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Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorThe UK’s renewable energy budget has been increased to a record £1.5 billion, Ed Miliband announced on Wednesday.Of that, £1.1 billion will be allocated for offshore wind, which the government described as “the backbone of the UK’s clean energy mission”.The funding uplift represents more than a 50 per cent increase on the budget previously set in March. The renewable energy industry will bid for the sum in order to deliver clean energy projects in the UK. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said the higher budget will “boost energy security, secure cheap power for families, and unlock economic growth and jobs for the country”. It will “accelerate the delivery of clean, cheap, low-carbon electricity to families and businesses, generated by renewable energy technologies such as wind turbines and solar panels”, the department added.( More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorKemi Badenoch has dismissed accusations that she bullied civil service staff while serving as business secretary as “smears”.The Conservative MP, now shadow communities secretary, is alleged to have created an intimidating atmosphere at the Department of Business and Trade in a report by the Guardian newspaper.“Let’s be clear: these allegations are smears from former staff who I sacked after they were accused of bullying behaviour, lying about other colleagues to cover up their own failures and general gross incompetence,” Ms Badenoch wrote on X, formerly Twitter.“Intolerable behaviour I would not stand for,” she added.The Tory former minister, among those running to be the party’s next leader, also claimed the Department of Business and Trade had confirmed there were no complaints and no investigations against her.She said the accusations would not “stop me or my campaign” and claimed her bid to be the next Conservative leader following the party’s general election rout had “spooked the lefties and now they’re coming for the one person they know can beat Keir Starmer”.Ms Badenoch, the MP for North West Essex, added: “The renewal of my party and the country is too important to let the Guardian, acting for the Labour Party, disrupt.”A spokesman for Ms Badenoch added that she has “high standards and expectations, and she has cultivated high-performing civil service teams who enjoy working with her”.The Guardian article claimed Ms Badenoch was responsible for behaviour that traumatised staff, leading at least three of them to leave their jobs at the Government department.A Department of Business and Trade spokesperson said: “We cannot comment on individual HR matters. However, there have never been any formal complaints or investigations into the previous secretary of state’s conduct at this department.“It is common for Government departments to seek the views of civil servants and to discuss the results of those surveys in routine meetings with staff. We do not tolerate abuse or bullying of any kind.” More

Rachel Reeves accuses Jeremy Hunt of lying over £22bn spending holeSupport trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorDeputy prime minister Angela Rayner has declared that the UK is living the “most acute housing crisis in living history” as she announced a radical reform to the country’s housing planning system. Addressing the Commons, the housing secretary has promised to fix the Tories’ legacy by bringing back mandatory housing targets of 370,000 a year on councils. Under the plans, Ms Rayner announced a review of the green belt if councils do not meet the housebuilding targets. It comes as Rachel Reeves  warned “more difficult choices” are coming after axing winter fuel payments for many pensioners in a bid to help plug a £22bn black hole in the public finances.The chancellor unveiled plans to tackle the projected overspend, including cuts to infrastructure projects and an end of winter fuel payments for people not in receipt of means-tested benefits.Following her speech, Ms Reeves doubled down on accusations that Jeremy Hunt “lied” to the public and to MPs during the election campaign about the state of public finances. Show latest update 1722350781Abbott leads Labour rebellion over Reeves’ spending cuts Diane Abbott has led criticism of Rachel Reeves’s spending plans labelling them “renewed austerity”.It comes as the chancellor unveiled a raft of brutal cuts to deal with a £22bn black hole in the country’s finances. But her set of measures to save up on funding has sparked criticism among members of her own party. The veteran MP for Hackney has accused Ms Reeves of presiding over an era of “renewed austerity”.Ms Abbott is leading a left-wing backlash over the chancellor’s move to scrap winter fuel allowance payments, cancel transport projects and Boris Johnson’s plan to build more hospitals. Britain PoliticsSalma Ouaguira30 July 2024 15:461722350265Cleverly attacks Labour over London housebuilding targetJames Cleverly has criticised the government’s housebuilding plan after Angela Rayner set out a target of 80,000 new homes a year for London.He tweeted: “We need to build more homes in urban areas like London, massively increasing densification.“Labour would rather concrete over the greenbelt than make Sadiq Khan do his job.”Salma Ouaguira30 July 2024 15:371722349829British nationals in Lebanon urged to leave amid escalating tensionsBritish nationals in Lebanon risk “becoming trapped in a warzone” if they fail to leave, the foreign secretary has warned.In a House of Commons statement on Lebanon and a conflict between Israel, Lebanese Hezbollah and other non-state actors, David Lammy told MPs: “The prime minister chaired a Cobra meeting this morning and I’m working with Foreign Office consular teams to make sure we are prepared for all scenarios, but if this conflict escalates, the government cannot guarantee we’ll be able to evacuate everyone immediately.“People may be forced to shelter in place and history teaches us that in a crisis like this one, it is far safer to leave while commercial flights are still running rather than running the risk of becoming trapped in a warzone.“My message, then, to British nationals in Lebanon is therefore quite simple: leave.”It comes as tensions have been escalating after Isreal’s military said it struck several targets in neighbouring Lebanon linked to Hezbollah.Smoke billows from a site targeted by Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese border village of Khiam amid ongoing clashes More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorAngela Rayner’s planning “revolution” will see London’s housebuilding target slashed by 20,000 homes, despite a wider push to boost the number of houses being built each year. The deputy prime minister and housing secretary unveiled a major overhaul of the planning system today, which will see all councils in England given new, mandatory housing targets as part of a plan to deliver 1.5 million more homes in the UK.She warned that Britain is facing the “most acute housing crisis in living memory”, claiming that the number of new homes is set to drop below 200,000 this year – something Ms Rayner dubbed “unforgiveable”.The overall housing target for the UK will increase to 370,000, replacing the previous Tory government’s advisory target of 300,000 homes per year.But government officials said London’s target would fall from 100,000 homes a year, to 80,000.Ms Rayner claimed the previous figure was “absolute nonsense” and an “arbitrary figure”, denying that the government is “lowering our ambition for London”.But Priced Out, a group campaigning for more affordable homes, warned that London is already “the most unaffordable place in the country”. Freddie Poser, the organisation’s executive director, said: “Rayner has stuck to her ambition to get housebuilding moving and raised the national target to 370,000 which is very welcome. “It is a shame to see a 20 per cent drop in the London target proposed – this is exactly where we should be building homes. “London is the most unaffordable place in the country, new homes in the city would have an outsized impact on solving the housing shortage. PricedOut will be responding to the consultation to recommend the government keep the target at 100,000.”The new rules set out in the Commons today will reverse the decision made last year to water down housing targets, which saw them become advisory, instead making them mandatory for local governments.Referring to the change in the rules overseen by the previous Conservative government, Ms Rayner said: “They knew this would tank the housing supply, but they still did it.”Kemi Badenoch questioned why building targets in London were being reduced More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorWatch live as Angela Rayner sets out the Labour government’s plans for housebuilding in the UK on Tuesday, 30 July.The deputy prime minister has told Cabinet that the government will be “setting out the first steps” for building 1.5 million homes over this Parliament.Ms Rayner told colleagues the country faces “an acute housing crisis” that has resulted in “high levels of homelessness, over one million households on social housing waiting lists, homes on average in England costing more than eight times average incomes and fewer than 200,000 homes forecast to be built this year.”Number 10 said: “She outlined that later today the Government would set out plans to lay the foundations for 1.5 million new homes across Britain over this Parliament.“Working people are facing huge challenges to find a safe and decent home to call their own and this Government is setting out the first steps to make this happen.” More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorThe Labour government has “failed another generation of families” with the cancellation of a series of planned social care reforms, the architect of the plans has warned.Rachel Reeves announced the cancellation of the Dilnot Reforms on Monday, alongside a swathe of other spending cuts to address a black hole in the public finances left by the previous Conservative government.Sir Andrew Dilnot, whose government-backed commission proposed a cap on social care costs, described the changes as a “a tragedy”.The chancellor accused the previous government of having hidden the true extent of Treasury overspend from the public, claiming Labour had inherited a £22billion hole in public finances More