Closing summary
Keir Starmer visits Wales to highlight Labour’s plans to make Britain an “energy superpower” and to address what he termed the “incoherent energy policy” his party inherited from the Tories. The prime minister and new first minister, Eluned Morgan, will travel to a site in West Wales today as part of their first official visit together. The pair, who held talks on Monday in Cardiff, are expected to pledge to work closely on realising the benefits of a publicly owned energy company. The Welsh government previously launched Trydan Gwyrdd Cymru while the UK government is developing Great British Energy with £8.3bn of funding over the next five years.
Starmer has vowed to do “everything we can” to preserve jobs at the steelworks in Port Talbot, south Wales. Asked whether he risked giving “false hope” to workers in the town, the prime minister replied: “No. We’re working really hard on this, both the first minister and myself jointly on this, because it’s so important that we do everything we can to preserve those jobs.”
The Labour government will invest “unprecedented levels of funding” in cycling and walking as a critical part of plans to improve health and inequality, the new secretary for transport has said. A national network of safe cycle routes could cut GP appointments “by hundreds of thousands, if not millions a year”, Louise Haigh said.
Ministers will struggle to prepare for next month’s early release of thousands of prisoners, a union has warned, after the latest figures showed a drop in the number of probation officers. Ministry of Justice data shows there were 178 fewer probation officers over the last quarter, as the service gets ready to monitor another 5,500 prisoners released over the next year despite deepening concerns over increased workloads for staff.
The Liberal Democrats have been fined a total of £3,600 by election authorities for 22 offences linked to the late reporting of donations. The Electoral Commission said the five fines were paid by 2 August. Meanwhile, the Richmond Park Constituency Labour party in south-west London was fined £1,000, which it paid on 26 July. The Electoral Commission probed the local party’s “failure to deliver its 2022 statement of accounts by the deadline”, and found one offence.
Ministers have launched a pension credit publicity campaign to minimise the impact of the government’s decision to radically restrict winter fuel payments. The government hopes its pension credit awareness drive will help identify households not claiming the benefit and encourage pensioners to apply by 21 December, which is the last date this year for people to make a backdated claim for pension credit in order to receive the winter fuel payment.
Scotland’s external affairs secretary said he has not considered resigning his position after significant criticism over his meeting with an Israeli diplomat, PA reported. Angus Robertson told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland (GMS) programme that he believed it was “right” to communicate the Scottish government’s opposition to the conflict in Gaza.
Scottish ministers will reintroduce peak rail fares across the country after an experiment with flat rate fares failed to significantly increase passenger numbers. Trade unions and opposition parties condemned the decision, and accused the Scottish government of presiding over a shambolic rail service and of failing to adequately tackle the climate crisis.
A former Conservative minister has called for an end to the demonisation of train drivers and said he understood why the new Labour government had “decided to cut a deal” with unions. Huw Merriman, who served as the rail minister for the entirety of Rishi Sunak’s premiership, apologised for failing to bring in workplace reforms and his inability to reach an agreement to end the strikes.
The prime minister has looked at Wales’s natural resources and shallow seas as part of his plan to accelerate the green energy transition, he has suggested. Starmer told journalists: “The election of a Labour government in Westminster is a gamechanger. So, for the first time, you’ve got a Welsh government that has a Westminster government that wants to work with and collaborate, after 14 years of having a Westminster government that basically didn’t want to collaborate and cooperate in that way.”
Scotland’s drug deaths remain the worst in Europe, as ministers pledged to intensify efforts to deal with the problem after a “hugely concerning” 12% increase in fatalities last year. The health secretary, Neil Gray, said the Scottish government was also “working hard to respond to the growing threat from highly dangerous, super-strong synthetic opioids like nitazenes”, which were involved in 23 deaths.
Ministers have approved London City airport’s application to expand, in a decision that has disappointed climate campaigners. The airport submitted a proposal to increase capacity from 6.5 million to 9 million passengers a year by putting on more weekend and early morning flights. Local campaigners and Newham council opposed the move, arguing the air and noise pollution would affect people living nearby and that it could increase carbon emissions.
Douglas Ross has said he would have been ousted as Scottish Tory leader even if he did not stand for a Westminster seat. The current Scottish Tory leader – who will be replaced next month – told a fringe audience he would not have stood for the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East seat if he knew he “wasn’t going to win”.
That’s all from me, Tom Ambrose, and indeed the UK politics live blog for today. Thanks for following along.
Scotland’s drug deaths remain the worst in Europe, as ministers pledged to intensify efforts to deal with the problem after a “hugely concerning” 12% increase in fatalities last year.
The health secretary, Neil Gray, said the Scottish government was also “working hard to respond to the growing threat from highly dangerous, super-strong synthetic opioids like nitazenes”, which were involved in 23 deaths.
Figures released on Tuesday show a 12% rise in deaths, with drugs claiming the lives of 1,172 Scots in 2023 – up 121 on the previous year.
Gray said: “My heartfelt condolences go to all those affected by the loss of a loved one through drugs.
“This level of deaths remains hugely concerning and underlines why we will continue to do all we can to reduce harm and deaths caused by drugs.”
Agencies working with addicts said the “measurable failures” driving this ongoing public health emergency remained the same.
