Afternoon summary
Tony Blair has called for the government to change course on climate, suggesting a strategy that limits fossil fuels in the short term or encourages people to limit consumption is “doomed to fail”. The Conservative party and Reform UK have welcomed his comments. (See 3.16pm and 4.53pm.) But Mathew Lawrence, director of Common Wealth, a green and progressive think tank, said:
The public are clear and Tony Blair is out of touch. They support the net-zero agenda and want polluters to pay. The net-zero economy is how we renew our communities and tackle the cost of living crisis.
Clinging to the roller coaster of a fossil fuelled energy system is what is truly unaffordable, ineffective, and politically toxic. It is sad to see a former Labour prime minister - someone who once got the importance of climate ambition for Britain’s economic success - echo the lines of Big Oil.
Downing Street has said suggestions that a reliance on renewable energy contributed to blackouts in Spain, which have been endorsed by the Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, are “unfounded claims and speculation”. (See 5.04pm.)
For a full list of all the stories covered here today, scroll through the key events timeline at the top of the blog.
Updated
Almost half of voters do not think any party leader would be effective at governing UK, poll suggests
Almost half of voters do not have confidence that any party leader would be effective at governing the country, a poll suggests.
Channel 4 News has released the results of polling carried out by More in Common ahead of a debate for the local elections it is broadcasting tonight at 7pm. C4 says:
More In Common asked voters who they thought would be most effective in governing the country - 41% responded: ‘None of the above’.
The second most popular choice was Reform’s Nigel Farage with 23%, followed by the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, with 19%, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch with 8%, the Lib-Dem’s Ed Davey on 6% and the Green’s co-leaders, Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay, coming last with 2%.
More in Common polled people in England living in areas where local elections are taking place (mostly shire areas, not big cities). In these areas, the poll also found Reform UK in the lead, on 26%, with the Conservatives on 25%, Labour on 18%, the Lib Dems on 17% and the Greens on 8%.
Commenting on the poll findings, Luke Tryl, executive director of More in Common UK, said:
The public mood going into these elections is one of deep disillusionment, voters are impatient for change but aren’t confident any party can deliver it. As results trickle in on Friday this polling suggests we will see that the fragmentation of the electorate in last year’s general election has only accelerated since then.
For many their vote on Thursday will be an expression of deep frustration with the status quo. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK look set to be the big winners of the night, leading in our polling, while the Conservatives on these numbers would lose scores of seats in elections being contested on normally solid turf - both to Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats.
Yesterday, in a thread on social media, Tryl said that he was returning home after conducing focus groups in Beverley, Hull, Scunthorpe and Peterborough and that he thought the “disillusionment” he had heard was the worst he had experienced in his time as a focus group organiser. Here are some of the points he made.
Views of politicians went beyond healthy cynicism ranging from them not getting it to being useless to being actively corrupt. This wasn’t a partisan thing, it applied to everyone Tory, Labour, Lib Dem, Reform, being part of the political class was more telling than party.
The demand for change was palpable, but there was a lack of faith it was going to happen, again not limited to one party but instead there was a sense politicians weren’t up to it or weren’t willing to take on vested interests. From pot holes to the NHS it was all going wrong.
While some people were still willing to give the government the benefit of the doubt and time - most were disappointed or angry at the pace of change, but more than that there was a common view of no difference between Labour and the last Conservative Government.
All in all a bleak picture. If politics can’t be shown to make genuine improvements in people’s lives people will lose faith entirely, switch off, look elsewhere or demand something else - which is why I don’t think what I’ve heard this weekend is sustainable.
Updated
