Here's a summary of the latest developments...
Boris Johnson has told senior officials to plan a “meaningful ministerial meeting” with devolved governments about cost of living support following calls from Nicola Sturgeon. In a letter to the outgoing prime minister on Monday, the Scottish first minister said an emergency meeting scheduled in September could not wait and must happen immediately.
Keir Starmer claimed Labour has been “leading” on the cost of living crisis following criticism of his response to the national issue. The Labour leader said he will announce further plans to tackle the crisis on Monday. He criticised the Conservative leadership contest and “lame duck” prime minister as he called for a “strategic, credible plan” in the face of the cost of living crisis. He also criticised the government for failing to prepare the UK for drought.
The government claimed that it is “better prepared than ever” after drought was declared in several parts of England. Water minister Steve Double has claimed that action is already being taken by the government and the Environment Agency (EA) after eight areas were moved to “drought” status – including Devon and Cornwall, Solent and South Downs, Kent and South London, Herts and North London, East Anglia, Thames, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, and East Midlands.
Liz Truss’s pledge to tackle “woke” civil service culture were condemned as “insulting and abhorrent” by a union representing civil servants. Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA, said: “She provides no evidence for her accusation that many civil servants will find both insulting and abhorrent.”
Rishi Sunak insisted he has a “fantastic chance” in the Tory leadership contest – despite the apparent dominance of his rival. Many Conservative party members, he said, “have not made up their mind”.
Keir Starmer teased Labour’s package to tackle the cost of living crisis, saying his party would end energy prepayment premiums which he claims would offer 4m households relief on bills. The announcement, which came in what is reportedly his first tweet this month, follows criticism of Labour’s inaction on the cost of living crisis.
Tory leadership candidate Liz Truss has pledged to clamp down on “woke” civil service culture that “strays into antisemitism”. The foreign secretary will also boost links between the UK and Israel, with the aim of securing a free trade deal, according to her campaign.
Boris Johnson insisted the government is doing everything it can amid cost of living crisis but admitted: “I’m not going to pretend that things are easy for people”. He claimed there is “more money coming” to help people in October and the new year.
Boris Johnson admitted that the government’s support package to tackle the cost of living crisis is not enough but claimed that whoever succeeds him as prime minister will ensure there is “extra cash to help people”. Speaking in north Wales, he said the government had already laid out several messages to help people but that not everybody will have received it yet.
That’s it from me for today. Thanks for reading.
As Kent battles scorched fields and wildfires, locals are uniting to counter South Thanet MP Craig Mackinlay’s dismissal of climate crisis, writes Caroline Davies:
Under a cloudless sky in searing sun, Phillip Watts bends down to pick up a broken shell from the parched soil at his east Kent vineyard.
“My vineyard is eight metres above sea level, and I’ve got lots of pebbles in my soil because it used to be a beach,” he said, pointing at the shingle strewn around his award-winning vines. “And it’s going to be a beach again!”
“It’s scary. No doubt,” he said of the climate crisis.
Watts’ Barnsole Vineyard, near Staple, between Sandwich and Canterbury, lies in the constituency of South Thanet, which, according to recent data, had just 4mm of rain in July – making it one of the driest in the UK.
It is also the constituency of Craig Mackinlay, MP, a former Ukipper turned Conservative, who has regularly voted against measures to tackle climate change. As leader of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group (NZSC), a group of Tory backbenchers challenging the government’s net zero policies as “uncosted fairytales”, Mackinlay’s strong views are regularly expounded in a blog and in interviews.
They include describing net zero as an “elite delusion”. It would, he told the Daily Telegraph, “take this government down”. The rush to net zero”, he has tweeted, created the “madness in the energy market”. He is against a windfall tax on energy companies, and has dismissed the Cop26 summit as a “Glasgow jamboree”.
