Carla Denyer<\/strong>.<\/p>\nKemi Badenoch is taking the Conservatives even further down the path to irrelevance with this through-the-looking-glass idea.<\/p>\n
The vast majority of the British public want to see action to secure a safe climate for our children and grandchildren, and Britain\u2019s green economy is booming.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s embarrassing that Badenoch is ready to trash the progress this country has made towards a safe and healthy future, even under Conservative governments, just to satisfy the demands of her party\u2019s donors in the fossil fuel industry.<\/p>\n
Share<\/span>Keir Starmer and Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at theEuropean Political Community summit in Copenhagen today.<\/span> Photograph: Piroschka Van De Wouw\/ReutersShare<\/p>\nTory peer condemns plan to scrap Climate Change Act, saying there’s ‘no future’ for party as ‘Reform tribute act’<\/h2>\n
The Conservative party\u2019s news release about getting rid of the Climate Change Act (see 10.23am) describes it as legislation passed by Ed Miliband (energy secretary in 2008, as he is now). It does not mention the fact that the change to the act setting 2050 as the target date for achieving net zero \u2013 the aspect of the legislation that Kemi Badenoch finds particularly objectionable \u2013 was passed when Theresa May was PM.<\/p>\n
But Gavin Barwell<\/strong>, who was May\u2019s chief of staff at the time and who is now a Conservative peer, does remember. He has told HuffPost UK that the policy announced by Kemi Badenoch today is a mistake. He said:<\/p>\nThis is both bad policy and bad politics. If you look at the US, where policies like these are being enacted, electricity prices are going up, not down. And polling shows Conservative voters support the net zero target.<\/p>\n
There is no future for the Conservative party in being a Reform tribute act.<\/p>\n
Share<\/p>\n
Updated at\u00a005.53 EDT<\/p>\n
Why Tories say they want to get rid of Climate Change Act<\/h2>\n
This is what the Conservative party<\/strong> says in its news release about why it wants to get rid of the Climate Change Act 2008. Interestingly, the party is talking about \u201creplacing\u201d the act, not just repealing it, but the Tories have not said what they would replace it with.<\/p>\nThe party says:<\/p>\n
The 2008 legislation has forced successive governments to introduce punitive measures that have hit family finances \u2013 including the Boiler Tax which will push up the price of gas boilers to force people to adopt heat pumps just for the purpose of meeting a self-imposed target.<\/p>\n
The act ignores the fact that climate change is a global problem. If the British chemicals, cement, or metals industry shuts down and moves abroad to countries with cheaper but dirtier energy, then Britain won\u2019t need any less chemicals, cement, or metals \u2013 we will just import more from abroad instead, and lose out on all the jobs, tax revenue, and economic growth. Britain will be poorer and global emissions will increase.<\/p>\n
The CCA has also forced ministers to support Drax, where trees are cut down in North America, shipped across the Atlantic in diesel-chugging ships, and burnt in a power station in Yorkshire, at great cost to billpayers and our environment, because it is labelled \u2018clean\u2019 for the purposes of our climate targets.<\/p>\n
The UK has already halved its emissions since 1990, reducing emissions by more than any other major economy. But global emissions are rising and countries like China are not following our lead. Continuing down this path of unilateral economic disarmament will make us a warning, not an example, to the rest of the world.<\/p>\n
The Conservatives support action on climate change \u2013 and believe in safeguarding our environment for future generations \u2013 but this has to happen when it makes people\u2019s lives better. People should be able to adopt electric vehicles and electric heating when they want to and when it will save them money, not when they are forced to by a government mandate.<\/p>\n
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Tory plan to scrap Climate Change Act ‘backwards step’ that would ‘damage our economy’, says CBI<\/h2>\n
The Conservatives used to be seen as the party of business. But that relationship was ruptured by Brexit, when the Tories backed a policy seen as highly damaging by mainstream business opinion, and it has not really recovered. There is fresh evidence today because the CBI<\/strong>, a leading business organistion, has said that scrapping the Climate Change Act would be a \u201cbackwards step\u201d that would \u201cdamage our economy\u201d.<\/p>\nIn a statement, Rain Newton-Smith<\/strong>, the CBI director general, said:<\/p>\nThe scientific reality of climate change makes action from both government and business imperative. Scrapping the Climate Change Act would be a backwards step in achieving our shared objectives of reaching economic growth, boosting energy security, protecting our environment and making life healthier for future generations.<\/p>\n
The Climate Act has been the bedrock for investment flowing into the UK and shows that decarbonisation and economic growth are not a zero-sum game. Businesses delivering the energy transition added \u00a383bn to the economy last year alone, providing high-paying jobs to almost a million people across the UK. The UK\u2019s climate governance and the cross-party consensus that has underpinned it has shaped long-term contracts to deliver renewable energy, investment in green technologies and our international leadership in decarbonisation.<\/p>\n
We can debate the pace of transition and how it\u2019s achieved to ensure that decarbonisation does not come at the expense of critical industries. But fundamentally ripping up the framework that\u2019s given investors confidence that the UK is serious about sustainable growth through a low-carbon future would damage our economy.<\/p>\n
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Stars and stripes flags for Trump UK visit had to be changed for brighter red<\/h2>\n
Dozens of US flags used for Donald Trump\u2019s unprecedented second state visit to the UK last month had to be replaced because the stripes were the wrong shade of red, a government supplier has claimed, Matthew Weaver<\/strong> reports.<\/p>\nShare<\/p>\n
This is what Keir Starmer<\/strong> told reporters as he arrived at the European Political Community summit in Copenhagen this morning.<\/p>\nWe\u2019re certainly discussing illegal migration and looking at what further options we can take together.<\/p>\n
Obviously, I\u2019ve always argued that working with other countries is always a stronger response. So we\u2019re looking at a number of options there.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a big appetite for it, a number of countries wanting to work with us on what more we can do. So, we\u2019ll be looking at that.<\/p>\n
There is also, then, obviously, the question of Ukraine and how we put in more support for Ukraine, put pressure on Putin.<\/p>\n
So, it\u2019ll really be migration and Ukraine will be the two dominant issues in the discussions today.<\/p>\n
And here is the Downing Street news release put out ahead of the summit, including Starmer\u2019s \u201cgolden ticket\u201d comment. (See 9.29am.)<\/p>\n
<\/span>Keir Starmer talking to the Danish PM Mette Frederiksen as she welcomed him to the European Political Community summit in Copenhagen this morning.
<\/span> Photograph: Leonhard F\u00f6ger\/ReutersShare<\/p>\nReform UK accused by minister of talking \u2018utter nonsense\u2019 after Zia Yusuf implies Starmer trying to get Farage killed<\/h2>\n
Good morning. The Labour conference is over, the Conservative one starts on Sunday, but both parties have got significant policy announcements out today.<\/p>\n
\n- \n
For Labour, Keir Starmer is announcing government plans to tighten the conditions that apply to asylum seekers given the right to stay in the UK.<\/strong> Provocatively, he says: \u201cThere will be no golden ticket to settling in the UK, people will have to earn it.\u201d Rajeev Syal<\/strong> has the story.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n- \n
For the Conservatives, Kemi Badenoch has said the Conservatives will repeal the Climate Change Act if they win the next election. <\/strong>Here is our story, by Fiona Harvey <\/strong>and Helena Horton.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nI will post more on these stories as the day goes on.<\/p>\n
There is a clear link between the stories: both of them are Reform UK-flavoured, very strongly so in the Tory case (because Nigel Farage would also get rid of the Climate Change Act), but less so in the Labour case (because Farage does not want to tighten conditions for asylum seekers \u2013 he basically does not want any of them here at all.) But the Starmer announcement shows that, while the message from Labour conference was that Starmer is now willing to vigorously contest some aspects of Faragism, he is not rejecting it wholesale. He has set out a dividing line \u2013 but it is beyond the edge of the territory where migration liberals feel comfortable.<\/p>\n
One consequence of the Labour conference is that ministers now feel a lot more confident about clobbering Farage\u2019s party and this morning we saw that from Mike Tapp<\/strong>, the migration minister.<\/p>\nYesterday Zia Yusuf<\/strong>, Reform\u2019s head of policy, gave interviews arguing Starmer\u2019s attack on Farage in his conference Tuesday put the Reform leader at risk. This was an odd claim from a party that invited the woman jailed for urging people to set fire to asylum hotels to address its party conference as a free speech martyr. Yusuf went even further, though. He implied that Starmer was deliberately trying to get Farage killed. This was an allegation so unhinged that the Guardian ended up covering it in John Crace<\/strong>\u2019s sketch. This is what John wrote about Yusuf\u2019s interview with Wilfred Frost on Sky News.<\/p>\nYusuf was appalled by Starmer\u2019s speech. It had been vicious, vindictive and inflammatory. An attempt to demonise Nige. As such it had been an incitement to violence. Here was the crux of it. Starmer knew that he couldn\u2019t beat Farage at the ballot box so he was trying to have him assassinated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a term known as \u2018stochastic terrorism\u2019,\u201d Zia went on. It meant to whip up so much hatred that one supporter takes it on themselves to kill the target. And that was what Starmer had been doing. It was almost certainly the first time the prime minister has been called a terrorist on live news. Time and again, Frost invited Yusuf to back down. To qualify his language. But Zia wasn\u2019t having any of it. Starmer was a terrorist. The one aim of his speech had been to incite someone to kill Farage. Everything else was a smokescreen. Yusuf alone knew the truth. You wonder what he makes of Nige\u2019s speeches.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Times Radio, Tapp<\/strong> was asked to respond. He said the claim that Starmer wanted to incite violence against Farage was \u201cutter nonsense\u201d. He went on:<\/p>\nOf course, we want all members of parliament to be safe, and that\u2019s absolutely important, and no-one wants any harm to come to Nigel Farage.<\/p>\n
But, look, if we want to say what we want to say, then we\u2019re in our rights to do that, as are they. That\u2019s freedom of speech.<\/p>\n
This is utter snowflakery from Zia Yusuf, who claims that we\u2019re diminishing freedom of speech whilst at the same time being allowed to say what he wants.<\/p>\n
Here is the agenda for the day.<\/p>\n
Morning:<\/em> Keir Starmer is at the European Political Community summit in Copenhagen. Jakub Krupa<\/strong> is covering this on his Europe live blog.<\/p>\n5pm:<\/em> Kemi Badenoch is doing a round of regional radio and TV interviews, ahead of her conference. Most will be embargoed until 5pm.<\/p>\nIf you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (normally between 10am and 3pm BST at the moment), or message me on social media. I can\u2019t read all the messages BTL, but if you put \u201cAndrew\u201d in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.<\/p>\n
If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.<\/p>\n
I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can\u2019t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.<\/p>\n
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Updated at\u00a004.51 EDT<\/p>\n