Inside Politics: Cabinet ministers to meet for crunch talks on energy security
It’s a new week, but old divisions between Downing Street’s top two are once again coming to the fore, with reports this morning that Rishi Sunak – still licking his wounds from his widely panned spring statement – continues to resist opening the Treasury cheque book to fund proposals within Boris Johnson’s energy security plan, which has once again been delayed. How to spend taxpayers’ cash is a constant bone of contention between the prime minister and chancellor and it seems that theme looks set to continue this week as senior cabinet ministers meet to discuss how to ensure Britain becomes less dependent on other states for its energy supply.
Inside the bubble
Commons action gets underway with defence questions at 2.30pm. After that is any urgent questions or statements. Later, MPs are scheduled to consider Lords amendments to first the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill and then the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. Chancellor Rishi Sunak is up at the Treasury select committee at 2.40pm.
Coming up:
– Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi on BBC Radio 4 Today at 8.30am
– Labour leader Keir Starmer on LBC at 9am
Daily Briefing
- NEUTRAL STATUS: Ukraine is willing to consider adopting a neutral security position as part of a peace deal with Russia, Volodymyr Zelensky has said ahead of further discussions in Turkey later this week aimed at ending the war. In a call with independent journalists in Russia, the Ukraine president said any proposals would need to be approved by the people of Ukraine in a referendum. Ukraine has previously expressed an interest in joining Nato, a move the Kremlin says would pose a threat to Russia’s national security. Zelensky said that a vote could take place within a few months once Russian troops leave. Moscow quickly banned his interview from being published. The president’s comments came as a top military official warned that Putin is attempting to split Ukraine in two like North and South Korea, raising fears of a long and protracted conflict. “The occupiers will try to pull the occupied territories into a single quasi-state structure and pit it against independent Ukraine,” Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, said in a statement released by the defence ministry yesterday. Fierce fighting continues across Ukraine, with the wail of air raid sirens heard ringing out in every region of the country last night. In its latest update, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said: “In the last 24 hours there has been no significant change to Russian Forces dispositions in occupied Ukraine. Ongoing logistical shortages have been compounded by a continued lack of momentum and morale amongst the Russian military, and aggressive fighting by the Ukrainians.” It added: “Russia has gained most ground in the south in the vicinity of Mariupol where heavy fighting continues as Russia attempts to capture the port.”
- COST OF LIVING LATEST: The fall out from Rishi Sunak’s spring statement continues as the chancellor comes under pressure to set out further measures to ease the cost of living squeeze amid rising energy, fuel and food prices. Nadhim Zahawi was sent out on the Sunday broadcast round to bat for the government and hinted the chancellor is planning further help in the months ahead. It came after a report in the Sunday Times saying that he is weighing up a further rebate on council tax bills in a new multi-billion-pound package, after No 10 made clear its “panic” over the cost of living. Meanwhile, opposition parties claimed that Sunak’s mini-budget “swindle” means around 1.3 million eligible families may miss out on his previously-announced £150 council tax rebate. They pointed to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) prediction that 20 per cent of those who do not pay their council tax by direct debit will not take up the rebate – potentially saving the government £195m. Local authorities warned they have not been given any extra resources to deliver the rebate to those who don’t pay via direct debit – leading to fears that some of the poorest and most vulnerable will not receive the tax cut. Labour claimed Sunak “absolutely had more room for manoeuvre” in his statement to help families with their bills, with Jon Ashworth, the shadow work and pensions secretary, branding the chancellor “Mr Tax” as he pointed out that Britons are facing the highest tax burden in more than 50 years. We’ll have all today’s political action on our liveblog.
- EDUCATION PLAN: It is a big week for Zahawi, the education secretary, who publishes the government’s white paper on schools today. A mandate for institutions in England to offer a minimum week of 32.5 hours by the end of next year as part of efforts to raise standards was one measure briefed out over the weekend. The white paper, the first published in six years, also includes plans to offer extra support to any child who falls behind in maths or English in what the government says is action “to level up education”. But both the Labour Party and teachers’ unions say the white paper falls short of what is required to help poorer pupils catch up following months of lost learning due to the Covid pandemic. “Commitment to adequate funding, access to support services or detail on how these bold ambitions will be achieved is sadly missing,” said general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, Paul Whiteman. Labour accused the government of making a “smoke and mirrors” announcement, saying that developing good reading, writing and maths skills should be fundamental and not just an “add-on”. Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said the strategy is “distracting from the business of teaching with yet more tinkering with school structures whilst offering nothing to change children’s day-to-day experience in the classroom”.
- P&O LATEST: Following the revelation that he was warned four months before P&O sacked 800 staff that the firm planned cost-cutting changes on its UK operations, Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, will today call on the shamed ferry operator to reinstate all all those it let go without notice. He will also set out plans for a new law which will ban the practice of “fire and rehire” tactics.
- ENERGY ROW: Johnson is set to hold talks with senior cabinet ministers this week aimed at shoring up Britain’s energy security in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And reports this morning say the prime minister’s delayed energy strategy, due to be published this week, has been put back once again, amid cabinet infighting over how to fund the proposals within it. According to the Financial Times, Sunak is still resisting “big new spending commitments”. According to the FT, officials close to the process say the proposals are now unlikely to see the light of day before 4 April. Meanwhile, plans to approve six new North Sea drilling sites will “blow” the UK’s net zero climate target and generate the equivalent of 420 million barrels of oil if they go ahead, new analysis by Uplift has revealed. Six North Sea oil and gas field projects are expected to be given approval to begin drilling as part of a government drive to ease soaring energy costs in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.
On the record
“I think he will continue to keep an eye on this, it’s only right. It’s irresponsible for me to say ‘job done’ because energy prices are volatile, inflation remains high, so it would be absolutely irresponsible to say ‘job done’.”
Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi on reports Sunak is considering doing more on the cost-of-living squeeze.
From the Twitterati
“One reason Sunak may have miscalculated over the Spring Statement is that there’s a certain type of Tory for whom cutting the basic rate of income tax has an almost mythical status as this great & popular policy, well beyond the extent to which most people actually care about it.”
The Independent’s policy correspondent Jon Stone on Sunak’s woes.
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