The Tories will bring a Northern Ireland veteran onto the main stage to urge Red Wall Labour MPs to vote against Starmer’s Legacy Act changes. Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge is speaking now…
NI veteran Paul Young is on the panel with Cartlidge and Mark Francois. Young says veterans are “outraged” and in “despair” over Starmer’s plan. Francois asks “what self-respecting Labour MP will vote for this?”. Labour could face a red-on-red battle over this…
In the first of a series of announcements ahead of their conference in Manchester this weekend the Tories have announced their intention to scrap the Climate Change Act. Flagship legislation which critics say has caused compound issues since its introduction by Miliband in 2008…
The legislation set a legally binding target to cut 80% of carbon emmissions by 2050, later changed by Theresa May to reach net zero emissions by the same date. It imposes five-yearly targets to that effect. Badenoch said:
“We want to leave a cleaner environment for our children, but not by bankrupting the country… Under my leadership, we will scrap those failed targets. Our priority now is growth, cheaper energy and protecting the natural landscapes we all love.”
This comes a day after Ed Miliband’s flagship pledge at his conference speech was to ban fracking. Something already under a moratorium…
There is no detail on what legislation or provisions will be brought in as a replacement. Maybe Tory activists can iron that out at conference fringe sessions…
After a relatively low-key Labour conference for Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader sat down with the Daily Express to brand Starmer as “dangerous”, while warning that Farage would be “worse“. The usual fare…
When the interview strayed onto the topic of her often being misconstrued, Badenoch mused that sometimes people can get the impression she is being “mean” to them because she likes a laugh:
“That’s not what I’m like all the time… I think it can actually end up looking quite flippant, like I’m not taking things seriously. So I probably overcompensate that because I love to have a laugh. I like to tease people, which is why. And they don’t always like being teased. They don’t always like being teased, so they think that I’m being to them. But I’m just having a laugh and I like being teased. I think it’s quite funny. I grew up being teased. I grew up in a banter family. And my new family now, obviously with my three children, it’s all bantz.”
Starmer barely mentioned the Tories in his speech yesterday and the Tories remain at all historic crisis lows in the polls. Badenoch added: “Everybody keeps talking like there’s an election tomorrow, but we’ve got Labour for another four years.” Spinners say she will unveil her new “policy renewal” programme at conference. All eyes on Manchester next week…
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick delivered an impassioned speech at the pro-Brexit think tank Bruges Group last night about why the UK must leave the ECHR and repeal “a whole series of other laws”. He said this would be “most important piece of legislation of the next conservative or centre right government.” Leaving the door open in the event of a Reform victory…
Jenrick told the room:
“It means repealing a whole series of other laws which may have had noble intent whether it’s the Equalities Act, the Human Rights Act, the Climate Change Act, but which have had the effect of undermining the sovereignty of parliament…that’s why I’ve advocated some kind of great reform, a great repeal as the first and most important piece of legislation of the next conservative or centre right government to wipe the slate clean.”
Jenrick then warned: “We’ve got to change the Conservative Party if it’s going to survive. And it’s quite obvious that it hasn’t changed enough in the last year. There’s got to be a fundamentally different party.” Though when asked if he believed Kemi would be the leader of the Tory party at the next election, Jenrick firmly replied “yes”…
Jenrick went on to say that he would reverse the decision to recognise a Palestine state, and that there should be a “legally binding cap” on immigration. Plenty for activists to chew over as Tory Conference looms…
Starmer is back in the firing line over his top team as Morgan McSweeney’s Labour Together donations scandal resurfaces. The Tories have now demanded the Standards Commissioner investigate Starmer for ‘failing to declare’ Labour Together donations and support during the 2020 Labour leadership contest. Party Chairman Kevin Hollinrake wrote to Commissioner Daniel Greenberg saying:
“Reports indicate that Labour Together, under Morgan McSweeney, spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on polling, which was then used in Starmer’s leadership campaign…Despite this, the Prime Minister’s Register of Members’ Interests for the period of the Labour leadership election contains no mention of any donations or support in kind from Labour Together. Paragraphs 14–16 of the Code of Conduct make clear that: Members must declare support above £1,500.”
Another scandal to add to Guido’s list…
Read the letter in full below:
A pared-down version of the official Tory conference programme has gone live on the Conservatives’ official website. It’s a straightforward affair compared to previous years, and looks like the programme has more member-led elements than usual. Grist for the hacks…
There are short speeches from most Shadow Cabinet ministers and from the leaders of the Scottish and Welsh Conservatives. Eye-catchingly, there will be main stage sessions on “the meaning of sex: gender critical debate” and “big tech on trial”, which will discuss the Online Safety Act. A piece of legislation introduced by the, er, Conservatives…
It doesn’t look like there is space on the main podium for the brightest backbench performers such as Katie Lam and Nick Timothy. All eyes on the leader’s speech then…
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”