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As the Conservatives in Westminster tied themselves in knots over whether to back the Privileges Committee condemnation of Boris Johnson and the SNP’s Humza Yousaf sought to revive independence plans with his party still in crisis, Sir Keir Starmer went to Leith in Scotland to set out his mission to turbo-charge renewable energy in the UK should he become PM.

His target is for Britain to produce all its electricity from low-carbon energy sources – nuclear, wind and solar – by 2030. To do it is a bold plan to borrow £100bn+ over the course of the next parliament to transition the country away from fossil fuels to green energy.

By far Labour’s single biggest spending commitment, the party had pledged to borrow £28bn-a-year to fund the flagship green transition programme, but has since scaled back borrowing plans amid growing concerns about taking on debt as the cost of borrowing rises on the back of higher interest rates.

Instead, Labour will gradually ramp up borrowing to that level in the “second half of the parliament” if it wins the next general election.

But the plan is still huge – undoubtedly the single most radical policy of Sir Keir’s Labour government should he win the next election. Labour’s green subsidies amount to more in relative terms than US President Joe Biden’s own green economy plan – the inflation reduction act – which has earmarked $37bn in subsidies.

The money will be used to launch a state-run company GB Energy to invest in renewables, with £2.5bn in direct subsidies to green energy providers who contract to manufacture in the UK – the ‘British jobs bonus’ as Sir Keir puts it. He says it will create nearly 500,000 new direct and indirect jobs.

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Starmer outlines energy plans

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The driving purpose of the plan is to drive down energy bills – with Labour claiming that it will take £1,400 off average bills if it can hit the 2030 target.

It is also about transforming the economy in order to better fund public services.

Sir Keir is clear that this is the sort of “activist industrial policy” Britain needs for the longer term, but for voters looking to Labour to commit money to schools, hospitals and transport in the next election, this could prove a hard sell with the amount Labour is willing to borrow to subsidise green technologies dwarfing other commitments for public services.

“We are going to put money into public services,” explains one senior Labour figure. “But we have to grow the economy as the first step. Being clear about stable finances and sticking to it is the best way to turnaround the country.”

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‘We are doubling down not backing off’

But while the level of borrowing has raised eyebrows, and afforded the Conservatives a “borrowing bombshell” attack line, the plans to block new oil and gas developments in the North Sea as part of the renewables revolution has provoked widespread criticism from industry and union figures fearful of widespread job losses.

Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, on Monday said Labour’s plans put “tens of thousands of Scottish jobs a risk”.

The criticisms have prompted another policy tweak as Sir Keir promised not to revoke any fossil fuel extraction licenses granted before the next general election, even though it could take years before those new fields begin producing.

This allows the Labour leader to insist existing jobs in oil and gas are not at risk, but there’s no doubt that as production is gradually wound down, this will be a momentous shift for a sector that supports nearly 200,000 jobs in the UK.

There is also the question of whether the Labour leader can actually deliver what he is pledging in this five years. Sir Dieter Helm, professor of economic policy at Oxford University, who has advised the government on energy policy over many years, said last week the goal was unlikely to succeed on the current trajectory.

When I pressed Sir Keir in an interview in Leith on Monday if the “clean power by 2030” pledge was a guarantee or a target he demurred, he said it was his “ambition” and he believed to be “doable”. Not an explicit guarantee then, and for good reason.

There is also a question about credibility and commitment after the Labour party U-turned on its promise to borrow £28bn-a-year from the beginning of the parliament in order to scale up renewable industry.

‘Doubling down’

The leadership has insisted it is still totally committed to the plan, but has had to scale back commitments in the near-to-medium term as the high cost of borrowing hits against Labour’s fiscal rules (no borrowing to fund day-to-day spending and net debt must be falling as a percentage of GDP at end of the rolling five-year period).

When I asked Sir Keir on Monday if the U-turn on the financial commitment in the first half of the parliament showed – as with Brexit, tuition fees, and re-nationalisations – that he can’t be trusted to keep his promises, he said it showed the opposite, that he was “doubling down” on the plan.

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Starmer hits out at ‘Tory crap’

“It is a matter of trust,” he told me.

“Rachel [Reeves] – we set out fiscal rules two or more years ago. Inflation is in a completely different place to where it was… but at the same time as we work through our plans and set out what we want to do in years one, two and three, it is clear we can ramp up to that £28bn and when I say to people in the sector, I want clean power by 2030, they don’t say you’re backing down, they say that’s a real challenge.”

On the timing of this announcement, there is of course a risk that Sir Keir’s missions get drowned out by the dramas back in Westminster. There was some discussion about whether to pull the announcement, but in the end Sir Keir decided that he wanted to get on talking about how he might lead Britain than, to quote one ally, get “bogged down in the psychodrama” of what’s going on in Westminster.

“Doesn’t it speak volumes that the Labour Party is today launching a plan for the next generation of jobs, whilst the Tories are squabbling back in Westminster, and the SNP are preaching about promises they’ve broken?” observed the Labour leader when I asked him about the current state of his rivals.

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Sir Keir wants to use these “mission statements” to position himself as a leader-in-waiting as the current prime minister Rishi Sunak finds his agenda hijacked by the failings of his predecessor and party infighting once more.

But the agenda on Monday is very much about parking Labour’s tanks on the SNP’s lawns too, given that there is no route to Number 10 for Sir Keir that doesn’t go through Scotland. Locating GB Energy in Scotland is designed to firmly park his tanks on the SNP’s lawn.

A poll out over the weekend suggested Labour was on course to take 26 seats in the next general election – an incredible change in fortunes from the single seat it picked up in 2019 – as the departure of Nicola Sturgeon and her subsequent arrest (she was released without charge) over the police probe into SNP finance leaves the party battered and bruised.

“Nicola Sturgeon not being first minister obviously provides a space and an opportunity that simply wasn’t there before,” acknowledges one senior figure.

“But there’s no rule that anybody disillusioned with either the Tories or the SNP necessarily swaps columns to us. Anyone who thinks we can flatline is heading for defeat at the next election. We’ve got to go up at the end, which is why we’re going to continue in this way.”

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Bodies still remain among the ‘collapsed and inclining’ buildings in quake-hit Mandalay

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Bodies still remain among the 'collapsed and inclining' buildings in quake-hit Mandalay

A man inside Mandalay has told Sky News bodies remain under “collapsed and inclining” buildings after the Myanmar earthquake – as a woman was freed from rubble after 91 hours.

The local inside Myanmar said many of the structures in the city were wrecked or badly damaged after the 7.7 magnitude quake on Friday, adding: “There are some bodies, some dead bodies, that still remain and other destruction”.

Meanwhile, in a televised address, Myanmar’s military leader Min Aung Hlaing said the number of dead had risen to 2,719 and is expected to exceed 3,000.

Some 4,521 people have been injured, while a further 441 are missing.

More than 10,000 buildings are known to have collapsed or been severely damaged in central and northwest Myanmar, the World Health Organisation said.

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Before and after: Myanmar earthquake

Smell of dead bodies near destroyed buildings

In Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, which was close to the quake’s epicentre, 50 children and two teachers were killed when their preschool collapsed, the United Nations said.

The local in the city told Sky News that “a lot of local assistance associations like charity groups are still struggling with digging out the corpses, the dead bodies, from the destruction”.

He said that “when we pass near the destructions, the collapsed building or very damaged building, we can smell” dead bodies.

“The smell of the dead bodies after four days… it still remains,” he said, before adding: “For the social assistance association… they need permission [to give aid] especially from the government.

“If they don’t have permission, then they cannot do anything.”

People sheltering in a makeshift tent camp in Mandalay. Pic: Reuters
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People sheltering in a makeshift tent camp in Mandalay. Pic: Reuters

He also said others in Mandalay are struggling after the earthquake, which followed the city being affected by cyclones, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the civil war in Myanmar – where a junta seized power in a coup in 2021.

“Some people, they say they have nothing at all,” the local added. “They have no more home, they have no more belongings, because its already damaged.”

Woman freed after 91 hours under rubble

It comes after the fire department in Myanmar’s capital freed a woman trapped under rubble 91 hours after the building collapsed.

The 63-year-old woman was freed early on Tuesday in Naypyidaw.

As the country continues to recover, a worker from the International Rescue Committee said people fear aftershocks and are sleeping outside on roads or in open fields.

Communities are struggling to meet basic needs such as access to clean water and sanitation, and emergency teams are working “tirelessly” to locate survivors and provide aid, the UN said in a report.

Rescue efforts have been complicated by the civil war, as rebel groups say the junta has conducted airstrikes, even after the quake, while NGOs fear that certain areas could be denied vital supplies.

“Myanmar’s military has a longstanding practice of denying aid to areas where groups who resist it are active,” said Joe Freeman, a researcher with Amnesty Myanmar.

“It must immediately allow unimpeded access to all humanitarian organisations and remove administrative barriers delaying needs assessments.”

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Myanmar earthquake leaves some areas almost completely destroyed

The quake was the strongest to hit the southeast Asian country in more than a century.

In neighbouring Thailand, rescuers are still scouring the ruins of a collapsed, unfinished skyscraper for any signs of life.

“There are about 70 bodies underneath, and we hope by some miracle one or two are still alive,” volunteer rescue leader Bin Bunluerit said.

Six human-shaped figures have been detected by scanners, said Bangkok’s deputy governor, Tavida Kamolvej.

Thirteen deaths have been confirmed at the building site, with 74 people still missing, while Thailand’s national number of dead stands at 20.

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Father demands protection after Gaza aid workers’ deaths

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Father demands protection after Gaza aid workers' deaths

The father of a paramedic killed by Israel in Gaza has told Sky News he would have been on the mission to rescue wounded colleagues, but was ill that day and so his son went instead.

“It was supposed to be me, you know. I was on duty that night but fell ill and sent him in my place.”

Speaking at his son’s funeral, Hassan Abu Hileh said Israel is to blame for the death of Mohammed and the other 14 men.

SN footage of P 170800TU GAZA BUNKALL 1700 PKG JJ1
paramedic Hassan Abu Hileh who's son Mohammed was killed by Israeli forces
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Hassan Abu Hileh’s son Mohammed was killed when Israeli forces said they ‘opened fire on suspicious vehicles’

“We need protection from the international community. We need protection for medical teams. We are medics-soldiers of duty, not armed fighters. We carry out humanitarian work. If I see someone who needs medical attention, I’m obligated to serve them,” he said.

The bodies of the Red Crescent and United Nations workers went missing around eight days ago. Despite repeated requests to search for them, all denied by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), the UN eventually found 14 bodies buried under sand in a mass grave. One is still missing.

They were still wearing their uniforms.

Palestinians mourn medics, who came under Israeli fire while on a rescue mission, after their bodies were recovered, according to the Red Crescent, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip March 31, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
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Funerals took place on Monday for medics killed in Gaza. Pic: Reuters

The director of the Palestinian Red Crescent in Gaza has accused Israel of murdering the emergency workers. “We arrived at the scene of the crime to retrieve the bodies and found that all of them had been shot directly in the upper part of their bodies and buried,” said Dr Bashir Murad.

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“The ambulances were also destroyed and buried.”

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Dr Bashir Murad, Director of the Palestinian Red Crescent in Gaza
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Dr Bashir Murad, director of the Palestinian Red Crescent in Gaza, said the workers had been shot

The bodies were found in sand in the south of the Gaza Strip in what Jonathan Whittall, Gaza head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, called a “mass grave”, marked with the emergency light from a crushed ambulance.

Mr Whittall posted pictures and video of Red Crescent teams digging in the sand for the bodies and workers laying them out on the ground, covered in plastic sheets.

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Bodies of aid workers found in Gaza

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has denied killing innocent medical workers and said Israeli forces opened fire on suspicious vehicles that were travelling without coordination and in an active combat zone.

“The IDF did not randomly attack an ambulance on March 23,” claimed a spokesman.

“⁠Last Sunday, several uncoordinated vehicles were identified advancing suspiciously toward IDF troops without headlights or emergency signals. IDF troops then opened fire at the suspected vehicles.

“Earlier that day, cars that did not belong to terrorists were coordinated and passed safely on the same route.”

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We have asked the IDF why the bodies were found in a mass grave but have received no comment.

More than 400 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, according to the UN.

According to the UN, at least 1,060 healthcare workers have been killed in the 18 months since Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

The UN is reducing its international staff in Gaza by a third because of safety concerns.

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China launches large-scale military drills around Taiwan and calls its president a ‘parasite’

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China launches large-scale military drills around Taiwan and calls its president a 'parasite'

China’s military has said it’s begun joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan.

It said the exercises were intended to “serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence”, and called the self-governed island’s president a “parasite”.

China considers Taiwan to be its own territory and has threatened to use force to gain control.

A poster accompanying the drills titled 'Closing In'. Pic: Eastern Theater Command
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A poster accompanying the drills titled ‘Closing In’. Pic: Eastern Theater Command

Its military released a poster entitled “Closing In”, showing Chinese ships and fighter jets circling the island and the words “sinister moves of Taiwan separatists courting disaster upon themselves”.

It comes after the Taiwanese president, President Lai Ching-Te, called China a “foreign hostile force” last month.

He announced measures including a proposal to re-instate a military court system in response to a perceived growth in Chinese infiltration of Taiwanese society and “grey-zone” tactics.

Announcing the joint exercises, China’s eastern theatre command depicted the president as a cartoon bug held by a pair of chopsticks above a burning Taiwan.

“Parasite poisoning Taiwan island. Parasite hollowing Island out. Parasite courting ultimate destruction,” the animation said.

Footage also showed the capital Taipei being aimed at from above and military vehicles patrolling the streets.

An image of Taiwan from above. Pic: Eastern Theatre Command/Reuters
Image:
An image of Taiwan from above. Pic: Eastern Theatre Command/Reuters

The eastern theatre command said on its official WeChat social media account: “The focus is on exercises such as combat readiness patrols at sea and in the air, seizing comprehensive control, striking maritime and land targets and imposing blockade controls on key areas and routes.”

Taiwan’s defence ministry said China’s Shandong aircraft carrier group had entered its response area and it had tracked 19 Chinese navy vessels in the waters surrounding the island in a 24-hour period.

It said the group had dispatched military aircraft and ships and activated land-based missile systems in response.

There is no doubt Beijing is seizing an opportunity here.

The recent hardening of both rhetoric and policy from Taiwan’s president provides an opening for China, not just to practise blockade scenarios and sow feelings of insecurity among Taiwanese, but crucially also to test the resolve of the island’s longstanding backer, the US.

It has been a nervous few months in Taipei as they’ve watched President Trump row back support for Ukraine.

An initial reluctance from the new administration to provide clear condemnation or pushback will have ultimately emboldened Beijing.

However, there have been a few hints in recent days that Washington may ultimately be coming back in behind Taiwan; the hardening of language in a few key statements, a visit by Alaska’s governor and the quiet release of $870m of previously frozen military aid, to name just a few.

Exactly where Trump stands on the Taiwan question is still unclear, he remains a volatile and transactional actor.

It is not impossible, for instance, that Taiwan’s future could be used as a bargaining chip within some future wide-reaching deal with China.

Today’s drills will serve as a test for all involved. Is US resolve indeed hardening, to what extent, and how publicly?

Either way, an intense period of cross-strait relations feels inevitable.

“The Chinese Communist Party has continued to increase its military activities around Taiwan and in the Indo-Pacific
region… and has become the biggest ‘troublemaker’ in the international community,” the statement added.

The drills come two weeks after a large exercise in mid-March, when Beijing sent a large number of drones and ships towards the island.

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