britain.”The Brexit deal’s section on fishing disappointed the industry in the UK, which branded it a betrayal and a sell-out. More

Former No 10 adviser Dominic Cummings has renewed his attack on Boris Johnson in the wake of scathing report into the government’s response to the Covid crisis – calling his ex-boss a “joke prime minister”. Cummings claimed Johnson thwarted his own attempts to improve emergency planning in Whitehall – and said the system remains “a disaster” 18 months on from the pandemic.It follows Tuesday’s damning report by the science and health select committees, which found that the delay in imposing lockdown ranks among the country’s worst-ever public health failures.“The government system for dealing with crises is a disaster,” Cummings told Sky News. “The system was bad for many years before Covid. Me and others put in place work to try to improve the system in 2020 after the first wave.”He added: “Unfortunately the prime minister, being the joke that he is, did not push that work through. Now we have a joke prime minister and a joke leader of the Labour party, and we obviously need a new political system.”The cross-party MPs’ report said the government’s failure to act at the start of the Covid pandemic cost lives, blaming a culture of “fatalism” and pandemic planning that had been far too focused on flu.The report offered some vindication for former health secretary Matt Hancock, describing his April 2020 target to have 100,000 Covid tests a day as “an appropriate one to galvanise the rapid change the system needed”.Cummings – who previously called Hancock’s target “stupid” – rejected the idea that the former health secretary had been the one who galvanised the system.“There already was a [testing] target before Hancock blurted it out on TV,” he said. “The problem with the target was not having a target; the problem is it should have been more than 100,000.”Johnson’s former senior adviser added: “The way [Hancock] announced it caused a lot of problems – it wasn’t the fact of having a target of 100,000, which was already in place.”Other parts of the report supported Cummings’ claims of a dysfunctional government, finding that “structures for offering scientific advice lacked transparency … and structured challenge”.It comes as cabinet office minister Stephen Barclay repeatedly refused to apologise in the wake of the report’s publication, insisting ministers “did take decisions to move quickly”.Jeremy Hunt, the former health secretary who chairs the health select committee, said “groupthink” in government had focused too much on flu and failed to adequately plan for a pandemic such as Covid.He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain the UK should have locked down earlier and “the prime minister is of course ultimately responsible, but some of the advice that he got was also wrong”.Mr Hunt added: “There was a groupthink that the way you tackle a pandemic should be similar to a flu pandemic. I was part of that groupthink too when I was health secretary.”But fellow Conservative MP Chris Skidmore said Mr Hunt had not taken enough responsibility.“I find it a bit rich to have a report produced today by a former health secretary who’s not willing, necessarily, to take also part of the blame,” he told BBC Politics Live. “Jeremy Hunt was health secretary for six years, where was the preparation here?”Meanwhile, bereaved families reacted to the MPs’ report with outrage, furious that the people who died of Covid received scant mention in the 150-page document. They said the joint committee was only interested in “speaking to their colleagues and friends”. More

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg said Tuesday she will step down as head of a three-party, minority center-right government after a left-leaning bloc won last month’s parliamentary election. The leader of Norway’s Labor Party, Jonas Gahr Stoere, is expected to take over later this week.The 60-year-old Solberg, head of Norway s Conservative Party was ousted after two four-year terms when her party lost nine seats in the country’s Sept. 13 election. She will remain as a caretaker leader until Gahr Stoere has presented a new governing team Thursday for a two-party, center-left coalition.”Eight years is a long time,” Solberg told reporters after she handed over her letter of resignation to the country’s figurehead monarch, King Harald, as required by the Constitution. “He accepted it and I urged him to ask Jonas Gahr Stoere to form a government.” In Norway, an outgoing prime minister only announces his or her departure when another party leader is ready to form a new Cabinet In 2013, Solberg became Norway’s second female prime minister. She first headed a two-party minority government with the anti-immigration Progress Party. It was twice enlarged — first in 2018 with the Liberal Party and a year later with the small Christian Democratic Party and then became a majority government. However, in January 2020, the populist Progress Party pulled out of the coalition, leaving Solberg to lead a three-party, minority government with her own Conservatives, the centrist Liberal Party and the Christian Democrats. Gahr Stoere, 61, is poised to head a government with the euroskeptic Center Party, Norway’s third largest, which is expected to seek a majority in the 169-seat Stortinget. He is expected to outline the coalition’s political platform on Wednesday and the Cabinet’s lineup the following day.The discovery of oil and gas in Norway’s waters in the 1960s turned the Scandinavian nation into one of the richest countries in the world, with a strong welfare system and a high living standard. It is not a member of the European Union but trades closely with the 27-nation bloc.Norway’s oil wealth helped it withstand Europe’s financial crisis and retain low unemployment. The oil industry is the country’s biggest industry, responsible for over 40% of exports and directly employs more than 5% of the workforce. More