Markus Andrews

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailLabour is pledging it will get working within months of election victory to build clean power that will “turn the page” on the cost-of-living crisis.Sir Keir Starmer will warn that “family financial security depends on energy security”, accusing the Tories of failing to make Britain resilient, as he launches the logo and website for Great British Energy at an event in Scotland with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.Labour’s pledge to set up a publicly owned company to invest in domestic power sources – part of the party’s six-point “first steps” policy – aims to tackle the cost-of-living crisis by cutting energy bills.Early investments by Great British Energy will include wind and solar projects across the UK, as well as making Scotland a world leader in new technologies such as floating offshore wind, hydrogen and CCS, Sir Keir is pledging.Labour plans to fund the company, which will be headquartered in Scotland, through a windfall tax on big oil and gas firms, with an initial £8.3 billion capitalisation over a parliament.The plan has been endorsed by former chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, who wrote in The Times: “The prize is huge, lower energy bills, good jobs, more innovative businesses, energy security and climate leadership.”“If we choose to go slowly, others will provide the answers and we will ultimately end up buying the solutions rather than selling them. Getting to a clean power system fast and with appropriate technologies is an investment, not simply a cost.“And being self-sufficient in energy will mean that our country is never again left so exposed by our dependency on an unstable international fossil fuel market.“This is a challenge that we should not shrink from and say it is too hard, but roll up our sleeves and give it everything we have got.”It comes in the wake of the energy price shock which saw costs soar in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Labour says that in the last two years a typical family paid £1,880 more on energy bills than they would have done if prices had stayed the same, while the government spent £94 billion of taxpayers’ money on capping energy costs.The party says the Office of Budget Responsibility has warned that if the UK remains dependent on gas, families and taxpayers could see a repeat of the recent crisis, and accused the Tories of leaving households at risk of a £900 annual energy price spike.Great British Energy will kickstart our mission for clean power to lower bills and boost our energy independence. Ed MilibandSir Keir said: ”Family financial security depends on energy security.“The pain and misery of the cost-of-living crisis was directly caused by the Tories’ failure to make Britain resilient, leaving us at the mercy of fossil fuel markets controlled by dictators like Putin.“It doesn’t have to be this way. Our clean power mission with Great British Energy will take back control of our destiny and invest in cheap, clean homegrown energy that we control.“We will turn the page on the cost-of-living crisis. The choice at this election is clear: higher bills and energy insecurity with the Conservatives, or lower bills and energy security with Labour.”Ed Miliband, shadow energy security and net zero secretary, said: “Great British Energy will kick-start our mission for clean power to lower bills and boost our energy independence.“It’s time to move on from the Tories’ bone-headed opposition to clean energy, for which British families are paying the price.“The choice at this General Election is clear: higher bills and energy insecurity with the Conservatives, or lower bills and energy independence with Labour.”Claire Coutinho, energy security and net zero secretary, accused Labour of an unfunded promise with its plans for Great British Energy, that would cost taxpayers, and attacked the party’s moves to stop new oil and gas licences in the North Sea, claiming it would hit jobs.“By sticking to the Conservatives’ clear plan, energy bills are at the lowest point since 2022, but we must go further.“That’s why we are taking bold action to guarantee the future of the energy price cap, as we back new nuclear power and offshore wind, keeping bills low and ensuring families are not lumbered with the cost of reaching net zero,” she said.The Green Party said Labour’s plans do not go far enough, and fail to address energy efficiency through home insulation and the electrification of home heating.Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said: “We need real change if we are to meet the demands of the climate crisis. These Labour plans do not deliver it.“Compared to Labour’s original commitment to spend £28 billion a year on green investment, this announcement of just £8.3 billion over the course of the parliament looks tiny and is nowhere near enough to deliver Labour’s promise of ‘clean electricity’.”Friends of the Earth’s head of policy, Mike Childs, said: “Labour’s pledge to develop the UK’s enormous homegrown renewable energy potential is great news that will help to power the transition to a green economy that we so urgently need.“But the party mustn’t rest on its laurels just because it has one strong green policy. We’re yet to hear how it intends to tackle the enormous carbon pollution created by transport and heating our homes, for example, which can be addressed by rolling out a nationwide programme of insulation, funding the switch to heat pumps, and delivering a true public transport renaissance.”He called on all parties to strengthen their green commitments.Alasdair Johnstone from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit said: “The UK has spent £100 billion on gas during the energy crisis of the last couple of years, placing a burden not only on bill payers but also tax payers as bills were subsidised.“With prices set to go up again in October, there will be a need to insulate from more gas price volatility. This means using less gas and more British renewables along with insulating homes so they leak less heat.“Recent polling showed that the public think that the best long-term solution to the energy crisis is to decrease dependence on gas and transition to renewable energy.”Max Wakefield, co-director of climate charity Possible, said: “Lifting the ban on onshore wind is one the quickest and best things an incoming government can do for the climate and our country.“It’s clean, it’s cheap, it’s popular and it will bring down bills as a homegrown renewable energy source.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has suffered another general election blow after a top economic think tank said income growth under the Conservatives has been the worst in generations.The prime minister had enjoyed a period of respite this week following an uptick in the polls for his party after infighting engulfed the Labour Party over the future of Diane Abbott MP and the academic Faiza Shaheen, who has not been selected to stand as an election candidate over social media activity in 2014.But a damning new report has laid bare 15 years of languishing living standards under successive Conservative governments.Rishi Sunak had been enjoying a much-needed period of respite More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailFly-tippers will get points on their driving licences and face prison time, under new plans by the Conservatives.It’s part of a drive by the party against antisocial behaviour that would also see disruptive social housing tenants given three strikes before being evicited if the party is elected.Those caught fly-tipping currently face fixed-penalty notices of up to £1,000 – but the worst offenders face unlimited fines through the courts.The Tories have said they will go further by making penalty points on driving licences a punishment for dumping rubbish. The most serious offenders will still face court where the maximum penalty is five years in jail.Latest data shows there were 1.1m incidents of fly-tipping in 2022/23, down slightly from the year before. The highest number of offences take place on roads and pavements.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “Everyone has the right to feel safe in their neighbourhood and a sense of pride in the place they call home.Rishi Sunak said his party had a clear plan to tackle antisocial behaviour More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA left-wing candidate dropped by Labour claims she faced “a systematic campaign of racism, Islamophobia and bullying from some within the party”.Faiza Shaheen said she was considering legal action against the party after it blocked her on Wednesday from standing at the general election.In a statement hitting out at Labour insiders, the former candidate claimed there had been numerous examples of how she had been singled out for unfair treatment.Ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn with Faiza Shaheen, who has been stopped from standing for Labour at the 4 July election More

Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter from The Independent’s Race Correspondent Nadine WhiteSign up to our free fortnightly newsletter The Race ReportAs hundreds gathered outside Hackney Town Hall in east London, cries of “we stand with Diane” rang out. Among the protesters – from children to the elderly – was a red banner pledging “solidarity” with Diane Abbott, while a sign declared: “Hands off our MP.”They had gathered on Wednesday barely 24 hours after reports that Ms Abbott, Britain’s first Black female MP, was to be banned from standing for Labour after representing the party for 37 years – derailing Sir Keir Starmer’s first week of his election campaign and deepening a rift in the party.The news sparked calls for a demonstration online, with social media users sharing the e-flyer and others posting the #WeStandWithDiane hashtag of X/Twitter, signifying a groundswell of support.“You have always stood with me in good times and bad and I will always stand with you,” the veteran MP told the crowd, sparking speculation that – like her ally Jeremy Corbyn – she may stand as an independent candidate. “I promise you that as long as it is possible, I will be the Member of Parliament for Hackney North and Stoke Newington.”The strength of feeling in Hackney has been echoed elsewhere, with dozens of prominent Black Britons signing an open letter – seen by The Independent – warning that the Labour party’s treatment of the former shadow home secretary risked alienating Black voters.Signatories include comedian Lenny Henry, actor David Harewood, singer Heather Small, professor Gary Younge, broadcaster Afua Hirsch, director Misan Harriman, novelist Jackie Kay, author Yomi Adegoke, writer Reni Eddo-Lodge, poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, charity founder Ngozi Fulani and more.The letter criticised the ”unfairness” of the “vindictive” treatment, adding: “It is all the more upsetting given that Black communities have been among Labour’s most loyal supporters.”That loyalty, they said, “has never been unconditional” – and could be ruined beyond repair.Diane Abbott and then-shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer at 2019 rally More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailNigel Farage and Richard Tice took aim at barber shops and candy stores at Reform UK’s immigration policy launch. Speaking at a press conference in central London on Thursday, the Reform UK leader Mr Tice suggested some cash-only barber shops on UK high streets were “fronts for money laundering and drug money”. He was speaking as his party proposed a multi-billion pound tax on businesses employing overseas workers.“You can see high streets with five, six, seven barber shops in them, thousands of new barber shops,” Mr Farage said while on stage with Mr Tice. They were then asked by a reporter what accusation they were making.Mr Tice added: “I’ll tell you what the accusation is actually, and I know it’s true, because you go to towns and people are saying shop after shop after shop. “I mean, I don’t know, maybe it was Covid, maybe our hair is growing faster. “Seriously, how come lots of these new barber shops have got no customers in them? How come they all want cash only? “These are fronts for money laundering and drug money, and someone has to talk about it and someone has to have the courage to say that the authorities they’re either incompetent and don’t know about it.”Nigel Farage and Richard Tice took aim at barber shops during the launch of Reform UK’s immigration policy More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak’s controversial plan to reintroduce National Service for school leavers has hit more criticisms after it was revealed it was out of tune with some of Britain’s greatest cultural successes, Labour has claimed.It has emerged that both The Beatles and Rolling Stones, who transformed music around the world in the 1960s, probably would never have started up if Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Mick Jagger and others had been forced to National Service.The revelation has raised questions about whether Mr Sunak’s plans could hurt the UK’s future young music stars’ opportunities.In 2022, Sir Paul McCartney said: “We were the generation that grew up fully expecting to go in the National Service. And then the second we qualified, it was as if God came down…and said, ‘You don’t have to go in.’ Without that, there wouldn’t have been ‘The Beatles’.Rishi Sunak – who told Sky News in November 2022 that The Beatles were his favourite band – announced on Saturday that he wants to require every young person in Britain to enlist in the Army for a full year as soon as they turn 18, or spend one weekend a month until age 19 completing compulsory community service activities in their local areas.The Beatles may never have got together if they had to do National Service (PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe row engulfing Labour over the future Diane Abbott and a purge of leftwingers in the party has not made a dent in popular support according to the latest weekly tracker poll.The survey by Techne UK for The Independent sees Labour still on 45 percent with a huge 24 point lead over the Tories. There is some comfort though for the beleaguered Rishi Sunak who sees his party recover two points from last week going up from 19 percent to 21 percent.In a further boost for the Tories, Reform UK’s vote has falled by two points from 14 percent to 12 percent in a week. this follows Mr Sunak announcing his plans to reintroduce National Service for 18-year-old school leavers, although pollsters believe this will have made little difference in voting intentions.But overall the poll of 1,630 voters is grim reading for the Conservatives who are still facing a massive defeat. And the continued strong showing for Labour was reflected in former Tory MP Mark Logan’s defection to Sir Keir Starmer’s party tonight.If this were the result of the general election on 4 July then Electoral Calculus predicts that the Tories would be reduced to a shocking 46 seats, less than a third of their all time worst result of 156 in 1906. Labour would have a massive 374 majority.Mark Logan has quit the Tories and plans to join the Labour party (UK Parliament/PA) More