Conservative Jake Berry joins growing rebellion trying to force PM into U-turn over onshore wind ban

Published

1 year ago

November 28, 2022

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Rishi Sunak looks set for another battle with his own MPs as a growing number of rebels join Boris Johnson and Liz Truss in trying to force him to drop a ban on new onshore wind farms.

Former party chairman Sir Jake Berry added his name on Sunday to the list of MPs backing the bid, while Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove is also understood to want an end to the ban.

Mr Sunak scrapped a move by predecessor Liz Truss to relax the rules around onshore wind, saying he wants to prioritise building turbines offshore instead.

Simon Clarke, a cabinet minister under Ms Truss, has tabled an amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill demanding the current moratorium on new onshore wind farm developments be lifted.

Politics live: Minister asked if Matt Hancock ‘should have second chance’

Former prime ministers Ms Truss and Mr Johnson are among more than 20 Conservatives supporting the pro-wind legislation, as well as Alok Sharma, who was the president of the COP26 climate summit.

Elliot Colburn and former ministers Robert Courts and Kevin Foster will also add their signatures to the amendment, the PA news agency has been told.

Along with private backers, a rebel source said 30 Tories have got behind Mr Clarke’s bid – coming close to eroding Mr Sunak’s working majority of 69 votes if other opposition groups join Labour in voting for the ban to be overturned.

Sir Jake said Mr Gove’s divergent opinion “spells real danger for my government”, suggesting it is a “first crack in the wall” of discipline for Mr Sunak.

“Boris Johnson famously used to call wind turbines the white satanic mills of the North of England when they were building them all over my constituency,” he told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme.

“He’s changed his mind on them; I to a large extent have changed my mind, and I’m going to be supporting Simon Clarke.”

The former minister, who was awarded a knighthood by Mr Johnson, argued that soaring energy bills are the key reason to invest more in renewables.

Mr Johnson did not seek to overturn the effective moratorium on new onshore wind projects, in place since 2015, during his time in Number 10.

Demands for a re-think on the policy have increased since Russia invaded Ukraine, but other Tories oppose wind farms, with cabinet minister Grant Shapps previously branding them “eyesores”.

Mr Gove, who as levelling up secretary is in charge of planning policy, has previously spoken of the need for more onshore wind power.

A source close to him said: “We will work constructively with colleagues as we are doing with all amendments.”

Labour said it is planning to back the Clarke amendment to pile the pressure on Mr Sunak, even though the party believes it “swaps the ban for what is still a highly restrictive planning regime on onshore wind”.

Shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband said: “Onshore wind is the cheapest, cleanest energy we have. The Tories’ ban has kept bills high and damaged our energy security. Rishi Sunak’s weakness means he’s having to be dragged to scrap it by his backbenches. He should swallow his pride and U-turn now.”

The rebellion spells yet more trouble for Mr Sunak and the Conservative Party.

This week, the prime minister was forced to pull a vote on the legislation that would set a target of building 300,000 homes per year when around 50 Tory MPs threatened to revolt.

Writing in the Sunday Times, senior Tory MP Sajid Javid attacked the rebels, saying: “Tearing down the existing planning system and failing to build anything credible to replace it would be a colossal failure of political leadership.”

Meanwhile, Mr Sunak is seeing a steady stream of Conservative MPs – many of whom are relatively young and were thought to have bright careers ahead – announce their exit plans.

His net zero tsar, Chris Skidmore, became the ninth to say they will not contest the next election, following a move by levelling up minister Dehenna Davison.

Speaking to Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Transport Secretary Mark Harper insisted they are setting out their positions now because Tories have been given until 5 December to make a decision due to the review into constituency boundaries.

“You are going to see those all bunched together so I don’t think there’s anything particularly to write home about that.”

The departures come amid mounting concerns over the party’s performance in opinion polls.

An Ipsos poll conducted earlier this week revealed how the Conservative’s popularity had plunged to 26%, its lowest score for 15 years.

On dire polling the Tories are struggling to bounce back from, Mr Harper said: “If we are being realistic about it, we are not going to turn things around overnight.”

World

Health warning issued as heatwave grips South and Southeast Asia

Published

12 hours ago

May 4, 2024

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Health warning issued as heatwave grips South and Southeast Asia

Countries in South and Southeast Asia have been coping with a weeks-long heatwave which has seen record temperatures sweep parts of the region.

Pupils in the Philippines, India and Bangladesh have been told to stay at home and learn remotely due to a severe health risk.

Schools in Cambodia have also cut back on their hours.

Cambodia faces its hottest temperature in 170 years, according to meteorologists – as high as 43C (109F).

Bangkok in Thailand has reached 40C (104 F), but the heat index is said to have topped 50 C (122 F) due to the heat being trapped among the mass of buildings.

The United Nations Children’s Fund warned in April that the heat could put the lives of millions of children at risk and asked people who care for them to take extra precautions.

A spokesperson for UNICEF said around 243 million children were exposed to hotter and longer heatwaves.

They said the increased heat was “putting them at risk of a multitude of heat-related illnesses, and even death”.

Thirty people in Thailand have died from heatstroke in the past month, according to data from the country’s health ministry.

People are being advised to avoid outdoor activities and to stay hydrated.

Several towns in Myanmar were included on lists of the hottest spots globally last month, with temperatures reaching 48.2C (118F) in at least one case.

Parts of eastern India also experienced their hottest April on record.

Kerala, on India’s west coast, this week instructed all schools and colleges to close until Monday, while influencers in Bangladesh have encouraging people to plant trees in response to the record heat.

Benjamin Horton, director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore, said there were three factors for heatwaves: a naturally-occurring climate phenomenon known as El Nino, an increase in global temperatures, and human-induced climate change.

Brazil is currently experiencing another climate phenomenon – La Nina – with 39 dead and 68 missing in floods across the country.

More than 24,000 people have been forced to leave their homes due to the flooding.

Scientists believe the naturally-occurring phenomenon has intensified due to the impact of climate change.

World

Philippine coastguard hits out at China’s ‘brute force’ after water cannon attack

Published

20 hours ago

May 4, 2024

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Philippine coastguard hits out at China's 'brute force' after water cannon attack

China has been branded “a bully” and an international lawbreaker after its ships blasted Philippine vessels with water cannon in the South China Sea.

Sky News was on board the BRP Bagacay when a Chinese vessel fired water at it, causing significant damage.

Philippine coastguard spokesman Jay Tarriela told Sky News that this week’s confrontation was the first time China had used “such aggression” against their ships.

“The metal parts and the railing were bent. The canopy was also destroyed. So this came as a surprise for us that China never hesitated to use brute force,” he said.

“It completely justifies us calling The People’s Republic of China a bully country.”

The Philippine coastguard was on a resupply mission to the Scarborough Shoal to deliver food and fuel to Philippine fishermen when they were struck.

The submerged reef lies in disputed waters. China claims sovereignty over the reef but it is much closer to the Philippines and lies within its legally recognised exclusive economic zone.

The vessel Sky News was on board was the closest the coastguard had ever been to the shoal – just 600 metres away from it.

Asked if the mission to the shoal was a provocative move by the Philippine coastguard, Commodore Tarriela denied they were “poking the bear” but rather “driving the bear out of our own territory”.

The Philippines has been stepping up its patrols in the area under the instruction of President Bongbong Marcos, and reasserting its claim to the shoal in recent months.

It has raised the spectre of open conflict. While neither side currently wants that, there is now a greater threat of open conflict.

Asked what the end game was for the Philippines, Commodore Tarriela said their priority was to “tell the world” about China’s aggression.

He said their secondary goal was to ensure “like-minded states” also made China “fall in line and respect international law”.

“Otherwise, it’s everybody’s loss,” he added.

Philippine government policy is not to resist using water cannon against Chinese vessels – and Commodore Tarriela insisted that policy remains in place after the confrontation.

The government also remains intensely determined to protect the waters it believes it has every right to operate in.

“We’re not going to yield and we’re not going to surrender a square inch of our territory,” Commodore Tarriela insisted.

Beijing has called the action its own coastguard took as “necessary”.

Speaking at the Chinese foreign ministry’s daily news conference, spokesperson Lin Jian described the coastguard’s conduct as “professional, proper, and lawful”.

World

Three charged over killing of Sikh separatist leader in Canada – in incident which sparked diplomatic spat with India

Published

1 day ago

May 4, 2024

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Three charged over killing of Sikh separatist leader in Canada - in incident which sparked diplomatic spat with India

Three suspects have been charged by Canadian police over the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in Vancouver last June, in an incident that sparked a diplomatic spat between Ottawa and New Delhi.

Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, was shot dead outside a temple by masked gunmen in Surrey, outside Vancouver, on 18 June 2023.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police assistant commissioner David Teboul said police could not comment on the nature of the evidence or the motive.

“This matter is very much under active investigation,” Teboul said.

The three suspects – Indian nationals Kamalpreet Singh, Karan Brar and Karampreet Singh – were arrested in Edmonton, Alberta, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

Superintendent Mandeep Mooker said: “This investigation does not end here. We are aware that others may have played a role in this homicide and we remain dedicated to finding and arresting each one of these individuals.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sparked a diplomatic feud with India when he said in September that there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the killing. India angrily denied involvement.

Mr Nijjar, an Indian-born citizen of Canada, was a leader in what remains of the Khalistan movement – a once-strong group calling for the creation of an independent Sikh homeland.

He was organising an unofficial referendum in India for an independent Sikh nation at the time of this death and had denied allegations of ties to terrorism.

The Khalistan movement has lost much of its power but is still supported by some in the Punjab state in northwestern India and in the Sikh diaspora overseas.

A violent, decade-long Sikh insurgency shook north India in the 1970s and 1980s, and was ultimately crushed in a government crackdown which saw thousands of people killed, including prominent Sikh leaders.

In June 1984, Indian forces stormed the Golden Temple, the holiest Sikh shrine in Amritsar, where separatists had taken refuge.

In more recent years, the Indian government has repeatedly warned that Sikh separatists were trying to make a comeback.

Read more: What is the Khalistan movement?

The diplomatic row saw diplomats expelled by both India and Canada.

The Indian government said it “completely rejected” Mr Trudeau’s allegations and added: “We are a democratic polity with a strong commitment to rule of law.”

The dispute derailed trade talks between the two countries and ultimately saw Canada withdraw 41 of its 62 diplomats in India.

At the time, Canada did not provide public evidence to back up Mr Trudeau’s allegations. However, it did reveal the claims were based on intelligence provided by a major ally and surveillance of Indian diplomats in the country.