Afternoon summary
Rishi Sunak has been called “desperate and pathetic” by a member of the shadow cabinet after posting a message on Twitter saying Labour is on the side of “criminal gangs” because of its stance on the Illegal Immigration Act. (See 3.45pm.) More criticism came from Emily Thornberry, the shadow attorney general, who said Sunak was demeaning his office.
Usually, I try and maintain some sense of respect for the office of the Prime Minister, but it’s just impossible when the man doing the job is willing to demean it like this. What a desperate attempt to deflect from his own dismal failures. Utterly pathetic.
Usually, I try and maintain some sense of respect for the office of the Prime Minister, but it’s just impossible when the man doing the job is willing to demean it like this. What a desperate attempt to deflect from his own dismal failures. Utterly pathetic. pic.twitter.com/5gFwayX40U
— Emily Thornberry (@EmilyThornberry) July 25, 2023
Updated
Rishi Sunak’s latest attack on Labour (see 3.45pm) is unlikely to work, according to two public opinion experts.
Keiran Pedley from the polling firm Ipsos says that, although voters care about immigration, they don’t trust the Tories to deal with the issue.
Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives are strategically right to go big on immigration - it matters a lot to their supporters. The problem they face with immigration as a dividing line with Labour is the public don't think Sunak & Conservatives are delivering pic.twitter.com/5IEgIR99SX
— Keiran Pedley (@keiranpedley) July 25, 2023
This tweet understates the extent of the problem for Sunak. It is not just that voters think the government is doing a bad job on small boats; they think Labour would do better.
And Luke Tryl from More in Common, the group campaigning for inclusivity – which commissions a lot of public opinion research – says that people will see that the Sunak tweet is unfair, and that it will come across as inauthentic too.
Don't think this this will work
— Luke Tryl (@LukeTryl) July 25, 2023
1. Voters are fair minded, they thought Labour Rishi adverts unfair they'll think this is too
2. In the mud attacks aren't congruent with Sunak's persona (authenticity matters) instead risks alienating the voters who didn't like Boris but like him. https://t.co/zkBvVtDLzL
Updated
Journalists and commentators at the liberal end of the market are outraged by Rishi Sunak’s tweet associating Labour with “criminal gangs”. (See 3.45pm.) Here are some of their comments.
From Steve Richards, the writer and broadcaster
This is desperate, pathetic and inauthentic: https://t.co/XVG2Jxolte
— steve richards (@steverichards14) July 25, 2023
From Sonia Sodha, the Observer’s chief leader writer
That tweet from the PM re Labour/asylum. Rock bottom, and the absolute opposite of prime ministerial.
— Sonia Sodha (@soniasodha) July 25, 2023
And yes, Labour’s attack ad earlier this year claiming Rishi Sunak doesn’t think child sex abusers should go to prison was also grim. At least it wasn’t from Starmer’s account.
— Sonia Sodha (@soniasodha) July 25, 2023
From Prospect’s Sam Freedman
Sunak's thread inciting more hatred towards asylum seekers comes the day after his government were found to be unlawfully depriving pregnant women and children of £3 a day for food. It's just all so grim.
— Sam Freedman (@Samfr) July 25, 2023
From LBC’s Sangita Myska
This tweet from Rishi Sunak directly links the Labour Party with criminal gangs.
— Sangita Myska (@SangitaMyska) July 25, 2023
Quite something from the Prime Minister who promised to restore “professionalism” and “integrity” at every level of political life. https://t.co/PxGsnyEZDH
From Robin Lustig, the former BBC presenter
I won’t retweet (re-X?) it, but the immigration tweet from the account of @RishiSunak is beneath contempt. He’s proving beyond any remaining doubt that he’s definitely not as nice as he looks.
— Robin Lustig (@robinlustig) July 25, 2023
From Oliver Kamm, the writer and former Times leader writer
I recall Paddy Ashdown once describing John Major as a decent man at the head of a truly appalling party. You could say the same thing about Rishi Sunak, apart from the first bit. https://t.co/wPC5HbavGS
— Oliver Kamm (@OliverKamm) July 25, 2023
Updated
The Labour MP Chris Bryant has accused Rishi Sunak of debasing the office of prime minister with his tweet associating Labour with criminal gangs. (See 3.45pm.)
I’m not going to RT Sunak but in his desperation he has plumbed a new depth. My political opponents aren’t enemies, or enemies of the people or a ‘criminal gang’. He debases his office and forgets act as PM of the UNITED Kingdom not seek to sow division
— Chris Bryant (@RhonddaBryant) July 25, 2023
Sunak's tweet associating Labour with 'criminal gangs' labelled 'desperate and pathetic' by shadow cabinet minister
A shadow cabinet minister has accused Rishi Sunak of descending into the “gutter” after the PM posted a message on Twitter associating the Labour party with “criminal gangs” and corrupt lawyers.
Sunak posted the message via his party political account, claiming that all three groups were obstructing government plans to stop migrants crossing the Channel in small boats. (See 1.16pm.) He was promoting a Daily Mail report about lawyers helping people claim asylum on the basis of evidence they knew to be false.
This is what we’re up against.
The Labour party, a subset of lawyers, criminal gangs - they’re all on the same side, propping up a system of exploitation that profits from getting people to the UK illegally.
I have a plan to stop it.
This is what we’re up against.
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) July 25, 2023
The Labour Party, a subset of lawyers, criminal gangs - they're all on the same side, propping up a system of exploitation that profits from getting people to the UK illegally.
I have a plan to stop it.
Here’s how 🧵https://t.co/ez3rYIU0uQ
In response, Jim McMahon posted a message on Twitter saying Sunak was being “desperate and pathetic”.
When all else is lost, the only place you have is the gutter. Poor yes. Desperate and pathetic from Sunak too.
When all else is lost, the only place you have is the gutter.
— Jim McMahon MP (@JimfromOldham) July 25, 2023
Poor yes. Desperate and pathetic from Sunak too. https://t.co/ltKYdC2Kit
McMahon was commenting on a tweet from Iain Dale, the broadcaster who worked as a Tory adviser many years ago. Dale described the Sunak tweet as “pretty desperate stuff”.
While the Sunak smear was unusual, because prime ministerial tweets are normally more restrained, it was not unprecedented. At PMQs in April Sunak claimed Labour was going to “side with the people smugglers” when it voted against the illegal migration bill.
Sunak issued his tweet linking Labour with “criminal gangs” following reports saying he has been persuaded that he needs to campaign more aggressively if he wants to win the next election. In a report in the Sunday Times at the weekend Tim Shipman and Harry Yorke said:
Sunak’s is not a leaky Downing Street where officials routinely talk out of turn, but conversations with several of those close to the prime minister suggest that it has taken several weeks of intense persuasion to convince him that just turning up and doing the job competently will not be enough to win the general election.
They now say he is fired up and keen to go “gloves off” against Labour, drawing starker dividing lines with the opposition and offering bolder policy to voters who are crying out for some hope. Sunak told his MPs on Wednesday: “In the coming months, I am going to set out more of what I would do if I had a full term. I was recently described as a full-spectrum modern Conservative and you are going to see that in the programme I lay out. You are going to see that I am committed to providing people with both security and opportunity.”
The Sunak tweet is a smear because it associates Labour with criminal gangs, on the grounds that Labour is opposed to the Illegal Migration Act, when there are perfectly legitimate grounds for opposing it. Other groups who have criticised it just as strongly include the Law Society, the UNHCR and the Church of England.
But Labour has also been willing to use unfounded smears in its own campaigning. In April it posted a message on Twitter claiming that Sunak does not believe adults convicted of sexually assaulting children should go to prison. Labour MPs defended the campaign, on the grounds that it was highlighting flaws with the justice system (prison overcrowding leading to the courts issuing lighter sentences). But there were also claims that the advert was misleading, and no Labour MP seriously tried to argue that Sunak thinks the sexual assault of a child is something that doesn’t generally deserves a jail sentence.
Updated
The UK government has added its voice to international concerns about the situation in Israel, amid mass protests against plans by the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to overhaul the country’s judicial system, PA Media reports.
In a statement today, the Foreign Office said:
As the prime minister discussed with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this year, the UK’s strong relationship with Israel has always been underpinned by our shared democratic values.
While Israel’s exact constitutional arrangements are a matter for Israelis, we urge the Israeli government to build consensus and avoid division, ensuring that a robust system of checks and balances and the independence of Israel’s judiciary are preserved.
Updated
Environment minister Trudy Harrison to stand down as MP at next election
Trudy Harrison, 47, an environment minister, has announced she is standing down at the next election. She represents Copeland, but it is being replaced by a new constituency with different boundaries and she said she would not apply to fight that seat because it would not cover where she lived.
“Essentially I am a community activist at home and I want to come home and make sure the policies that I have been involved in shaping and making actually reap benefits for people in west Cumbria,” she told ITV.
Harrison won Copeland from Labour in a byelection in February 2017. The seat had been Labour since it was created in 1983, and the win may have helped to persuade Theresa May to call a snap general election soon afterwards.
On the basis of this tally, Harrison is now the 43rd Tory MP to say they will be standing down.
Labour suggests Foreign Office should reconsider decision not to tell people to avoid travelling to Rhodes
Labour has suggested the government should “rethink” the advice it is providing for people considering travelling to the Greek island of Rhodes.
The Foreign Office is not telling holidaymakers to avoid travelling to Rhodes – although its travel advice does urge people to contact their travel company if they are due to go to an area affected by the wildfires.
Speaking during a private notice question in the Lords, where it is the last sitting day before the summer recess, Lady Smith, the Labour leader in the Lords, said the lack of advice from the Foreign Office was “not helpful”.
She said:
When the minister [Andrew Mitchell] at the [Foreign Office] is asked if he would go to Rhodes on holiday he admitted he wouldn’t travel there.
And yet the government’s advisory is not helpful – or lack of advisory – to those who are not sure if they should fly this week or not, or what the financial consequences could be.
Smith said the government should reconsider what it is saying to Rhodes. She suggested that, without advice from the Foreign Office telling people to stay away, it could be harder for people to claim compensation for a cancelled holiday.
The Earl of Courtown, the deputy chief whip in the Lords replying on behalf of the government, said the government’s travel advice was being kept under constant review.
He also said that the situation in Rhodes was stabilising, and that the “vast majority” of the island was not affected by the fires.
On compensation, he said the official advice “should not impact people’s ability to claim insurance for things like cancelled hotel bookings or flight changes, depending on their policy and level of cover”.
Updated
The government is not trying to kick compensation payments for victims impacted by the infected blood scandal into the “long grass”, Jeremy Quin, the Cabinet Office minister, has said.
As PA Media reports, Quin told the official inquiry this morning he was determined to set out “redress” amid anger that the delays may be because compensation is deemed too expensive and complicated. PA says:
The minister insisted there is a “determination to get this resolved” and confirmed he will await the inquiry’s final report, expected in the autumn, before announcing a plan.
The infected blood inquiry was set up in 2017 to investigate the infection of thousands of patients with HIV and hepatitis C via contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s.
Around 2,900 people died in what has been described as the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS.
Quin said he was “aware of the number of people who are dying” while awaiting full payments after an initial scheme of interim payments was set out.
He acknowledged there is a “moral case here for compensation to be paid” but said “no decisions have been taken” on the full scheme.
He added: “I’ve got no doubt that compensation will be paid. The form and shape of that compensation are decisions that have to be made.”
Updated
Sunak welcomes Daily Mail undercover report claiming lawyers are helping people submit bogus asylum claims
This morning the Daily Mail has splashed on the findings of an investigation by undercover reporters who found law firms willing to submit claims for asylum using evidence they knew to be bogus on behalf of someone posing as an “economic migrant”. In their story, Tom Kelly and Izzy Lyons report:
Lawyers are charging thousands of pounds to submit false asylum and human rights claims for illegal immigrants.
Staff at solicitors’ firms readily agreed to help an undercover Mail reporter posing as an economic migrant get refugee status.
This was despite being told he had no legitimate reason to stay in the UK after arriving on a small boat.
The investigation focuses on three cases involving two lawyers, and one legal adviser who, the paper says, were happy to help concoct a fake story for a client that might enable them to successfully claim asylum. They were charging between £4,000 and £10,000 for the service, the Mail says.
But the Mail also claims these were not isolated cases. It says:
Our investigation discovered widespread and blatant abuse of the rules by lawyers and legal representatives at registered solicitors’ firms.
In most cases they suggested our journalist, who was originally from the Punjab, should pretend to be a supporter of a Sikh separatist movement banned in India – giving him grounds for asylum.
In February, Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, told MPs that “a small number of legal practitioners” were being monitored by the Home Office on suspicion that they were helping people submit false asylum claims. The Mail report appears to vindicate these claims.
This morning Rishi Sunak tweeted a link to the Daily Mail story from his party political Twitter account.
He also claimed the story showed how “the Labour party, a subset of lawyers [and] criminal gangs” were all opposed to government policy on small boats.
This is what we’re up against.
The Labour party, a subset of lawyers, criminal gangs – they’re all on the same side, propping up a system of exploitation that profits from getting people to the UK illegally. I have a plan to stop it.
This is what we’re up against.
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) July 25, 2023
The Labour Party, a subset of lawyers, criminal gangs - they're all on the same side, propping up a system of exploitation that profits from getting people to the UK illegally.
I have a plan to stop it.
Here’s how 🧵https://t.co/ez3rYIU0uQ
Updated
Committee on standards in public life chair says government should do more to keep foreign money out of UK politics
Lord Evans, chair of the committee on standards in public life, has complained that the government has not done enough to stop foreign money being used to fund political parties in Britain.
In an interview with Sky News, Evans said the rules intended to stop parties getting funding from foreign donors, companies or governments were “not rigorous” and “insufficiently transparent”.
Parties are only allowed to accept money from permissible donors – broadly people registered to vote in the UK, or companies registered in Britain. But companies that donate don’t have to prove that they generated profits in the UK, and there are concerns that this loophole allows foreign donations to fund British politics indirectly.
In a report two years ago Evans’ committee called for the rules to to be tightened to prevent this. The government has ignored these recommendations.
Evans, a former head of MI5, told Sky News:
We have been assured, and this has been said repeatedly by the government, that the rules are strict and rigorous. That’s not our view. The rules are not strict. They are not rigorous and they are insufficiently transparent …
The first problem is lack of real openness. And just to say: ‘I have been given money by company X’, when you can’t work out where company X got that money from [and] who actually controls that company, is really not a satisfactory way of discharging responsibility for openness.
And it’s also very important that we can protect the political system from an improper influence, whether that’s from business interests, whether that’s from extreme political interests, or whether that’s from foreign powers. And transparency is a really important part of that. And the transparency rules at the moment, in our view, the view of my committee are not strong enough.
In his interview Evans also called for some limit on the amount of time MPs can spend on a second job. He said:
There have been some quite well-documented cases where it’s hard to argue that this person is putting their main focus on their parliamentary duties, given the amount of time that they appear to be giving to other activities.
Updated
Labour urged to work with Tories to counter ‘ignorant’ climate policy attacks
Labour should counter “absolutely unacceptable” and “ignorant” Conservative attacks on its climate policies by offering a cross-party consensus on climate action, to bring forward measures this parliament to meet net zero, the outgoing chair of the Climate Change Committee has urged.
As Fiona Harvey reports, Lord Deben, a former Tory environment secretary and minister under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, strongly criticised Grant Shapps and Suella Braverman, cabinet ministers who have led vitriolic attacks on Labour as “the political wing of Just Stop Oil”. He called on the government instead to heed the message of climate protesters.
The full story is here.
Renters could end up paying £1.4bn in higher bills under Gove's plan to delay energy efficiency rules, thinktank claims
People who rent accommodation could end up paying £1.4bn more in energy bills because the government is planning to give landlords more time to comply with new energy efficiency standards, an energy thinktank has claimed.
In his interview with the Sunday Telegraph at the weekend Michael Gove said landlords were being asked to do “too much too quickly”. He went on:
We do want to move towards greater energy efficiency, but just at this point, when landlords face so much, I think that we should relax the pace that’s been set for people in the private rented sector, particularly because many of them are currently facing a big capital outlay in order to improve that efficiency.
According to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), Gove was referring to minimum energy efficiency standards for landlords. Currently they only need a band E energy performance certificate (EPC) for a property to be let, but the plan is for them to need a band C certificate (requiring better energy efficiency) for new tenancies from 2025, and all tenancies from 2028.
There have already been reports saying the band C deadline for new tenancies will be put back to 2028.
The ECIU says that there are more than 2.4m homes in England that fall below the EPC band C standard. It says that, if the deadline for them meeting this were put back to 2030, tenants could end up paying £1.4bn in fuel bills, on a “medium” assumption as to what will happen to gas prices.
The thinktank also says that delaying the introduction of the new rules for all tenancies could create a “cliff edge”, with landlords all trying to get better insulation fitted just ahead of the deadline, with the risk that supplies won’t be able to meet the demand.
Jess Ralston, an energy analyst at the ECIU, said:
The government looks to be taking the side of landlords over the millions who’ve been stuck in cold, rental accommodation during a gas crisis that’s forced them to shell out hundreds on gas bills to try to keep warm. The main culprit here is the government – consulting on the changes in 2021 yet still not doing anything about this problem, even during a gas crisis, seems frankly irresponsible.
This is a net zero policy that would save ordinary people who rent money on bills, and could have been phased in gradually so landlords carry out the work over several years. The UK was hit hard by the gas crisis because of failure to get on with simple common sense measures like these, and we’ll end up more dependent on foreign gas imports because of it. As the OBR has pointed out recently a failure to shift away from volatile gas prices could add 13% of GDP onto our national debt.
The first set of minimum energy efficiency standards in 2018 made no significant difference to the number of rental properties available, with the sector actually increasing by over 150,000 since 2021. So the landlord lobby may claim that they’ll go packing but the evidence points to the contrary.
Gove's interviews show how 'disjointed' government's net zero strategy is, says Greenpeace
Michael Gove has been accused of showing how “disjointed” the government’s net zero strategy is by Greenpeace UK.
In a statement released after Gove’s media interview round this morning, in which the levelling up secretary appeared to firm up the government’s commitment to at least one green target, while signalling that others might be relaxed (see 10.04am), Doug Parr, Greenpeace UK’s director of policy, said:
Michael Gove has demonstrated how disjointed the government’s new strategy is. If ministers genuinely want to help lower costs for households, they should be doing everything in their power to switch our homes, energy and transport systems away from expensive, climate-wrecking fossil fuels and run them instead on clean technology and cheap renewables.
Mr Gove is right to reaffirm the government’s commitment to ending the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2030 – and Sunak should now do the same, whilst making the transition as easy as possible for people with extensive charging infrastructure and the promised mandate on manufacturers. But allowing more oil and gas drilling, delaying the phase-out of gas boilers and giving landlords longer to insulate the homes of renters will only keep bills high and continue to fan the flames of climate change.
Rishi Sunak may be emboldened by narrowly clinging onto Uxbridge by less than 500 votes, but as Greece continues to burn, putting climate policies on the chopping block right now will firmly place himself and his premiership on the wrong side of history.
Updated
Rishi Sunak has told Volodymyr Zelenskiy he is appalled by the recent Russian attack on Odesa. Downing Street said the PM expressed his horror when he spoke to the Ukrainian president this morning. In a readout of the call No 10 said:
The leaders discussed recent developments on the battlefield and the continued progress by Ukrainian forces despite the challenging conditions. The prime minister added that he was appalled by the devastation caused by recent Russian attacks on Odesa.
Discussing the Black Sea grain initiative, the leaders agreed on the importance of ensuring grain was able to be exported from Ukraine to reach international markets. The prime minister said the UK was working closely with Turkey on restoring the grain deal, and we would continue to use our role as chair of the UN security council to further condemn Russia’s behaviour.
Russia was increasingly looking to target merchant vessels in the Black Sea area and the UK was carefully monitoring the situation alongside our partners, the prime minister added.
The UK continued to support Ukraine’s air defence and artillery needs with more ammunition and missiles being delivered, the prime minister said.
Updated
Labour's decision to drop self-ID for trans people who want to transition criticised by Stonewall, but backed by Rosie Duffield
The Labour MP Rosie Duffield has welcomed her party’s new plans for reform of the law allowing transgender people to transition.
Anneliese Dodds, the Labour chair and shadow minister for women and equalities, set out the new position in an article for the Guardian. As Aubrey Allegretti reports, Labour is still committed to reforming the Gender Recognition Act but, influenced by the Scottish government’s unsuccessful attempt to change the law in Scotland (the UK government blocked the Scottish bill), it is not proposing to allow self-declaration and people wanting a gender recognition certificate will still require a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
This amounts to a weaker reform than Labour was proposing in its 2019 manifesto, which backed self-declaration (or self-ID) for trans people. Keir Starmer reaffirmed the commitment to self-ID for trans people in 2021.
The Conservatives have also retreated on this agenda. When Theresa May was PM, they were in favour of self-ID, but recently ministers strongly attacked the SNP over their self-ID plans.
Stonewall, the group campaigning for LGBTQ+ rights, has criticised Labour’s policy. In a statement released yesterday it said:
International leading practice has moved to a model based on legal self-determination. That is because it is inhumane and undignified to make trans people obtain a medical diagnosis to obtain legal gender recognition. An ever-growing number of countries have moved to, or are moving to, this model over the last fifteen years. In 2019, the World Health Organization de-classified being trans as a mental health disorder.
If any political party wants to get the UK back on track for LGBTQ+ rights, they need to lean in to international evidence, experience and best practice. Speak to Ireland, speak to Belgium, speak to New Zealand, Switzerland, Denmark, large parts of Canada, US and Australia. Review the evidence – which finds no known cases of fraudulent or criminal intent. They need to understand how legal gender recognition with a de-medicalised model is working in practice before formulating the detail of their policy.
But this morning Duffield, who as a gender critical feminist believes the extension of trans rights could undermine safeguards for biological woman and who has repeatedly criticised her party for its stance on trans issues, said Labour was now “going in the right direction”. She told the Today programme:
It looks broadly speaking as though they’re going in the right direction, and basically have just agreed with myself and other feminist activists and women’s groups, with what we’ve been saying for the last few years. It’s good to get a bit of clarity.
Duffield said she would like to see more detail of what Labour is proposing. But she said she was very glad the party is no longer committed to allowing people to change gender just through self-declaration. She said:
That is the core thing that feminists on my side of the argument wanted to stop. I’m really glad that that has been announced very clearly.
Updated
Sunak claims government's housing policy 'not protectionist'
Rishi Sunak has insisted that the government’s approach to housing, set out most recently in a major speech by Michael Gove yesterday, is not protectionist. Writing in the Times, he says:
Meeting our one million homes target is just a stepping stone. To support more families to form and grow we need to continue with our plan to keep building. But this is not about uncontrolled development of the countryside. It is not just about more homes of any kind, anywhere, no matter what communities think. Homes must be built in the right places, where it makes sense. Communities must have a say …
Our approach is not protectionist, it’s targeted. More homes in the places where people want and need them.
Updated
Households in temporary accommodation in England up 10% in past year, hitting record at 104,510, figures show
The number of households in temporary accommodation in England is at the highest level since records began 25 years ago, PA Media reports. PA says:
As of 31 March this year, 104,510 households were in temporary accommodation, up 10% from the same point last year, according to homelessness statistics released by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Compared with the previous quarter, the number of households in temporary accommodation increased by 4%.
This latest figure surpasses a previous high of 101,300 reached in 2004, and is the highest among all the government figures available since 1998.
Updated
Plan to replace gas boilers with heat pumps should be reviewed, says Gove
Here are the main quotes from Michael Gove in his morning interviews on net zero issues.
Gove, the levelling up secretary, called for a review of the proposed timetable for the replacement of gas boilers with heat pumps. Under the proposals, the installation of gas boilers in newly-built homes is meant to stop from 2025, and all gas boiler installation is meant to stop in homes from 2035. But Gove said the timetable needed to be reviewed. He told Times Radio:
That is one area where I do think we need to review. It is important that new homes meet net-zero challenges but one of the challenges we have is with our existing housing stock.
There are proposals to decarbonise our existing housing stock which I think are the right direction to go but I think the cost of some of those changes may impose on homeowners, and indeed on landlords, I think at this point in time we do need to be careful about imposing.
Because we are living in a real cost-of-living challenge and what we don’t want to do is to force individuals to pay excessive sums at this stage, we need to take a proportionate approach.
But he said 2030 was immovable as the date when the sale of new petrol and diesel cars would stop. When he was asked if this date was “immovable”, he replied:
Yes. We’re committed to maintaining our policy of ensuring that by 2030 there are no new petrol and diesel cars being sold.
I’m sure there are some people who would like to change that policy, I understand. But that policy remains.
He said the government had to avoid a backlash against net zero measures. He told Times Radio:
It’s important that the government does press ahead with appropriate and thoughtful steps in order to safeguard the environment but there are some specific areas where the cost that is being imposed on individuals risks creating a backlash.
We don’t want to get to a situation where the support for improving our environment curdles and turns into resistance.
And he told Sky News:
We saw recently in the Netherlands that an inflexible approach to environmental rules actually led to a backlash and it now has a significant body of people who are unhappy about the steps being taken.
Photograph: Yui Mok/PA
Updated
Gove to holiday on Greek island as he says travel to region is safe
It is still safe for tourists to travel to Rhodes in line with UK government advice, Michael Gove has said. The levelling up secretary added that he was planning to holiday on another Greek island himself next week. Ben Quinn has the story here.
This is from the Times’s Matt Chorley on what he thinks the government may be up to with its net zero messaging.
It’s almost like the government is happy for people to think this week that they might dial down the green stuff a bit, and then everyone will go on holiday and forget about it by the time they think about politics again in September
— Matt Chorley (@MattChorley) July 25, 2023
Gove says 2030 ‘immovable’ date to ban new petrol cars sales as MPs tell Sunak to halt ‘mixed signals’ on climate policy
Good morning. Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, has been giving interviews this morning and talking, among other things, about the government’s approach to net zero policies. He was quite specific on a couple of points, but to say that he cleared things up would be going too far. Over the last few days, in government pronouncements on this topic, there has been more ambiguity than in a modernist poem.
All of this has been quite good for those of us paid to report what the government is saying and explain what it means. But for producers trying to plan on the basis of what government rules will be for cars and boilers etc over the next decade, the uncertainty has been less welcome.
To recap: a significant number of Tory MPs, and rightwing papers, have always opposed net zero measures that will impose costs on consumers and on Friday their hand was strengthened after the Conservatives unexpectedly won the Uxbridge and South Ruislip byelection, almost certainly because of a backlash about the extension of Ulez. That led to media reports on Saturday saying the government was rethinking its support for green measures, and a day later the Sunday Telegraph splashed on an interview with Gove headlined: “Gove: net zero can’t become a crusade.” On Monday, when Rishi Sunak was asked in an interview if he was still committed to stopping the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030, he gave a reply best summarised by Politico, which said he sounded “a bit U-turnish on some of his net zero plans”. At the lobby briefing an hour or so later the PM’s spokesperson said the government was, in fact, committed to the petrol/diesel new car ban from 2030. But separate briefing implied this was one of several measures that could be subject to review.
This morning Gove said that 2030 was “immovable” as the date when the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars would take effect. But he did say that government proposals for gas boilers to be banned from newly built homes from 2025, with all gas boiler installation phased out from 2035, could be reviewed. I will post more from his interviews shortly.
Did that help? On gas boilers, probably. But on petrol and diesel cars? Gove has form for confidently asserting things on the Today programme that turn out not to be the case – during Brexit he insisted a key vote would definitely go ahead on hours before it was shelved – and so you might think twice before making a car factory investment on the basis of a Gove comment in a radio interview.
Gove was speaking as a group of MPs released an open letter to the prime minister urging him to avoid “mixed signals” on the UK’s commitment to climate action. In their letter, the all-party parliamentary group on climate said:
The Climate Change Committee’s recent 2023 progress report to parliament is unequivocal that mixed signals on the UK’s commitment to serious climate action is undermining this work, damaging our reputation, and risks us permanently surrendering our status as a world leader on climate action.
Now is a crucial moment for you to demonstrate to the world that the UK is not demoting itself to become a passive observer in international action on climate change, that we remain a trusted partner and committed to delivering on our promises.
Fiona Harvey has more on the letter here.
There is not much in the diary for today, but here are two items that may produce news.
9.30am: The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities publishes homelessness statistics.
10am: Jeremy Quin, the Cabinet Office minister, gives evidence to the infected blood inquiry.
Also, Lee Rowley, the local government minister, is hosting a roundtable meeting in Downing Street on plans announced overnight to speed up planning decisions for large infrastructure projects.
If you want to contact me, do try the “send us a message” feature. You’ll see it just below the byline – on the left of the screen, if you are reading on a PC or a laptop. This is for people who want to message me directly. I find it very useful when people message to point out errors (even typos – no mistake is too small to correct). Often I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either in the comments below the line, privately (if you leave an email address and that seems more appropriate), or in the main blog, if I think it is a topic of wide interest.
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