UK Politics

Boris Johnson has suggested that Britain should start mining and burning its own coal again, despite the climate emergency.The prime minister said it “makes no sense” for Britain to be importing coal from abroad for use in steelmaking “when we have our own domestic resources”.While the UK has largely abandoned coal for for power generation, slashing CO2 emissions, it still uses some in steelmaking, where the substance is harder to cut out.During an exchange at prime minister’s questions Chris Green, the Conservative MP for Bolton West, said he had “concerns about the ethics of holding back British industry and exporting and magnifying our carbon emissions overseas”.This was being done “in the name of net zero”, he said, adding that “for much of Britain, levelling up means the revitalisation of British industry and the jobs that go with it”. Responding, prime minister Mr Johnson said: “I think we can we can all be proud of the way we’ve reduced CO2 emissions in this country, but plainly it makes no sense to be importing coal, particularly for metallurgical purposes, where we have our own domestic resources.”His comments come after a row over the potential opening of a new coal mine in Cumbria. The proposed pit would mine coal for the steel industry, but 85 per cent of it is expected to be exported.There are currently no deep coal mines left in operation in the UK, though some open pits are still in operation. Environmentalists point out that every extra tonne of coal on the world market will also tend to drive down its price and drive up emissions, no matter where it is used. To met net zero emissions targets to avert catastrophic climate change, steelmaking must phase out ordinary coal use by 2035, but the technology to do so it at a relatively early stage.Friends of the Earth energy campaigner Tony Bosworth said: “The Prime Minister is simply wrong: opening new UK coal mines makes no sense for energy security or tackling the climate crisis.“A new mine in Cumbria would have little impact on coal imports. Steelmakers use a blend of different coals so they would still have to import the majority of their coal. And one of the two blast furnace sites in the UK– British Steel in Scunthorpe – has expressed doubts about whether it can use Cumbrian coal.“The UK steel industry says it isn’t lobbying for a new mine. It knows its future lies in moving away from coal to low carbon steel-making – something that’s already happening in Europe. “Only a few months ago, the Prime Minister was sounding the death knell for coal. If his government approves the new mine, its climate reputation would be ruined.“Green steel is the future. It’s time to leave coal in the ground where it belongs.” More

European Union leaders will seek to offer support this week to six Western Balkan countries that have long been knocking at the bloc’s doors, and now see the war in Ukraine raging not far from their borders amid fears Russia could turn its sights on their region.The two-day summit starting Thursday in Brussels is expected to approve the European Commission’s proposal to give Ukraine and Moldova candidate EU membership status, the beginning of a long process that the Western Balkan Six started years ago. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has increased the urgency of getting the historically volatile Western Balkans into the EU fold as some of the region’s states — chiefly Serbia — are increasingly turning toward Moscow, both politically and militarily.The EC has repeatedly told Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia that their future lies within the 27-nation bloc. But progress has stalled — for all sorts of reasons. The countries are at different levels of negotiations and fulfilling numerous membership requirements, with Montenegro leading the pack and Kosovo not even starting the talks.Clement Beaune, France’s minister for European affairs, said the war in Ukraine makes it even more essential that the six countries get a renewed perspective.WHY ALL THE FUSS?The Kremlin has for years been saying it considers the Balkans its zone of “strategic interest,” although the six Western Balkan states were never part of the Soviet bloc. Russian officials say they don’t mind them joining the EU, but strongly objected when Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia joined NATO, and when Bosnia announced plans to seek alliance membership. Tiny Montenegro was warned that it could be targeted by Russian long-range missiles after it joined EU sanctions against Moscow over Ukraine.WHAT’S THE ROLE OF SERBIA?Serbia, the largest of the six countries, is pivotal in Russia’s regional influence. After a brief pro-Western government in the early 2000s — when the country launched its EU accession bid — former ultranationalists took power 10 years ago, leaning Serbia more toward traditional Slavic ally Russia, and China.While still formally seeking EU membership, and although the EU is by far Serbia’s biggest trading partner, Belgrade refused to align its foreign policies with the bloc’s, including to impose sanctions on Moscow.Pro-Putin propaganda in state-controlled media is so widespread that for the first time since Serbia submitted its EU bid support for joining the bloc is below 50%. Top EU officials have told Belgrade it will soon have to make up its mind whether it wants to continue on its EU path by complying with its policies and standards.AND BOSNIA?After the European Commission tapped Ukraine for candidate status, many asked why multi-ethnic Bosnia — which also went through a bloody war in the 1990s — doesn’t get the same status. EU member Slovenia said it will propose Bosnia’s candidacy at this week’s summit.The move to let Ukraine leapfrog others in the long candidacy queue has reawakened fears in the Western Balkans that the region could be left behind as the EU focuses on Ukraine and its neighbor Moldova.Bosnia has faced open threats from Russian officials for its plan to seek NATO membership and has also been destabilized by secessionist threats from Bosnian Serbs who control about half of the Balkan country.NORTH MACEDONIA: LOUD NEIGHBORSNorth Macedonia applied for EU membership in 2004, and is still waiting for the start of its accession talks after repeated obstacles placed by neighboring EU members. First Greece required that the country then known as Macedonia should change its name, saying it implied claims on the northern Greek province of Macedonia. In 2018 the country agreed to rename itself North Macedonia, hoping that would unlock its EU bid. But then Bulgaria vetoed membership talks, pending settlement of its own disputes with North Macedonia that include historic and cultural issues. France said it is making last-ditch efforts to overcome the problem — although it doesn’t help that Bulgaria is currently facing a new political crisis.WHAT ABOUT MONTENEGRO?Tiny Montenegro has fulfilled most of its EU membership obligations, but still seems far from becoming a member. It has applied EU sanctions against Russia over Ukraine, drawing angry responses from the Kremlin. It has also managed to stave off attempts of destabilization from both Russia and neighboring Serbia after it joined NATO.ALBANIA: COLLATERAL DAMAGEAlbania’s candidacy bid has been stalled mostly because it’s tied to North Macedonia’s, which is being blocked by Bulgaria.Prime Minister Edi Rama said if no progress is made at the EU summit this week he will seek to decouple the two processes.But in a recent visit to Kyiv alongside Montenegrin counterpart Dritan Abazovic, Rama said both still fully support Ukraine’s request to get EU candidate status. “No one should speculate with the fact that because Europe has not kept its promise to us, we do not feel well now it is taking the step for Ukraine,” Rama said.KOSOVO: AT THE BACK OF THE LINEKosovo, a former Serbian province that broke off following a separatist uprising and NATO bombing campaign against Serbia, declaring independence in 2008, seems to be last in line for membership talks. Five EU states don’t even recognize it as a country, and its U.N. membership has been blocked in the Security Council by Serbia’s allies Russia and China.____AP writers Llazar Semini in Tirana, Albania, and Konstantin Testorides in Skopje, North Macedonia, contributed. More

Boris Johnson’s father has called on the UK parliament to lift a ban on the Chinese ambassador ahead of his own visit to China to retrace the steps of Marco Polo.Stanley Johnson is planning a summer trip to Xinjiang province, home to the Uighur minority persecuted by Beijing, for a TV programme on the famous explorer.China’s ambassador to Britain Zheng Zeguan was banned from the parliamentary estate last year – a move which sparked retaliatory sanctions on nine Britons, including senior Conservative MPs.In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Mr Johnson Snr described Mr Zheng as a “very agreeable, capable and intelligent man” following talks with him about his travel plans for television.The 81-year-old added: “I would very much hope that by the time parliament returns [after the summer break], these bans will no longer be in place.”Mr Johnson’s government has accused Beijing of “egregious” abuses against the minority group, and slapped sanctions on Chinese officials deemed responsible for alleged human rights violations in Xinjiang.The prime minister’s dad said his Xinjiang trip, funded by the English Path language school, would see him follow Marco Polo’s steps along the Silk Road – and will allow state broadcaster China Central Television to film his journey.Asked whether he would raise any human rights concerns see along the way, Johnson Snr said: “We will be travelling with [our] eyes open and our ears open.”He added: “You can be absolutely sure that … the TV team who are with us are absolutely professional – they will film what we see. I think that’s all we can say.”He said his trip was “not a political exercise”, but also added: “Anyone who doesn’t want to improve British-Chinese relationships strikes me as being rather narrow-minded”.Last month the PM’s dad was told his application to become a French citizen had been approved – calling it a “very nice gesture” of Paris authorities. No 10 would not comment on Mr Johnson Snr’s trip to China or his call for the ambassador’s ban to be lifted.Labour MP Catherine West, shadow minister for Asia, said Mr Johnson Snr’s comments were “particularly questionable when British MPs have been sanctioned by the Chinese government for speaking up for human rights”.Announcing the ban on Mr Zheng last September, Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said it would not be “appropriate” to let the Chinese envoy on to the estate while MPs were subject to sanctions.Beijing had earlier imposed sanctions on five MPs and two peers, including former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, over their stance on Xinjiang and China’s human rights record. More

Downing Street has said it would be “reckless” to raise public sector pay in line with inflation.The comment came after chancellor Rishi Sunak indicated that pensions and benefits will retain their link to price rises, setting the scene for double-digit percentage increases next year.His assurance came despite Boris Johnson urging workers to accept pay hikes well below the inflation rate, currently running at 9.1 per cent and forecast to hit 11 per cent later this year.The PM has warned that pay rises at or close to the inflation rate for striking rail workers risked triggering an inflationary spiral which would undermine the value of pay packets across the board.Asked why the government believed that increases in pay would fuel inflation, while pension rises would not, the PM’s official spokesman said: “I’m not going to jump ahead to what it will or won’t be next year in terms of pensions.“Most commentators recognise that the primary risk from current high levels of inflation that becomes embedded through the labour market, and through wages, there’s not the same risk of this spillover effect to private sector wages from any increase to the state pension age.”Asked if the prime minister is worried about fuelling intergenerational resentment between working-age people and older pensioners, he said: “We will keep explaining to the public why we think this is the right approach.“We are confident that the public will understand that it would long term have a bigger impact on their take-home pay if we were to take actions – reckless actions – now that could spike inflation.“It’s important to stress that does not mean we do not want to reward public sector workers with a pay rise. We do.“It’s just we must make sure that we don’t do anything that has a knock-on impact which feeds into this global inflationary spiral that there is the potential to see.” More

Boris Johnson has failed to deny that he tried to offer his lover Carrie Symonds a top government job while foreign secretary.The prime minister was challenged in the House of Commons over reports that he raised the idea of appointing her to the £100,000-a-year job of chief of staff at the Foreign Office in 2018.There has been no denial from Downing Street that the PM had to be talked out of the plans by aides, and Mr Johnson’s decision to dodge the question at Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons is likely to be seen by many as an effective confirmation of the reports.There is growing pressure for an inquiry into the claims that Mr Johnson repeatedly pressed for Ms Symonds to be picked for the taxpayer-funded job at the Foreign Office.But there is no-one to carry out the probe – after his ethics adviser quit last week, over what Christopher Geidt alleged was a separate plan which would breach the ministerial code.Meanwhile, it has been alleged and not denied that as prime minister in 2020, Mr Johnson suggested that Carrie – by then his wife – could take a senior environmental role linked to the COP26 climate change summit or the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Earthshot Prize. Reports suggest that he wanted Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, who had previously been Prince William’s private secretary, to “take soundings”. But advisers were said to have vetoed both suggestions, warning either position could undermine his wife’s status as a private citizen.In the Commons, the Labour MP Chris Elmore asked Mr Johnson: “Has he ever considered the appointment of his current spouse to a government post or to any organisation in one of the royal households?Mr Elmore added: “Be honest prime minister – yes or no?”But the prime minister evaded the question, saying: “I know why the party opposite wants to talk about non-existent jobs in the media because they don’t want to talk about what’s going on in the real world.”Sir Keir Starmer pounced on his failure to answer, telling MPs to laughter: “If I ever need advice – let’s say on a £100,000 job at the Foreign Office – I will ask him for a recommendation”.A senior spokesperson for the Labour leader later confirmed he regarded the PM’s failure to engage with Mr Elmore’s question as an effective confirmation of the accuracy of the claims. “It was a total non-denial from the prime minister in PMQs,” he said.Downing Street has repeatedly refused to answer questions about the controversy since the allegation was made at the weekend. Instead, the PM’s official spokesperson referred reporters to statements from Ms Johnson’s spokesperson, who described the Foreign Office story as “untrue” and said the suggestion that the PM’s wife was considered for jobs at COP26 or the Earthshot Prize was “as untrue now as it was then”.No 10 sources were unable to explain today how Ms Johnson, as a private citizen, had obtained confidential information about internal government discussions on recruitment to taxpayer-funded posts.The PM’s press secretary said only that the prime minister “has never recommended Mrs Johnson for a government role or one as part of the Earthshot Prize”, but declined to say whether her possible appointment was ever discussed with aides.Downing Street has also stalled on replacing Lord Geidt, leaving a vacancy which means there is no watchdog to police alleged breaches of the code laid down for all ministers.A former Foreign Office minister, Alan Duncan, said he was told that Ms Symonds – then in charge of communications at Conservative party headquarters (CCHQ) – was being lined up for a special adviser role in the department.“For someone slightly unproven who knew nothing about foreign affairs to come straight out of CCHQ and into the Foreign Office was rather noticeable,” he said.The chair of the Commons standards committee, Chris Bryant, has called for the “paper trail” behind the controversy to be published.“It is manifestly corrupt to appoint your lover as a Spad [special adviser],” he wrote on Twitter. More

Boris Johnson’s government has been warned against a post-Brexit free trade deal with a group Gulf states over the “appalling” record on human rights.Union chiefs and campaigners urged ministers to rethink its approach as talks on a deal between the UK and six Gulf nations kick off on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia.International trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan will meet representatives of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) in Riyadh to begin negotiations with the bloc.But Paul Nowak, deputy general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), said the government should not “entertain” a deal without addressing reform.“The Gulf states’ appalling record on human rights and workers’ rights is no secret, and yet the government is rushing into trade talks, no questions asked,” he said.Accusing the government of “turning a blind eye to fundamental rights abuses”, the TUC chief said the government should use its leverage “to ensure respect for fundamental workers’ and human rights”Mr Nowak added: “Banning trade unions, forced labour, severe exploitation of migrant workers and other labour rights abuses are all widespread – as are attacks on women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights and the oppression of marginalised communities.”Unlike recent trade deals with New Zealand and Australia, the UK is not expected to pursue agreements on advancing gender equality as part of its negotiation with the GCC – instead raising human rights issues through other avenues.Amnesty International UK’s head of policy Allan Hogarth said women faced “deep-rooted discrimination” and bans on trade unions “are common” in the Gulf.“A UK-Gulf trade deal which remained silent on these issues would be wilfully ignoring serious human rights violations,” he said.The government said a comprehensive post-Brexit free trade deal could boost the UK economy by up to £1.6bn a year.Trade between the UK and the GCC – which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE – is already worth £33.1bn, making it the UK’s seventh largest trading partner.The bloc’s demand for international goods and services is expected to increase 35% in the next 13 years.Ms Trevelyan said: “This trade deal has the potential to support jobs from Dover to Doha, growing our economy at home, building vital green industries and supplying innovative services to the growth.”The UK is expected to pursue cuts to tariffs on British exports to the Gulf, particularly in the food and drink sector. UK food and drink exports to GCC countries were worth £625m in 2021.The government will also seek to improve access for hi-tech industries including green technology to help the GCC transition away from reliance on fossil fuels.This could include reducing the 15 per cent tariff on UK wind turbine parts in order to help the UAE reach its target of generating 50 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2050.Stephen Phipson, chief executive of manufacturers’ organisation Make UK, welcomed the launch of free trade negotiations with the Gulf Co-operation Council.He said a partnership on green innovation would bring “significant opportunities for Britain’s innovative renewable energy companies which are already leading the way in this area of global concern”.Negotiations will also look to increase investment opportunities between the UK and the Gulf, with GCC investments in the UK supporting more than 25,000 jobs in 2019 and the new deal expected to boost local economies in the North and the Midlands. More

The country’s biggest education union will consult members on industrial action this autumn if the government fails to make an “inflation-plus” pay increase for teachers.In a letter to Nadhim Zahawi – seen by The Independent – the joint general secretaries of the National Education Union (NEU), warn they will not stand by “while you run both education and educators into the ground”.It comes amid the biggest industrial strike on the rail network for decades and figures showing UK inflation hitting a fresh 40 year high, climbing 9.1 per cent in the 12 months to May — up from 9 per cent in April.In their correspondence with the education secretary on Wednesday, NEU general secretaries Kevin Courtney and Mary Bousted claimed that teachers’ pay has fallen by a fifth in real terms since 2010.As the union awaits a report from the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB), which makes recommendations on pay, they said: “We call on you to commit to an inflation-plus increase for all teachers.“A clear and unambiguous signal that educators are valued, with undifferentiated inflation-plus pay increase for all teachers, is urgently needed. And you must fund schools accordingly”.In a clear warning, they continued: “The current inaction from the government on these questions is causing real damage to education and to our members’ livelihoods.”“We have to tell you that failing sufficient action by you, in the autumn term, we will consult our members on their willingness to take industrial action.“And we will be strongly encouraging them to vote yes. We can no longer stand by while you run both education and educators into the ground.It is understood any action would first involve an indicative ballot in the autumn term – and could lead to a formal ballot on strike action among teachers across the country.In response, Mr Zahawi said: “We have proposed the highest pay awards in a generation for new teachers – 16.7% over the next two years – alongside further pay awards for more experienced teachers and leaders.“Young people have suffered more disruption to their education than any generation that’s gone before, and it’s the vital work of teachers that is helping them get back on track.”The cabinet minister added: “The last thing I – or any parent – want to see is anything that would risk undoing that progress. We will be considering the pay recommendations from the independent pay review body in due course.”The letter comes after Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister, insisted the government must take a “firm line” and “win” the argument against unions, or risk a “vicious cycle” of rising wages pushing inflation even higher.“We really do understand the pressure that those on low incomes are facing at the moment, they are struggling to make ends meet.”Setting out why public sector pay could not keep pace with inflation, he added: “If we don’t have those restraints, inflation will go higher for longer. And that will only undermine the pay packages of workers, particularly the most vulnerable workers, for a longer period of time.“We’re taking the action, we’re taking a firm line with, for example, the RMT union, precisely because we want to protect this erosion of pay packets by inflation.” More