End of day summary
Here’s a roundup of the key developments from the day:
A taskforce has been launched to ensure the UK has the right skills in the nuclear industry as part of government plans to drastically scale up nuclear capacity. The panel will work to ensure roles are filled in the rapidly expanding defence and civil nuclear sectors, the Ministry of Defence said.
The government’s plan to triple Britain’s nuclear power generation capacity by 2050 badly lacks the strategy to actually achieve it, according to a report published on Monday. In the report, the science, innovation and technology committee backed the decision to look to nuclear power as a way to meet the UK’s electricity needs amid the race to net zero but ministers need to be clear on how they propose to get there in order to encourage investment, the committee said.
Rishi Sunak has pledged to “max out” the UK’s oil and gas reserves as he revealed a new round of intensive North Sea drilling, which experts said could be catastrophic for the climate. Unveiling a plan to authorise more than 100 new North Sea licences on a visit to north-east Scotland, the prime minister also indicated he would approve drilling at the UK’s largest untapped reserves in the Rosebank field, which hold 500m barrels of oil.
Opposition parties say the government is failing to act as oil companies continue to rake in massive profits, despite oil and gas prices coming down from last year’s highs. The Liberal Democrats are calling for the government to keep the windfall tax on oil and gas companies.
Climate activists have sprayed part of the Scottish parliament building red in a protest against the prime minister announcing plans for 100 new oil and gas licences in the North Sea. Protesters from the This Is Rigged pressure group sprayed the entrance red.
A billionaire global investor has led international condemnation of the UK’s new oil rush, saying he would pull his major investment from the country if the prime minister pursued “clickbait” fossil fuel policies.
A UK government minister has said he “cannot put a timeframe” on when the Home Office will open a controversial giant barge meant to house asylum seekers, which has been further delayed for checks. The initial plan had been to move people on to the Bibby Stockholm in Portland, Dorset, from this week, with numbers due to rise over the coming months until the vessel held about 500 men.
Jeremy Hunt oversaw the signing of a low-tax treaty with San Marino championed by a leading Tory donor, who with his companies has given more than £700,000 to the party and £30,000 to the chancellor. Maurizio Bragagni, a prominent businessman and diplomat for San Marino, was present in No 11 when a “double taxation” treaty between the UK and San Marino was signed in May.
We’re closing this liveblog now. Thanks so much for joining us and for all the comments and emails.
You can follow our liveblog on the Ukraine-Russia war here:
Billionaire investor threatens to pull out of UK amid global outcry at new oil rush
A billionaire global investor has led international condemnation of the UK’s new oil rush, saying he would pull his major investment from the country if the prime minister pursued “clickbait” fossil fuel policies.
The Australian mining entrepreneur Andrew Forrest, who also runs the Minderoo Foundation philanthropic organisation, threatened to move his investments out of the UK over Rishi Sunak’s swivel towards new oil and gas drilling.
Forrest told Bloomberg News:
I am a major investor here. If I see this country steering itself over a cliff backing fossil fuel, I am going to start pulling out. I will push my investments over to North America … I must invest where I know I have proper leadership, not leadership which is on a clickbait cycle.
The prime minister’s announcement that more than 100 new oil and gas drilling licences would be granted for the North Sea in the autumn has sparked condemnation from climate scientists, energy experts and some within his own party.
The push for oil and gas is in direct conflict with international experts including those at the International Energy Agency and the International Institute for Sustainable Development who say oil and gas exploration must stop if the world is to stay within safe limits of global heating and meet the goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
The return to fossil fuel drilling puts the UK at odds with a string of European countries including Ireland, Denmark and Spain, who have already announced bans on new oil and gas exploration in order to tackle climate breakdown.
Michael Bloss, a Green MEP from Germany, said the UK had lost all credibility:
The UK has lost its leadership on this issue. The International Energy Agency said in 2021 that there must not be new fossil fuel exploration in order to try and keep [the goal of limiting heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels] alive.
Read more from my colleagues Sandra Laville, Oliver Milman, Nina Lakhani and Ajit Niranjan here:
Rishi Sunak suggested focus should be on the “values that are at stake” in the de-banking row rather than on individuals.
The prime minister said his “primary concern” was the wider impact of the issue and how it affects other people when asked about the fallout following Nigel Farage’s claim that his Coutts account was unfairly shut down, PA news reports.
He refused to be drawn when asked whether current NatWest chair, Sir Howard Davies, should consider his position, telling GB News:
I think it’s good that Nigel Farage and Coutts are in dialogue resolving the issue there, but Nigel Farage also spoke about the broader issue of this impacting other people, and that’s my primary concern, because ultimately this isn’t about any one individual, this is about values.
Values that are important to me and important to our country... Rather than the individuals, to focus on the values that are at stake. Values of freedom of expression and privacy. I believe in those values very strongly.
People need to be able to have lawfully held views that we might not agree with, but they shouldn’t be denied financial services because of them. And they’re entitled for their financial affairs to be kept private.
Updated
A publican who heckled Rishi Sunak criticised the prime minister’s “audacity” for visiting a London beer festival on the day of an alcohol duty increase.
Rudi Keyser, who runs a pub in Wimbledon, told the PA news agency:
The amount of breweries that have shut down in the last year has been phenomenal.
Plus on August 1 today they are raising alcohol duty across the board significantly.
And I run a pub as part of a big national chain and we’ve been bulk buying in the last two weeks to avoid the alcohol duty increase.
And he has the audacity to come and pull a pint for PR.
Keyser said the “draught relief” announced by the prime minister was “smoke and mirrors” and consumers would be hit with a rise in prices.
He said:
It’s robbing Peter to pay Paul. So across the board, it’s all going up.
I can tell you from my side now in the trade, the consumer is going to see an increase.
Updated
Chris Skidmore wrote a report “praising the government for its leadership on climate change”, the prime minister has said.
Rishi Sunak’s comments came after the Tory former energy minister and chair of the UK’s net-zero review condemned his decision to give the green light to more oil and gas drilling in the North Sea, accusing him of being on the “wrong side of history”.
Asked about Skidmore’s comments at the Great British beer festival in west London’s Olympia exhibition centre, Sunak told broadcasters:
He also wrote a report praising the government for its leadership on climate change.
Yesterday was about strengthening our energy security, the independent assessment says that even when you meet net zero in 2050, around a quarter of our energy needs will still come from oil and gas.
Updated
Rishi Sunak said Bibby Stockholm, the barge for asylum seekers, was going through a series of checks before it can house people following a delay.
The Guardian reported on Monday that the first people in Portland, Dorset, were due to be moved onboard the vessel on Wednesday but that seems to have been delayed further with the minister now unwilling to put a timeframe on the move.
Speaking to broadcasters at the Great British beer festival in west London’s Olympia exhibition centre, the prime minister said:
All migrant accommodation has to go through a series of checks and inspections to make sure it complies with regulation, that’s what’s happening in this case.
But let’s take a step back, this is ultimately about fairness. I don’t think it’s fair that British taxpayers are forking out six million quid a day to house illegal migrants in hotels – I want to put an end to that.
Updated
Climate activists have sprayed part of the Scottish parliament building red in a protest against the prime minister announcing plans for 100 new oil and gas licences in the North Sea.
Protesters from the This Is Rigged pressure group sprayed the entrance red.
The group said on Twitter: “(The Scottish Government’s) silence on new oil and gas is deafening. They must vocally oppose all new oil and gas, or they are complicit.”
This Is Rigged said four of their activists were involved.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We were made aware of protesters at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh shortly after 1.40pm on Tuesday August 1. Officers are in attendance.”
BREAKING: THIS IS RIGGED SPRAY SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT RED🚨
— This Is Rigged (@Thisis_Rigged) August 1, 2023
The action follows Rishi Sunak’s announcement in favour of 100 new oil and gas licenses yesterday. @scotgov’s silence on new oil and gas is DEAFENING. They must vocally oppose ALL new oil and gas, or
they are complicit. pic.twitter.com/myUQUpeHdN
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Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he understood people would be “frustrated” by hearing about the level of profits for energy companies, but recalled the introduction of a windfall tax on energy firms during his time as chancellor.
He said: “We’re using that money to help pay for people’s energy bills.”
As we reported earlier, opposition parties have said that the government was failing to act as oil companies continue to rake in massive profits even though oil and gas prices have come down from last year’s highs. BP on Tuesday reported it had made around $2.59bn (£2bn) in underlying replacement cost profit over the three months to the end of June.
Sunak was speaking at the Great British beer festival at Olympia in London to highlight a shake-up of alcohol duty.
He said the centrepiece of the alcohol duty reforms is “backing British pubs”. He said:
Now that we’ve left the EU, we can ensure that the tax we pay for beer on draft in pubs is lower, less than the tax we pay for beer in the supermarket.
But we’re also planning to simplify the system so that the lower the alcohol in the drink, the less tax you pay.
He added “most people would agree with that as a common sense principle” and “there is something for everyone” in the overhaul.
“We’re also growing the economy by cutting taxes for small producers so they can expand and employ more people.”
Sunak was heckled as he toured the festival.
He was pouring a pint of Black Dub stout at the stall of the Wensleydale brewery, which operates from his constituency, when an onlooker called out: “Prime Minister, oh the irony that you’re raising alcohol duty on the day that you’re pulling a pint,” PA reports.
Another man shouted at the teetotal Tory leader, who is famously a fan of carbonated soft drinks: “Prime Minister, it’s not Coca Cola.”
A new system taxing all alcohol based on its strength has seen taxes rise for some types of drink.
Updated
An organisation representing British Muslims has called for a review into banking practices over concerns about the “arbitrary closure” of accounts.
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has written to the prime minister, chancellor and others urging the protection of universal banking rights, irrespective of someone’s religious or cultural background or political views.
PA reports that the group said “many law-abiding Muslim individuals and Muslim-led organisations” have been “gravely impacted by the arbitrary withdrawal of banking services” and argued that it had “become par for the course over the past decade” with no action taken to address it.
Banks are facing the prospect of widespread reforms to account closures after the Nigel Farage de-banking row that last week led to the resignation of the NatWest chief executive, Dame Alison Rose.
The MCB said British Muslims had been disproportionately affected by the issue of bank accounts being closed down for many years.
The organisation also sent its letter to leaders of opposition parties as well as the permanent secretary to the Treasury.
It stated:
Your decisive intervention calling for change at the NatWest group, following the recent denial of banking services to Nigel Farage, is of note. For British Muslims and Muslim-led organisations however, the arbitrary withdrawal of banking services by different UK banks has become par for the course over the past decade.
The practice has continued unhindered, with limited transparency into the relevant banking systems and decision-making processes, little to no recourse for those impacted and no action taken by successive governments to address any of the aforementioned.
It added that “significant cause for concern” remains “that many British Muslims and Muslim-led organisations have somehow been determined to be a potential risk” despite a lack of “validated evidence of any criminal activity”.
Zara Mohammed, the MCB secretary general, said:
We urge for an impartial review that not only addresses the mechanisms behind bank account closures but also examines why British Muslims are disproportionately affected by this issue.
Our affiliates are ready to share their experiences and recommendations to ensure fair treatment for all.
We call for the protection of universal banking rights, irrespective of religious or cultural backgrounds and political views, ensuring equitable access to financial services for all.
Updated
Boris Johnson may finally be out of political hot water, but plans to erect an outdoor swimming pool at his Oxfordshire home have been disrupted by a population of great crested newts.
Since leaving frontline politics, the former prime minister has been keen to press ahead with improvements to the home he purchased in May and has been living in with his wife, Carrie, and their three children.
However, it seems that the great crested newt, against which Johnson railed when he was in No 10 and accused of being “a massive drag on the prosperity of this country”, has had its revenge.
The UK’s largest newt, which takes its name from the striking jagged crest that males display in the spring breeding season, is a protected species under British law.
As such, an unlimited fine and up to six months in prison could await anyone found guilty of disturbing the newt’s resting places and breeding sites, or taking their eggs.
Johnson launched an application with South Oxfordshire district council in June for the construction of an outdoor pool, measuring 11 metres by 4 metres (36ft x 13ft).
But Edward Church, a local government ecologist who reviewed the application, did not recommend granting permission for the pool to be built because there are great crested newts living in the grounds.
Read more here:
Government urged to do more on energy profits
Opposition parties say the government is failing to act as oil companies continue to rake in massive profits, despite oil and gas prices coming down from last year’s highs.
BP on Tuesday reported net profits of $2.6bn (£2bn) for the three months to the end of June.
Despite it being more than two-thirds lower than last year’s results, it sparked further criticism of how the government has handled an industry which has benefited significantly from Vladimir Putin’s full-scale war on Ukraine and the spike in world energy prices that followed, PA Media reports.
Ed Miliband said:
These figures demonstrate the continuing scandal of the Tory failure to act on the windfalls of war being pocketed by the oil and gas producers.
The shadow climate and net zero secretary added that Rishi Sunak “should start by fixing the gaping loopholes in the windfall tax on oil and gas profits, not handing them out billions of taxpayer subsidy.
Labour would bring in a proper windfall tax on oil and gas giants to help tackle the cost-of-living crisis, alongside our plan to make Britain a clean energy superpower so we can lower bills for families and businesses.
The government has put a windfall tax on the profits that oil and gas companies make from the North Sea. However, it has included the ability to reduce the tax if the companies invest, something the opposition has called a “loophole”.
The Lib Dems earlier called for the government to keep the windfall tax on oil and gas companies despite the recent fall in energy prices.
In a statement, Sarah Olney, the party’s Treasury spokesperson, said:
The government shouldn’t be hoodwinked to remove the windfall tax by this profit drop. Let’s be frank, these are still huge.
No family should go cold next winter because the government backed down on taxing the likes of BP.
It is time to put the needs of struggling families and pensioners over the wallets of global oil firms.
A year ago BP made $8.5bn in profits, when it was boosted by a surge in oil and gas prices. BP blamed the decline in profits on planned maintenance work and lower margins in its refining business.
The industry has also faced a gradual reduction in the price of fossil fuels, especially natural gas.
Yet it still revealed plans to hand more cash to investors through higher dividends and a further share buyback.
It comes a week after rival oil major Shell also delivered weaker-than-expected profits for its latest quarter.
Updated
Jeremy Hunt oversaw signing of San Marino low-tax treaty backed by Tory donor
Jeremy Hunt oversaw the signing of a low-tax treaty with San Marino championed by a leading Tory donor, who with his companies has given more than £700,000 to the party and £30,000 to the chancellor.
Maurizio Bragagni, a prominent businessman and diplomat for San Marino, was present in No 11 when a “double taxation” treaty between the UK and San Marino was signed in May.
After the event, Hunt took time out to pose for photographs outside No 11 Downing Street with Bragagni and San Marino’s foreign secretary.
Whitehall sources said San Marino had for at least two years been lobbying the government through the Foreign Office to negotiate and sign such a treaty but that the Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs make the decision on which countries to prioritise.
A Treasury spokesperson said Hunt had no involvement in the negotiation of the treaty, which was done by HMRC officials, and that the original request for a deal was made by the Foreign Office in 2022 – six months before he became chancellor.
They said the process in the Treasury was led by Victoria Atkins, the financial secretary to the Treasury, who signed the document with Bragagni inside No 11.
When the tax treaty was signed, the consulate praised the work of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on San Marino, comprising MPs and peers, for its “continuous lobbying support” in relation to the UK government on the issue.
Hunt is a former member of the APPG on San Marino and visited the small landlocked state surrounded by Italy in 2021, declaring hospitality from San Marino for four members of his family and himself, flights, accommodation and food with a total value of £7,869 over three days.
Bragagni was present on the 2021 visit, during which Hunt was awarded an honour by San Marino known as the order of the Knights of St Agatha.
At the time, San Marino said it had recognised “Grand Officer” Jeremy Hunt for his “merits in promoting San Marino’s best interests in the UK, for his valuable support during the emergency situation created in the Republic during the pandemic”.
Here’s more from my colleagues Rowena Mason and Henry Dyer here:
The average number of migrants crossing the Channel per boat last month was the highest on record, figures show.
About 3,299 people made the journey in July in 63 boats – an average of about 52 per vessel. This is the highest average since records began in 2018, according to PA news agency analysis of government data.
The third highest average – 47 – was reached in October last year when 147 boats carried 6,900 people in a month.
Provisional Home Office figures show 14,732 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel so far this year. But no arrivals have been recorded in nearly a week amid poor weather conditions at sea.
The 2023 total to date is 10% lower than the 16,434 recorded from January to July last year.
The figures come as plans to move asylum seekers on to a giant barge on the Dorset coast have been beset by delays.
Facing questions on Sky News, transport minister Richard Holden said he “can’t put a timeframe” on when migrants will board the Bibby Stockholm in Portland.
The Home Office was reportedly due to send the first group of people to the accommodation on Tuesday, but the date was pushed back to Wednesday to give more time for final inspections amid concerns about fire safety.
Downing Street said final preparations were under way this week.
Meanwhile, media reports cited sources warning Border Force is braced for a surge in Channel crossings in August amid fears that beach patrols could be scaled back while French police officers take time off work.
But the French government has assured the Home Office that patrols funded by the UK government under a multimillion-pound deal earlier this year will not be affected, the Times reports.
Updated
Keir Starmer should hold his nerve on the Lords reform or we’ll never see the back of Boris Johnson’s cronies, writes Frances Ryan in this opinion piece.
Bad news for fans of unelected legislatures: Labour is considering abolishing hereditary peers. According to the Sunday Times, Keir Starmer is drawing up plans that could see the immediate removal of hereditary peers if the party is elected, as part of a package of “interim” reforms to modernise and reduce the size of the House of Lords.
Other moves being explored include introducing a mandatory retirement age or stopping hereditary peer byelections (so the current peers can’t be replaced after they leave).
For the section of the British press who feel terror at the prospect of a Labour government, discussions of Lords “reform” is essentially one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Rather than fire and brimstone, the warning signs are questioning hereditary peers, ending private school tax breaks, decent public services and tackling child poverty (well, maybe not that last one quite yet).
Despite decades of debate, the Labour party’s previous attempts to quash the Lords have never been fully successful. In 1999, Tony Blair’s government managed to end the 700-year-old right for all peers to sit and vote. This got the number of hereditary peers down from 750 but political pressure meant 92 remained, like a particularly stubborn mildew.
And yet it feels like the tide may be turning. Last week, Boris Johnson’s former aides, Charlotte Owen and Ross Kempsell, were sworn in as life peers to widespread criticism, even among their own party. Few moments highlight the need for Lords reform better than the sight of people with barely a decade of work experience making laws for the next 60 years, and for no other reason than it was the whim of a man who nicknamed himself “Big Dog”.
Read the full piece here:
The Liberal Democrats are calling for the government to keep the windfall tax on oil and gas companies despite the recent fall in energy prices after BP reported £2bn in net profit for the second quarter of the year.
BP has reported net profits of $2.6bn (£2bn) for the three months to the end of June as the climate crisis triggers extreme heatwaves, angering climate campaigners.
The company blamed falling oil and gas markets for the drop in profits from $8.5bn in the same period last year when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ignited a rise in global energy markets.
BP will increase its shareholder dividends by 10% to $2.3bn, despite the fall in profits. It will also return a further $1.5bn to investors through a share buyback over the next three months.
The Lib Dems say the “monster profits” will be a “nasty shock to families who couldn’t afford to heat their homes this year”.
In a statement, Sarah Olney, the party’s Treasury spokesperson, said:
The government shouldn’t be hoodwinked to remove the windfall tax by this profit drop. Let’s be frank, these are still huge.
No family should go cold next winter because the government backed down on taxing the likes of BP.
It is time to put the needs of struggling families and pensioners over the wallets of global oil firms.
The prime minister’s press secretary was asked if there would be a review of the windfall tax yesterday but she wouldn’t comment “specifically on tax, particularly ahead of a fiscal event”.
More broadly, she told reporters:
What the windfall tax has done has raised over £6bn since it was introduced, which has helped to fund consumer help with their energy bills of on average about £3,300 per household.
That remains the policy and I don’t have anything more to add on the future of that.
Global oil and gas market prices have tumbled since reaching a peak last year. The global oil price averaged $76.60 a barrel in the last quarter, down sharply from an average of about $112 a barrel in the second quarter of last year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Updated
Nigel Farage has said that the newly installed boss of Coutts has offered to keep his accounts there open, reversing a decision that triggered a scandal and the resignation of the private bank’s previous chief executive.
The former Ukip leader said he welcomed the offer but was still taking legal action against NatWest, which owns Coutts, demanding compensation, a full apology and a face-to-face meeting with the banking group’s bosses.
Peter Flavel resigned as Coutts chief executive last Thursday, less than two days after the NatWest boss, Alison Rose, also stepped down over her role in the row. Flavel has been replaced by Mohammed Syed.
“The new CEO of Coutts … has written to me to say I can keep both my personal and my business accounts, and that’s good, and I thank him for it,” Farage said on GB News on Monday night.
But enormous harm has been done to me over the course of the last few months … It has taken up a huge amount of my time and it has cost me, so far, quite a lot of money in legal fees. So I have today sent a legal litigation letter to Coutts, where I want some full apologies, I want some compensation for my cost.
“But more important than all of that, I want a face-to-face meeting with the bank’s bosses. I want to find out how many other people in Coutts or NatWest have had accounts closed because of their political opinions. And I want to make sure this never happens to anybody else ever again.
Farage obtained documents from Coutts showing that while he had been below the bank’s “commercial criteria” for some time – referring to its requirement to hold £1m in investments or loans, or £3m in savings – the decision to shut his accounts was also based on concerns that his “xenophobic, chauvinistic and racist views” posed a risk to its reputation.
Banks are not allowed to shut accounts or deny services because of customers’ political views or beliefs.
Farage did not clarify whether he had accepted Coutts’s offer to keep his account open. NatWest Group said it could not comment on individual customers.
A UK government minister has said he “cannot put a timeframe” on when the Home Office will open a controversial giant barge meant to house asylum seekers, which has been further delayed for checks.
The initial plan had been to move people on to the Bibby Stockholm in Portland, Dorset, from this week, with numbers due to rise over the coming months until the vessel held about 500 men.
Asked on Sky News when the barge would be available, the transport minister Richard Holden said:
It’s going through its final checks at the moment. It’s right that … whatever accommodation we provide is safe and secure as well. I can’t put a timeframe on it.
Asked if safety concerns were delaying the opening, he said:
It’s going through final checks at the moment. With anything you would want them to be properly checked out.
The Guardian reported on Monday that the first asylum seekers were due to be moved onboard the vessel on Wednesday but that seems to have been delayed further with the minister now unwilling to put a timeframe on the move.
Asked if it would be delayed as long as the Rwanda policy had taken to implement, Holden added:
I can’t comment on the ongoing process of checks and things that have to take place but it is my understanding (it is) in its final checks.
Fears had been expressed that the barge could become a “floating Grenfell” and endanger the lives of vulnerable people who have fled hardship and war as it has not received the relevant safety signoff.
About 40 claimants staying in other Home Office accommodation had received transfer letters saying they would be moved to the 222-cabin vessel in Dorset, Whitehall sources said.
More than 50 national organisations and campaigners, including the Refugee Council, Asylum Matters and Refugee Action, have called the government’s plan “cruel and inhumane”. They said the vessel was “entirely inappropriate” and would house traumatised migrants in “detention-like conditions”.
Read more here:
Dismay as Rishi Sunak vows to ‘max out’ UK fossil fuel reserves
Rishi Sunak has pledged to “max out” the UK’s oil and gas reserves as he revealed a new round of intensive North Sea drilling, which experts said could be catastrophic for the climate.
Unveiling a plan to authorise more than 100 new North Sea licences on a visit to north-east Scotland, the prime minister also indicated he would approve drilling at the UK’s largest untapped reserves in the Rosebank field, which hold 500m barrels of oil.
Speaking to reporters on a visit to a Shell gas terminal north of Aberdeen, Sunak insisted the plan was compatible with net zero commitments given the anticipated part-reliance on fossil fuels for years to come, saying it was more carbon-intensive to ship oil and gas from other countries.
But experts said this ignored the fact that much of the UK’s imported gas comes by pipeline and tends to be produced more cleanly than its British equivalent. Environmental groups said Sunak’s plan would “send a wrecking ball” through climate commitments.
Tory and Labour MPs said Sunak’s “economically illiterate” announcement was “driving a coach and horses” through previous promises, and warned the prime minister he was “on the wrong side of history” and that modern voters wanted leaders who “protect, and not threaten, our environment”.
While the new round of licences has been in progress for many weeks, Sunak’s visit highlights the shift towards greater scepticism over green policies since the Conservatives narrowly won the Uxbridge byelection, thanks in part to concern about London’s soon-to-be-expanded ultra-low emission zone.
The new round of licences will permit drilling closer to existing projects than previously allowed, something Sunak’s press secretary said was intended to maximise the amount that could be extracted.
While Sunak has insisted he remains committed to the UK’s target to reach net zero by 2050 and other green targets, his new approach has prompted concern among some Tory MPs, who worry the party could suffer among young voters and those tempted by the Liberal Democrats.
Read the full story from my colleagues Severin Carrell, Peter Walker and Helena Horton here:
Updated
The government’s plan to triple Britain’s nuclear power generation capacity by 2050 badly lacks the strategy to actually achieve it, according to a report published on Monday.
In the report, the science, innovation and technology committee backed the decision to look to nuclear power as a way to meet the UK’s electricity needs amid the race to net zero but ministers need to be clear on how they propose to get there in order to encourage investment, the committee said.
It warned that the government’s own most recent energy security plan, published in March, offers little clue about how measures will be implemented.
The committee chair, Greg Clark, noted that the “stretching” ambitions to achieve 24GW of nuclear power by 2050 would be almost double the highest level of nuclear generation the UK has ever attained.
He said:
The only way to achieve this is to translate these very high-level aspirations into a comprehensive, concrete and detailed nuclear strategic plan which is developed jointly with the nuclear industry, which enjoys long-term cross-party political commitment and which therefore offers dependability for private and public investment decisions.
Updated
Government announces new taskforce to ramp up nuclear skills
A taskforce has been launched to ensure the UK has the right skills in the nuclear industry as part of government plans to drastically scale up nuclear capacity.
The panel will work to ensure roles are filled in the rapidly expanding defence and civil nuclear sectors, the Ministry of Defence said.
It will develop a national skills strategy for jobs across the industry, from technical scientific and engineering roles to logistics, project management, commercial and finance, PA Media reports.
The taskforce will be chaired by Sir Simon Bollom, the former chief executive of Defence Equipment and Support, and include government officials, academics and industry partners.
The defence procurement minister, James Cartlidge, said:
By developing nuclear skills, we are not just investing in the UK economy but our national security.
The creation of this new taskforce will challenge the whole of the UK’s nuclear sector to be ambitious in addressing the nuclear skills gap, and we are delighted to appoint Sir Simon Bollom to drive this work forward.
Bollom said:
The nuclear sector is vital to our nation, and I am proud to have been given the opportunity to lead such an important taskforce to ensure that we have the people and skills we need to deliver our programmes.
The nuclear minister, Andrew Bowie, hailed a nuclear “revival” with the launch of Great British Nuclear, an arm’s-length body involved in the government-backed competition to develop smaller-scale nuclear technology projects.
I will be looking after the politics blog today. If you have any tips or suggestions, please get in touch: nicola.slawson@theguardian.com
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