UK Treasury ‘weighs up funding cuts at GB Energy’ in blow to Ed Miliband
The UK government is reportedly weighing up the possibility of cutting planned funding for GB Energy, the state-owned company set up by Labour to drive renewable energy and cut household bills, in June’s spending review.Cuts to the £8.3bn of taxpayer money promised over the five-year parliament would be another blow for Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, after he was overruled by the government when the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, backed the expansion of Heathrow’s third runway.GB Energy, a vital cog in Keir Starmer’s plans to “supercharge” Britain’s clean energy revolution, was only given an initial £100m in October’s budget to cover its first two years.Ministers are carrying out a “zero-based review” of all government spending, which has been given additional impetus after Starmer’s pledge to boost investment in defence.
One option under consideration by the Treasury is to cut £3.3bn earmarked for GB Energy to fund low-interest loans via local authorities, for projects such as solar panels and shared-ownership wind projects, according to the Financial Times.A Treasury spokesperson said: “We are fully committed to the £8.3bn for GB Energy, which is at the heart of our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower and to ensure our homes are cheaper and cleaner to run.”Sources played down the likelihood of the government significantly defunding an initiative that formed an important plank of Labour’s energy strategy.
One source suggested that the government might maintain the promised level of funding but “rebadge” the budgets of other green initiatives to become part of GB Energy, effectively allowing departmental cuts in other areas.The speculation will, however, reignite rumours of a power battle within Labour ranks, pitched between No 10, the Treasury and Miliband’s net zero department.Last year, before Labour’s election victory, Starmer cut its green investment plan from £28bn a year to under £15bn, in a blow to Miliband.Sources close to the government said the Treasury was now running the rule over “everything” before the spring statement this month, which is expected to show that Reeves’s headroom against her fiscal rules has been wiped out.Another source warned of a rerun of the febrile months before the autumn budget, when swirling speculation hit business confidence and investment.
“GB Energy has the potential to be a real confidence booster to business.Scaling it back would damage investor sentiment and, frankly, be electoral madness.It’s hugely popular on the doorstep, especially in Scotland,” they said.Last month, GB Energy admitted that it could take 20 years to meet its pledge to employ 1,000 people, as the chair, Jürgen Maier, refused to put a date on when it would bring down energy bills.Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionIndustry sources have said GB Energy was facing a “challenging” task to find a chief executive for its Aberdeen headquarters, dubbed the oil and gas capital of Europe.
Last month, the government appointed Dan McGrail, the chief executive of the trade body RenewableUK, as the interim chief executive.McGrail, who is on secondment from RenewableUK, has taken an initial six-month contract and will be based in Scotland, working from GB Energy’s Aberdeen HQ.The government has said that over the next five years it expects GB Energy to employ 200 to 300 people at its Aberdeen HQ.GB Energy is now under the leadership of the former Siemens UK boss Maier, who is based in Manchester, and a five-strong team of non-executive directors based in various parts of the UK.
Age, gender, education: the House of Lords in charts
Labour promised in its manifesto to downsize the House of Lords, which has ballooned over the past two decades. The government has already put forward legislation to remove hereditary peers, which is making its way through parliament. But a manifesto proposal for a mandatory retirement age of 80 now appears in doubt. Combined, these two measures would have halved the size of the upper house.In five charts, we examine the age and gender profile, education and political affiliation of peers and set out the implications of the proposed changes
Revealed: House of Lords members have given £109m to political parties
Peers who sat in the House of Lords during the last parliament have given a combined £109m in political donations, almost £50m of which was contributed before they secured their seats.In a detailed study of the role the Lords plays in financing British politics, the Guardian has found that £1 in every £14 raised since donations were first published in 2001 came from peers either before or after they entered the second chamber.The total contribution is almost certainly higher, as the data only counts donations to parties and individual MPs by those who sat in the Lords during the last parliament.Peers are chosen from lists put forward by political parties, and the Conservatives have benefited more than any other party from those they nominated, taking 62% of the £109m. Labour took a 21% share and 16% went to the Liberal Democrats
Labour MP warns party of ‘uncanny’ parallels with Germany’s defeated SPD
Keir Starmer could be heading for the same fate as Olaf Scholz, the recently defeated German chancellor, unless his government is able to deliver on issues such as immigration and welfare, a Labour MP has warned.Jake Richards, the MP for Rother Valley, said he had seen “uncanny” parallels between Labour and Scholz’s party during a recent fact-finding trip to Germany to study the rise of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).Richards is one of a number of Labour MPs from the “red wall” who have been alarmed by the rise in support for Reform UK and in response are urging the party to take tough action on immigration, welfare and crime.Many are worried that the wave of support for far-right candidates across Europe, including in Germany where Scholz’s Social Democratic party (SPD) came third behind the AfD, could be replicated in the UK at the next election.“There are uncanny and sort of haunting similarities between the SPD’s predicament and what might happen unless this government delivers,” Richards said
From Trump whisperer to trouble – angry Reform UK MPs turn on Farage
Just a few short weeks ago, Nigel Farage’s Reform party was riding high. It was consistently polling above Kemi Badenoch’s Conservative party and in some surveys had even edged ahead of the Labour government.Donors who had previously handed over large amounts to the Tories were switching sides, while Farage was relishing having the ear of US president Donald Trump, touting himself as a far better representative to the leader of the free world than Keir Starmer.But US leader’s behaviour towards Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has suddenly dented the appeal of being seen as pro-Trump, and in the past two days, civil war has broken out among Farage’s small group of MPs. First, Rupert Lowe used an interview with the Daily Mail to accuse his leader of being “messianic”, before the party responded by revealing that Lowe had been reported to the police for making physical threats against Reform’s chairman
Unions on alert as Labour prepares to unveil ‘Trumpian’ plan for civil service
Highly controversial plans to revolutionise Whitehall by introducing performance-related pay, an accelerated exit process for under-performing mandarins and more digitalisation will be announced this week in what ministers say is a programme to “reshape the state” so it can respond to a new “era of insecurity”.The proposed changes, to be announced by Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden, will inevitably provoke alarm and resistance from civil service unions, and be seen as the government using the current wave of global uncertainty as cover to drive through radical modernisation of civil service methods and culture.They will also be seen as following Donald Trump’s decision to set up a Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) run by the billionaire X owner Elon Musk to reduce spending and increase performance.McFadden will say that the public does not believe that the British state, as currently configured, is able to fully and efficiently respond to modern challenges and the new need for beefed-up national security. As a result he will say that civil servants’ performance and pay will be judged on the extent to which they deliver on key priorities such as national security and key government missions
Keir Starmer’s poll ratings leap after Trump withdraws support for Ukraine
Keir Starmer’s approval ratings have shot up since Donald Trump returned to the White House and shocked Europe by withdrawing political and military support for Ukraine, according to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer.Starmer’s Labour government as a whole has also gained public support for its response to the global turbulence caused by Trump’s return – on security and economic issues. His personal ratings have risen by 10% – albeit from an alarmingly low point – compared with a month ago.Strikingly, Labour, rather than the Conservatives who are traditionally seen as stronger on defence, are now seen as by far the best at dealing with key foreign policy and defence challenges. Around 30% of voters said they would prefer Labour when it comes to “dealing with allies against threats to the UK”, compared with 18% for the Tories
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