The prime minister says the ‘absolutely massive’ move would protect thousands of jobs
17m agoUK risks running out of gas by 2030s, ministers told
45m agoGreen energy entrepreneur changes mind to back new oil and gas drilling in North Sea
3h agoBurnham to report to Parliament on early release scheme in two weeks
3h agoRussia warns UK of ‘consequences’ over reports Ukraine using British drones in attacks
4h agoWest Midlands to take public control of local bus network
4h agoCivil service chief got record £500,000 payout after Starmer dismissal
5h agoBurnham urged to intervene over ‘zero-hours’ custody officers in private prison
6h agoChildren becoming ‘intoxicated with extremism’, children's commissioner for England warns
7h agoDisabled people in England to get 24-hour free bus travel under government reforms
The prime minister, Andy Burnham, has confirmed a new partnership between the government and the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) to take local control of bus services in the region.
Burnham said the “absolutely massive” move would protect thousands of jobs, which were threatened after the parent company behind local operator National Express indicated it was leaving the market.
The deal, which is backed by £11.5m of new government funding, will support the WMCA to keep bus services running by bringing the bus network under public control, the government said.
WMCA is working on a longer term ambition to directly control bus services through franchising, like in London and Greater Manchester, paying contractors to run the services for them.
“Government and local leaders have joined forces to keep vital bus services running for millions of people across the West Midlands, protecting thousands of jobs and empowering local decision making to deliver better, more affordable, and more reliable bus services,” Burnham said in a video posted on X.
Reacting to the government’s announcement, the shadow transport secretary, Richard Holden, questioned the move, saying it could come at huge cost to the taxpayer. He wrote in a post on X:
Buses in Manchester and London are franchised (ie owned by a private company but operated under a local authority brand.) It seems strange that the Government didn’t try and facilitate this or encourage another private operator to take over the enhanced partnership operation in the West Midlands but instead transfer c. £100m of liabilities to local taxpayers backed by The UK Govt & ultimately UK taxpayers.
Great Britain risks running out of gas in the 2030s despite its growing clean energy sources, unless ministers take “unprecedented” action to guard against a future gas supply shock, according to an official assessment of the country’s gas security.
The government is considering plans to provide direct financial support to safeguard the country’s ageing gas infrastructure after a consultation found that a “high stress scenario” could mean homes and businesses run out of gas within the next decade.
A range of measures to support Britain’s gas sector is now being considered after most respondents said the industry was not likely to prepare for “low probability, high-impact events,” which could see gas supplies run dry as North Sea supplies continue to deplete.
Three-quarters of respondents agreed with a warning issued last year by the National Energy System Operator that an “emerging risk to gas supply security” could mean that by 2030 homes and businesses would be left without gas during a prolonged period of cold weather.
The green energy entrepreneur and Labour donor Dale Vince has urged the prime minister to allow more drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea, in a reversal of his previous position.
Vince, who has given more than £5m to Labour over several years, said he had told Andy Burnham that the Rosebank and Jackdaw projects should be approved as long as the oil and gas produced were subject to price controls to make them cheaper than energy imported from overseas.
“If we price-control wholesale energy across the board like we have retail, we have to do this to reform our energy system,” he told the BBC’s Newsnight programme, adding that the move could help bring down people’s energy bills.
“If we are going to use fossil fuels we might as well make them here as to bring them from abroad – that makes more sense and comes to the fore. We will use fossil fuels for a number of years to come and it makes sense to make them here if we can also save money here and create some jobs. I’m up for it.”
Dale told The Sunday Times in April that allowing new North Sea drilling would be a “betrayal” and urged the then energy secretary, Ed Miliband, to honour Labour’s manifesto pledge against new drilling.
The decision on whether Rosebank, Britain’s largest untapped oilfield, and another planned North Sea development, the Jackdaw gasfield off the coast of Aberdeen, can go ahead will be a key environmental test for Burnham and risks the first revolt of his premiership. The proposals are both now in the hands of ministers, with the consultation on Jackdaw having closed a week ago.
While no final decision has been made, the prime minister has said he will take a “pragmatic” approach to oil and gas drilling in the North Sea, suggesting he is at least open to the prospect. This is despite warnings that any new drilling there will worsen the climate crisis and leading economists saying that new fields in the North Sea will not bring down UK fuel prices or stimulate growth.
Forty prominent progressive academics are urging Andy Burnham’s government to join a new global push to tackle inequality.
The Spirit Level.
In an open letter, they call on Burnham to sign the UK up to help create a new International Panel on Inequality (IPI), which is being developed at the UN.
“The organising principle of the prime minister’s policy agenda – the Makerfield test – aims to ensure that places forgotten by Westminster finally receive fairness after decades of neglect,” they say in the letter.
“While these efforts are commendable, inequality is also a global issue, becoming more entrenched as the geopolitical climate destabilises.”
They say the IPI will provide “an independent, trusted global evidence base on the causes and consequences of inequality, alongside analysis of the policies that can reduce it”. By backing it, they argue, Burnham could “cement the organising principles of his politics globally”.
Speaking to the media earlier today, prime minister Andy Burnham said “nothing of consequence” was exchanged when he was text messaging somebody impersonating Donald Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles.
“All politicians are receiving these pressures and these challenges, but I did everything right. There was a minimal exchange of information of zero consequence, and it was quickly reported,” he told reporters.
The BBC is reporting that a 62-year-old man who lives near Norwich, and who works at Serco, appeared at Ipswich magistrates court yesterday, charged with misconduct in public office.
Police said he was charged in connection with the release of information related to the location of asylum seekers in Thetford, places which “were later targeted during several nights of violent disorder in the town”. He was remanded in custody.
Andy Burnham has said he will present findings on a review of the early release scheme in England and Wales when parliament returns in two weeks’ time.
Justice Secretary Alex Norris is drawing up plans to “maximise public safety and minimise the early release of prisoners”, the prime minister said.
After weeks of media pressure, Burnham pledged to do “everything possible” to ensure Pc Andrew Harper’s killers Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole aren’t eligible for early release, PA Media reports.
Pressed on reports ministers are considering exempting prisoners who committed “unlawful act” manslaughter from the scheme, he said “at this moment in time, this is speculation”.
A former leading judge has warned it would be “unlawful” to block solely Bowers and Cole from early release while freeing other prisoners convicted of the same offence.
The prime minister has also commented on the announcement that local buses are to be brought under public control in the West Midlands (see post at 12.04 for more details).
Speaking to reporters in Wolverhampton, Andy Burnham said:
This is the single biggest act of public control since I came into office. And the reason I’m here supporting the mayor of the West Midlands, a very big day for the West Midlands, is to prevent services from collapsing, because the bus service here was close to collapse. And the first reason is to protect what is the backbone of the public transport system here across the West Midlands, serving millions of people. We needed to step in to secure services in the short term. But longer term, we are now building to a model under full public control, so that people here can get the benefits of that.
This is the single biggest act of public control since I came into office. And the reason I’m here supporting the mayor of the West Midlands, a very big day for the West Midlands, is to prevent services from collapsing, because the bus service here was close to collapse.
And the first reason is to protect what is the backbone of the public transport system here across the West Midlands, serving millions of people. We needed to step in to secure services in the short term.
But longer term, we are now building to a model under full public control, so that people here can get the benefits of that.
Andy Burnham responded to Russia’s warnings against London after reports of Ukraine using British-made drones to strike Russian territory. Burnham told reporters:
“This is the UK doing what it has long said it would do, which is to support Ukraine 100% against this illegal war led by Vladimir Putin.
