Badenoch criticised for ‘peddling dangerous fantasy’ about North Sea oil drilling

Kemi Badenoch is “peddling a dangerous fantasy” about North Sea energy in her attempt to reverse a ban on new oil and gas licences, a leading campaign group has said.The Conservative leader is expected to call on the government to lift its suspension of the licences as part of a drive to reduce energy prices, as the party launches a new campaign aimed at boosting the fossil fuel sector.However, critics have questioned the efficiency of the policy, claiming it would be unlikely to cut household bills.Tessa Khan, executive director of the renewable energy campaign group Uplift described it as “vapid, political game playing at the expense of ordinary people”.“Kemi Badenoch is peddling a dangerous fantasy on the North Sea and is completely out of step with the UK public who just want an affordable supply of energy,” Khan said

Reform UK’s ‘pro-family’ policies are an exclusionary sham, minister says

Reform UK’s “pro-family” policies are a sham and exclude non-traditional families, the government’s early years minister has said before the rollout of hundreds of new Sure Start-style family centres across England on Monday.Olivia Bailey said she wanted the hubs to be inclusive for all families and transform communities, after what she called the “criminal” dismantling of Sure Start under the last Conservative government.“Sure Start is one of our proudest achievements as a Labour party,” she said. “Best Start is central to what we’re trying to do as a government. For the first time in a long time, even ever, this is a government that is really focusing on the early years and making sure that we give every child the best possible start in life

‘We’re quietly chirpy’: some Tories glimpse ray of hope, but others see abyss at May elections

“The Conservative party is coming back,” Kemi Badenoch declared at her party’s local election launch last week, surrounded by cheering supporters. And it’s fair to say that many of her MPs are, relative to their mood in recent years, quite cheery.To others in the Conservative family, though, this optimism appears disconnected from the reality of the situation facing the party. Even the MPs backing Badenoch agree that the Tories face heavy losses on 7 May, not just across English councils, but particularly in votes for the Scottish and Welsh parliaments, where in both they are expected to be reduced to a handful of seats.This is in part a factor of circumstance

Reform candidate in Wales steps down after apparent Nazi salute

A Reform UK candidate for the Welsh Senedd elections in May has announced he is standing down because of his mental health, after a photograph emerged of him apparently making a Nazi salute as an imitation of Adolf Hitler.The announcement by Reform comes a day after Nigel Farage defended Corey Edwards, its lead candidate for the Pen-y-bont Bro Morgannwg constituency, saying he may have instead been impersonating the John Cleese character Basil Fawlty.Reform has also experienced problems with candidate selection in Scotland, where four of its picks for elections there in May stood down or were suspended within a week of being announced by Farage.The photograph of Edwards, an ex-adviser to the Conservative former Welsh secretary David TC Davies, was published by the Nation.Cymru website and showed him raising his right arm, with a finger of his left hand under his nose

Former miners can finally speak the truth about Orgreave, says inquiry chair

Former miners will finally get the chance to speak the truth about their experiences after four decades of silence during a public inquiry into infamous clashes with police at Orgreave, the inquiry’s chair has said.Pete Wilcox, the bishop of Sheffield, said only an inquiry could help South Yorkshire move on from the events of 18 June 1984, when striking miners unexpectedly found themselves in a pitched battle against thousands of police officers brought in from forces across the UK.The Hillsborough-style inquiry, officially launched by Sarah Jones, the policing minister, in parliament on Thursday, will examine how 6,000 police officers were deployed to a picket at Orgreave coking plant three months into a National Union of Miners strike over planned pit closures.About 8,000 people – miners and their families – were on the receiving end of what was described as heavy-handed policing, with witnesses and images from the day detailing how mounted police charged at the pickets and hit them with batons.Many were injured, some seriously, but it was the moral injury that the injustice caused in the minds of South Yorkshire miners and wider working-class communities that was the lasting effect

Police find no evidence of criminality in Gorton and Denton byelection

Police have found no evidence of criminality in the Gorton and Denton byelection after claims by Nigel Farage that it was “a victory for cheating”.Reform UK had asked Greater Manchester police (GMP) to investigate allegations of corrupt voting in the Greater Manchester contest, which the Green party won.The election observers’ group Democracy Volunteers said it had witnessed “concerningly high levels” of so-called family voting, where one family member dictates how others cast their ballot. However, GMP said on Friday its investigation had found “no evidence of any intent to influence or refrain any person from voting”.Four observers from Democracy Volunteers had given accounts to police of about 32 potentially suspicious voting habits