UK Politics

The UK is “constantly looking at our own resilience” to prepare for possible blackouts, a cabinet minister has said in the wake of large power outages which affected Spain and Portugal this week. Environment secretary Steve Reed added that the UK must wait to see what caused the blackouts before learning lessons to help strengthen the UK’s energy network.Widespread power cuts brought Spain and Portugal to a standstill on Monday as traffic lights switched off and people were left unable to access cash machines.Steve Reed said the UK is ‘constantly looking at our own resilience’ More

PMQs: Keir Starmer congratulates Mark Carney for Canada election victorySir Tony Blair’s former political secretary has warned that “Labour are toast”, as the party prepares to lose seats to Reform UK at the polls tomorrow.John McTernan has said there’s “nothing that can be done” in the next 24 hours that can drastically change Labour’s fate in local elections on Thursday.He told Times Radio: “You look at all the focus groups, if you go to any of them, what do people associate the Labour Party with? Taking winter fuel payments away from pensioners.“Why are they attacking pensioners? Why are they now attacking the disabled? That’s what people are saying. It’s on the doorstep in Runcorn. It’s on the doorstep everywhere.”The comments come after Sir Tony U-turned on his attack on the government’s net zero policies.Polls are predicting sweeping victories for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, as voters across 23 local authorities decide on some 1,641 council seats, while six mayoralties are also being contested. Alongside local elections, the first by-election of this parliament, for Runcorn & Helsby, will see Farage’s party trying to overturn Labour’s victory last summer. Rupert Lowe’s solicitors deliver legal papers to Reform UK on eve of electionNigel Farage and Reform UK have had an unwelcome eve of election gift from their former MP Rupert Lowe after his solicitors announced they had delivered legal papers on the party.The Great Yarmouth MP was ousted from the party in March over alleged bullying allegations and a claim had threatened chairman Zia Yusuf.But Mr Lowe has announced that he is suing Mr Farage, Mr Yusuf and party chief whip Lee Anderson for defamation over the incident.Independent MP Rupert Lowe (Jordan Pettitt/PA) More

Sir Tony Blair has performed a dramatic U-turn following his attack on the government’s net zero policies as the row threatened to derail Labour policies.The former prime minister had warned that energy secretary Ed Miliband’s eco policies and their push towards renewable energy were wrong because voters know the financial and lifestyle sacrifices needed to meet government pledges will have virtually no impact on climate change.His criticism in a foreword of a report for his Tony Blair Institute (TBI) fuelled fury over high energy costs exacerbating the cost of living crisis and damaging economic growth by piling on costs of businesses and manufacturers.But in a reversal on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the TBI insisted that Sir Tony supports the current government’s policies.The spokeswoman said: “The TBI report is clear: we must prioritise technologies which capture carbon, place a bigger emphasis on protecting and enhancing nature, and develop new nuclear power, smart grids, and a new system of financing existing renewable solutions in developing economies. The UK government is already pursuing these, and their approach is the right one.”She added: “The report is clear we support the government’s 2050 net zero targets, to give certainty to the investors and innovators who can develop these new solutions and make them deployable.”Sir Tony Blair said any strategy that limits fossil fuels in the short term is ‘doomed to fail’ (PA) More

When Mark Carney’s name is mentioned to Mark Francois, chairman of the ultra Brexiteer European Research Group, a smile creeps across his face.The newly elected Canadian prime minister has won an extraordinary victory in Canada for the Liberal Party, overturning a previous two digit lead for the Conservative Party.But Brexiteers consider his intervention in the 2016 EU referendum to be almost as decisive in their favour, even though he spoke against the Leave campaign.Mr Francois noted: “Ultimately, I would say it was almost as helpful as Barack Obama’s. The British people simply refused to be bullied by ‘Project Fear’, of which Mark Carney was clearly a part.”While the remark may be seen as a joke, it underlines a mixed legacy for the former governor of the Bank of England.Mark Carney has won Canada’s federal election More

Sir Keir Starmer faced questions from MPs in Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), a day before people head to the polls to vote in the local elections and the by-election in the Cheshire constituency of Runcorn and Helsby.It also follows the Labour government announcing a crackdown on fly-tipping, with councils crushing vehicles belonging to perpetrators.In addition to being grilled by leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch and Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey as normal, Sir Keir is due to be asked questions from Nottingham MP Nadia Whittome, and the youngest-serving MP Sam Carling.It comes after the environment secretary defended Sir Tony Blair’s comments on the government’s net-zero approach as a “valid and important contribution” – after the ex-PM criticised any strategy that limits fossil fuels in the short term.He later clarified to The Times that he believes the government’s approach is the “right one”.The row has broken as Thursday’s local elections loom, with polling suggesting Nigel Farage’s Reform UK could be set to win hundreds of seats.Voters across 23 local authorities will decide on some 1,641 council seats, while six mayoralties are also being contested. More

Police should investigate Kneecap after a member of the band called for Tory MPs to be killed, the daughter of murdered MP Sir David Amess has said. Katie Amess has called for the Metropolitan Police to probe the group after a member called for Conservative MPs to be killed and another appeared to shout “up Hamas, up Hezbollah”. Ms Amess said: “If the police had followed through and looked into threats against my dad the night before the murder, my dad would still be here.Kneecap’s Eden Sessions performance has been cancelled (Brian Lawless/PA) More