London Playbook: Green Day — Taking out the trash
— Starmer to Swindon
BY DAN
BLOOM
MARCH 30,
2023 8:07 AM CET
London
Playbook
By DAN
BLOOM
DRIVING THE
DAY
HAPPY GREEN
DAY: In the last few minutes, hundreds of pages of energy security and net zero
policy have been popping onto gov.uk in a long-awaited green blitz. Hailed by
Rishi Sunak as a move to “affordable, clean” homegrown energy and derided as
“feeble re-announcements” by Labour, you can expect more spin than a turbine in
a stiff breeze. We’ll take you through it — and since officials implored my
colleague Esther Webber not to call it Green Day, we’ll use a bunch of pop-punk
song titles to boot.
Waiting:
Energy Security Secretary Grant Shapps is on the broadcast round, and he and
Sunak will shortly visit a nuclear fusion development facility near Oxford
where the PM will record a pool clip. There are about 18 documents, with many
including the energy security plan “Powering Up Britain” out at 7 a.m. The rest
are due out after a written ministerial statement in parliament, probably
around 10 a.m. Figures will be released at 9.30 a.m. on the U.K.’s emissions,
solar panels and heat pump installations.
Brain Stew:
The papers include a response to ex-Minister Chris Skidmore’s review of net
zero … and to Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance’s green technologies
review (Chancellor Jeremy Hunt says he has accepted all of its recommendations)
… a Green Finance Strategy … and frameworks for meeting the U.K.’s £11.6
billion COP26 commitment.
Boulevard
of Broken Dreams: In a pre-briefing for journalists, Shapps rejected calls to
water down a ban on new petrol and diesel cars by 2030. The Mail has a spread on
his words.
**A message
from Google: How much screen time is too much? What’s OK to share online? What
should you do if you see something online that worries you? In partnership with
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important conversations about online safety by asking some simple questions.
Learn more.**
Know Your
Enemy: There’s no new Treasury cash announced today — and a press release
highlighted many schemes that were previously announced (more on this below).
The Prospect union says the “Powering Up plan is a paring down of ambition.”
Friends of the Earth says the responses are “dangerously lackluster,” and it
may renew legal action after the High Court previously found the net zero plan
too vague.
American
Idiot: Jeremy Hunt has burst in with a Times op-ed warning he won’t go
“toe-to-toe” with Joe Biden’s $369 billion Inflation Reduction Act to mount
“some distortive global subsidy race.” Ouch.
Wake Me Up
When September Ends: Ex-COP26 President Alok Sharma tells my colleague Karl
Mathieson we need a “big bazooka moment” and “cannot afford to wait” for
Britain’s response to the U.S. IRA, which is only set for the fall.
Jesus of
Suburbia: Much of today’s coverage will look at households. The Telegraph splashes
on plans — which will be set out in the next year — to “rebalance” electricity
bills, effectively penalizing those who stick with gas. The Yorkshire Post says
residents near new onshore wind turbines (which remain effectively banned, for
now) could be given money off their bills.
Holiday:
The FT team hears Britain and the EU are boosting coordination over a carbon
border tax on goods arriving from outside Europe.
Minority:
The Times reports the Rosebank oil and gas field off Shetland will clear a key hurdle
but not get final approval … and the Guardian hones in on Shapps’ desire to
store carbon in “large caverns underneath the North Sea.” Its splash says he
wants to “defy scientific doubts and place a massive bet,” which sounds like
damning with faint praise.
PLEASE,
STOP THE SONG TITLES: Now that’s over … we looked at the key policy
announcements overnight, and how new or certain they appeared to be. Here’s a
snappy round-up …
Carbon
capture: Two “cluster” locations are being announced with eight projects in
total between them — funded by some of an already-announced £20 billion spread
over 20 years from 2024.
Net zero
review: The government is “fully or partly acting on” 23 of Skidmore’s 25 “by
2025” recommendations. What’s less clear is how many of the 129 total
recommendations he made are being accepted. Playbook hears that a few days ago
it stood at about half.
Boiler
Upgrade Scheme: The program which gives £5,000 off heat pumps is being extended
by three years to 2028 to give applicants more time, though without any more
overall funding.
Shapps-tastic
rebranding: The previously announced ECO+ scheme, which will give £1 billion in
insulation for people in council tax bands A-D by 2026, is now the “Great
British Insulation Scheme.” Officials insist it’ll still launch as planned in
April.
Net zero
hydrogen fund: The first tranche of successful bidders will be unveiled for a
£240 million pot which opened for applications last April.
Great
British Nuclear: Simon Bowen is named interim chair and Gwen Parry-Jones
interim CEO. The first successful bidders for small modular reactor programs
will be announced in the fall.
Remember
this? A £160 million floating offshore wind fund is being “launched” with a
12-week competition for manufacturers from today, and payments made between now
and 2025. It appears to be the same fund Boris Johnson announced in 2021.
And the
rest: A £30 million Heat Pump Investment Accelerator scheme, announced in the
Energy Security Strategy last April, is launching … There’s another
consultation on the zero emission vehicle mandate … U.K. Export Finance will
get “an extra £10 billion capacity … £380 million for electric vehicle charging
points, the funding for which was teed up in an earlier spending review … And
the government says its plans will lead to £100 billion of private investment
by 2030.
WHEN I COME
AROUND: The Commons transport committee has a report out today demanding “more
urgency” in the transition to zero-emission buses, with just 4 percent of
Britain’s fleet running on batteries or hydrogen last April.
Good
Riddance: A Focaldata poll of 1,472 people for lobbyists Cavendish Advocacy
found only 46 percent support new nuclear in their area — compared to 75 for
onshore wind and 87 for solar.
Walking
Contradiction: Sunday Telegraph Editor Allister Heath, who loves his electric
car, has a column headlined: “Net Zero is a Trojan horse for the total
destruction of Western society.”
Whatsername:
A new gig with excellent nominative determinism — an official called Al Gore
has been appointed head of news at the Department for Energy and Net Zero. OK,
I’ll actually stop the song titles now.
TAKE OUT
THE TRASH DAY
EASTER
RECESS STARTS TODAY … and many documents, statements and statistics are due for
publication — some coincidental, others because fair-minded officials want to
get them into the public eye. The West Wing called it “Take Out The Trash Day.”
We wouldn’t dream of making comparisons to downtown Paris.
SCOOP —
UNBOXED UNBOXED: A 155-page “final evaluation report” into the much-maligned
UNBOXED project — once nicknamed the “festival of Brexit” — has been quietly
uploaded to its website, your author spotted at an ungodly hour.
Headlines:
Despite its notorious “stretch target” of 66 million people, the report
reconfirms that the festival drew 2.7 million to live in-person events — rising
to 20.5 million once you count other groups, like 8.8 million who saw it on TV
or 7 million who saw it digitally. It says the festival ended up costing £103.1
million — but insists it delivered £175.5 million of benefits. There will be
loads more details in the small print and annexes. Fill your boots here.
COUNT ‘EM —
17 written ministerial statements are out today, including: A “machinery of
government” change … How public service pensions are calculated … Oil and gas
decommissioning reliefs … Cabinet Office digital guidance … Health, maternity
and NHS England finances … progress on the Office of Financial Sanctions …
extreme right-wing terrorism … and freeports. Hit refresh through the day here.
There are
also … Statistics all at 9.30 a.m. on rape case processing times, the family
courts and legal aid … COVID PPE sold or destroyed … same-day GP appointments …
electricity and gas prices … Armed Forces suicides … murder, manslaughter,
domestic abuse and sexual offences for 2022 … revised 2022 A-level results …
and the price of milk …
And breathe
… We’re also due spending data from government procurement cards (nobody tell
Labour) and two Ministry of Justice research reports on terrorists’
rehabilitation.
SHY AND
RETIRING: Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride will release the six-yearly
review of the state pension age with an oral statement to the Commons, any time
from 11.30 a.m. But he will kick an actual decision beyond the next election,
as mentioned Wednesday. The Express splash says it will be decided in 2026.
Age-old
problem: The last review said that after rising to 67 in 2026-28, the state
pension age should hit 68 in 2037-39 — seven years earlier than planned. But
it’ll remain 2044-46 in law for now … and the Times reports today’s review will
ease back from 2037-39.
The
official reason: Officials are waiting for more data including from the 2021
census on life expectancy, which was already slowing before COVID then fell
during the pandemic. “Quirks” in the figures and a “highly erratic” labor
market mean they’ll have to go back and review it again, says an official.
Another
reason? Tory strategists are also, of course, aware of their core vote in the
May 4 local elections, looking at enraged protests in France, and knowing it
won’t be their problem if Labour wins in 2024.
NOT IN THE
TRASH: Playbook has been advised not to expect SpAds’ pay or the register of
ministerial interests. Nor will we be told whether the Home Office has hit
Boris Johnson’s 2019 election pledge to recruit 20,000 more police (after a
similar number were cut since 2010). The deadline is Friday but the figures
take longer. “We remain confident we will have delivered,” says the department.
MISSING IN
ACTION: There’s no sign of the government’s semiconductor strategy, which
POLITICO’s Morning Tech revealed was delayed until after recess … or the NHS
workforce plan, for which funding talks are ongoing.
The biggest
mysteries: The timing of the report into Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab’s
alleged bullying. Playbook is advised not to expect it today. Boris Johnson’s
long-lost resignation honors — which could number over 50 people — are not
broadly expected today either.
LABOUR LAND
STARMER
STUMP: Leader Keir Starmer, deputy Angela Rayner and Shadow Chancellor Rachel
Reeves are in Swindon to launch Labour’s local elections campaign ahead of May
4, with speeches from 11 a.m. Rayner and Starmer are going from London together
while Reeves does the morning round.
Diary
rundown: Starmer will speak to members and media at a community hub … record a
pool clip at 12.15 p.m. … go canvassing and speak to the Sky, BBC and ITV
political editors … hold a live radio Q&A with students at 2.30 p.m. … be
interviewed by BBC Points West and ITV regional news in Bristol … then hold a
“mini-rally” of about 300 people in Westminster target seat Filton and Bradley
Stoke at 7 p.m.
Nothing is
free: Labour is trialing a “Queue & Do” system at the evening rally where
attendees will have to sign up to a task — like knocking a certain number of
doors — in exchange for their ticket. Starmer is then heading to the Medway
towns, another historic red-blue swing area, at the weekend.
WORST
PLEDGE EVER: Labour’s big announcement today is that it would “freeze council
tax this year if in government” — which, er, doesn’t include actually freezing
it in the first year of a Labour government. The party line is it doesn’t want
to pre-empt future public finances but the FT’s Stephen Bush tweets acidly: “I
mean, knock me sideways, if ‘time travel’ is a revenue raiser, why stop there?”
Tory Chair Greg Hands says “they’re taking the British people for fools.” It’d
operate nationwide, funded by an oil and gas giants windfall tax.
SOFT
LAUNCH: If you were waiting for the Tory local elections launch, think again.
Party insiders tell Playbook it’s, erm, already happened — last Friday in the
Black Country. Only regional media was invited. A gleeful Labour source tells
the Express’ Christian Calgie, who hears the same, that the “phantom election
launch is the perfect metaphor for the Tory government.”
TOUGH GIG:
Just as Tory ministers have been told to devote “three full days” to
campaigning (h/t HuffPost), so Labour frontbenchers have been dispatched to
doorsteps. Playbook is told each shadow Cabinet minister is “twinned” with a
target area and told to make three visits by May 4. Some are conveniently close
— but Edinburgh’s Ian Murray is twinned with Darlington, while Islington’s flag
fan Emily Thornberry has been sent to Redcar.
Expectation
management: A Tory strategist tells Playbook they want to consolidate 2019
general election gains such as in the Tees Valley, but admits: “The reality is,
while the PM is doing well there’s a lot of repair work to be done to the
brand.” They point to Rallings and Thrasher saying Tory losses could top 1,000
seats, despite the party shedding 1,300 when this batch was last up for grabs
in 2019.
Election
prep: Labour candidates from across the U.K. went to an away day on the weekend
(the Spectator pipped your author to the post on that) and shadow Cabinet on
Tuesday was given a “nuts and bolts” presentation on target areas in the locals
— though it only mentioned one by name, Swindon.
LABOUR’S
TARGETS: Speaking to several Labour strategists, here’s a selection of key
areas they are hoping to make progress in if the party is to have hope of an
overall majority in 2024:
Stoke:
Where Starmer gave his crime speech last week. All seats are up. Flits between
no overall control and Labour, and all three of its Westminster seats, once
red, are now Tory.
Swindon:
Tories have been in control since 2004, but MP Robert Buckland’s 2,464 majority
in South Swindon looks vulnerable to Labour comeback kid Heidi Alexander in
2024. Only a third of seats are up, but 12 of them are blue.
Erewash:
One of 103 districts electing their entire councils, it has been under Tory
control for two decades and both its parliamentary seats have been held by the
Tories since 2010.
North East
Derbyshire: All seats are up, four years after Tories took control for the
first time in its history. Local Tory MP Lee Rowley won the Westminster seat
from Labour in 2017 with a 2,860 majority — which he then beefed up to 12,876
two years later.
Plymouth:
Classic Labour-Tory battleground is currently in no overall control. It is only
electing a third of its councillors, but its Tory leader stood down ahead of a
no-confidence vote after scores of trees were “massacred” in the dead of night.
BOOKMARK
THIS: Labour’s Wes Streeting told Peston last night he will meet junior
doctors’ 35 percent pay demand … “as quickly as the economic circumstances
allow,” without clarifying if that meant by 2029. Good luck, as they say, with
that.
TODAY IN
WESTMINSTER
NUCLEAR
OPTION: After a 70-year battle, nuclear test program veterans, civilian staff
and their descendants will be urged today to come forward to claim their
medals, with around 22,000 eligible. No. 10 insiders are keen to sing the
praises of “quietly effective” Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer — which might go
some way to smoothing over that Ben Wallace LBC interview.
FRAUD
SQUAD: An eye-watering £21 billion was lost to fraud in the two years since the
pandemic — up from £5.5 billion in the two years before it, says an NAO report.
FROM SMALL
BOAT TO BIG BOAT: Tory MPs continue to ruminate on the
(not-exactly-fleshed-out) plan to house asylum seekers on ferries or barges.
Ex-Minister Jackie Doyle-Price tells the Telegraph it’s a “gimmick.” The Mail
looks at the fury of councils at plans to use RAF bases or prisons. A serving
minister, Andrew Bowie, joined the ranks of the “disappointed” with a
late-night statement.
AY, THERE’S
THE RAAB: Justice Secretary Dominic Raab told a reporters’ briefing that
ministers will “do everything we can” to remain in the European Convention on
Human Rights. It’s one of PA veteran Gavin Cordon’s last stories before his
retirement.
TRANS
REPORT: The Times and Mail both splash on a report by the Policy Exchange think
tank on how schools treat children who are questioning their gender identity.
Labour MP Rosie Duffield, who wrote its foreword, has op-eds in the Times and
Express saying schools are “breaking every safeguarding rule in the book.”
What it
says: Policy Exchange obtained FOI responses from 154 randomly selected
secondary schools in England, and said 87 would not “reliably inform” a parent
as soon as their child expresses a wish to change their gender identity. Fifty-four
schools let pupils self-identify as trans or non-binary without necessarily
having parental consent, 49 did not maintain single-sex toilets and 26 did not
have single-sex changing rooms. ASCL General-Secretary Geoff Barton argues the
report itself is part of the “public minefield of strongly held and opposing
views.”
CPTPP NEWS:
Britain’s expected to be officially welcomed into an Indo-Pacific trade bloc
today, according to my colleague Graham Lanktree’s excellent scoop.
DOING IT
FOR THE KIDS: The i splashes on its scoop that Rishi Sunak’s wife holds shares
in a childcare company that may benefit from the budget. Deputy Labour leader
Angela Rayner tells the paper “he must urgently correct the record.”
OFSTED’S
GOING NOWHERE: Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has told Peston that Ofsted
will not be changed despite a head’s suicide, but it must “work better for
headteachers.” She is visiting schools and colleges today in Stafford and
Stourbridge.
Fuel for
strikers: While NEU members give their verdict on a pay offer on Monday … a new
Institute for Fiscal Studies report says recommended salary levels for college
teachers in England fell 18 percent in real terms between 2010/11 and 2022/23.
CRACKDOWN:
Suella Braverman will chair a new task force with the Jewish community to
review how police handle antisemitic chants and banners. It’s aimed at protests
but could extend to football chants. Meanwhile in a JC interview, Braverman
accuses the Board of Deputies of choosing “not to engage” with the Home Office
before criticizing her migration plans.
HE’S BACK:
Kwasi Kwarteng has written a book review in the Spectator where he criticizes
those who merely “mouth the slogans of neo-liberalism.” The short-lived
chancellor does admit that “the road map to reaching utopia is quite
complicated.” You don’t say.
TALKING
SH*T: Enterprising Lib Dem researchers have secured a hit ahead of sewage
release statistics being, er, released on Friday. Their story saying water
firms’ breaches doubled in a year makes the Times.
NOT A BANG
BUT A WHIMPER: The Brexit revolt against Rishi Sunak shrank further on
Wednesday night, when peers defeated a DUP bid to kill off part of his Windsor
Framework by 227 votes to 14. The dozen-plus-two did, however, include Boris
Johnson ally Daniel Moylan.
RELIGION
NEWS: The Guardian’s Kiran Stacey has previewed a sweeping report due within
weeks by Colin Bloom (no relation), ex-head of the Conservative Christian
Fellowship, on the relationship between faith and state.
REMEMBER
THESE? The Nando’s sauce-style COVID alerts system has been suspended because
the virus no longer poses a mass threat, writes the i’s Jane Merrick. In case
you wondered, we were at Level 2, or “mild” in Nando’s-speak.
Not now,
dog-transmitted bird flu! Jane also reports scientists are probing whether
“bird flu was transmitted among a pack of bush dogs,” 10 of which died at an
unnamed zoo.
BLAIRITE-OFF:
Labour veteran Peter Mandelson is “in conversation” with Streeting at the
Wellcome Collection at 6 p.m. — full agenda from Global Counsel here.
HOUSE OF
COMMONS: Sits from 9.30 a.m. with Defra and attorney general questions followed
by Commons leader Penny Mordaunt’s business statement … and then the main
business is a debate on the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement’s 25th anniversary.
The Tories’ Paul Maynard has the adjournment debate on care transition for
adults with cerebral palsy … Then recess lasts until April 17.
WESTMINSTER
HALL: Debates from 1.30 p.m. on topics including Christianity in society (led
by Tory MP Nick Fletcher) … and matters to be raised before the forthcoming
adjournment (managed by the Tories’ Bob Blackman).
On
committee corridor: The public accounts committee hears from the Ministry of
Justice’s Permanent Secretary Antonia Romeo about the Court Reform Program
(9.30 a.m.).
HOUSE OF
LORDS: Sits from 11 a.m. with oral questions on building 300,000 houses a year,
trends in the provision of bus services in England since 2019 and the
consequences of supplying Ukraine with shells capped with depleted uranium …
and then the main business is debates on the future of adult social care,
introducing new economic policies to address the challenges of climate change
in developing countries and financial pressures on higher education.
BEYOND THE
M25
THE
SCOTTISH FRAY: Opposition leaders will hope for an early scalp as Humza Yousaf
faces his debut First Minister’s Questions in Holyrood at noon. Scottish Tory
leader Douglas Ross has called him a “pale imitation” of Nicola Sturgeon, while
Labour’s Anas Sarwar will likely go on what he’s called “years of failure” in
the Scottish government. Will either of them quote Kate Forbes’ withering
verdict directly?
Reshuffle:
Yousaf finalized his 28-minister team on Wednesday night, with no job for Ash
Regan and only a smattering of Kate Forbes supporters. But he did create a new
“minister for independence” — Jamie Hepburn. The Telegraph has more on his
“failed loyalists” while the Times says he missed 17 NHS meetings during the
leadership race.
Good cop,
bad cop: A Labour strategist tells your author the party is planning to be more
aggressive in challenging Yousaf than Sturgeon, who was so revered (by some)
that Labour had to pull its punches. Spectator Political Editor Katy Balls says
Sunak’s approach is the opposite — “to kill with kindness, starving a party
that feeds on grievance.”
GET WELL
SOON: Pope Francis, 86, has been admitted to hospital in Rome due to a
respiratory infection. The BBC has more.
FIT FOR A
KING: King Charles and the queen consort enjoyed a four-course state banquet
including carp and chicken with prune at the end of their first day in Germany.
The Times says Chancellor Olaf Scholz was absent.
TRUMP IS
TRUMPED: Donald Trump is appealing an order which rejected his efforts at
blocking grand jury testimony from several former White House advisers.
Bloomberg explains the background.
RUH-ROH:
Thousands of shellfish have washed up dead near the site of a previous
controversial die-off. The Environment Agency tells PA it’s “normal for this
time of year” — but the Yorkshire Post, which has invoked the fury of some Tory
MPs, splashes on the “carpet of death” and a call to reopen an investigation.
UKRAINE
LATEST: Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is in conversation at Chatham
House at 1 p.m.
LIVING
CITIES SPACE: To celebrate POLITICO’s free “Living Cities” newsletter turning
one this week, my colleagues are hosting a Twitter Space at 3 p.m.
**A message
from Google: It’s a conversation parents and children both find tricky, but
just talking about internet safety is a great way to get into good habits. In a
2022 report, online safety experts Internet Matters found that four out of five
parents who say their family uses digital devices in a balanced way also feel
confident their child knows how to stay safe online. Google and digital
parenting specialists Parent Zone have put together a set of simple questions
to help families chat about topics including screen time, sharing, and privacy.
Backed by advice created with Internet Matters on everything from new social
media apps to internet slang, we’re helping parents and children start
important conversations about online safety. Learn more about Google’s tools to
help families be safer online here.**
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