Politics

Target Towns: Will Labour’s U-turn on green spending cost the party in Grimsby?

Published

9 months ago

March 8, 2024

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Residents of Grimsby and Cleethorpes are no strangers to ministerial visits.

This is the place Michael Gove chose to launch the Conservatives‘ Levelling Up plan back in 2022.

Almost everyone, from Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson, to Jeremy Corbyn and Sir Kier Starmer have in recent years paid these towns a visit.

On Thursday, it was the turn of Ed Miliband. Like those who came before him, the shadow climate change secretary was acutely aware of their growing strategic importance.

The electoral battle in Grimsby and Cleethorpes, Sky News’ Target Towns, will be fierce. Labour will need an 11.7 point swing to win this newly-merged constituency back from the Conservatives.

In 2019, residents in Grimsby voted Tory for the first time since the end of the Second World War.

The old Cleethorpes constituency was always more of a bellwether, having voted Conservative since 2010. However, it has shed some of its rural, Conservative voting residents in the merger.

In both these towns, residents were won over by the Conservatives’ promises of levelling up. The prospect of public investment and prosperity were big vote winners.

No surprises then that on a visit to Orsted, the Danish firm investing heavily in offshore wind in Grimsby, Ed Miliband wanted to talk about Labour’s plan for green jobs.

Under the Jobs Bonus, Labour will allocate £500m a year to reward renewable energy businesses that create high quality jobs in the UK.

Mr Miliband said: “We know people in Grimsby want economic change. They want good jobs, good wages.

“We know that there’s a substantial base already here, but we want to give proper incentives to manufacturers in particular to actually build, for example, wind turbines here, to create the jobs here even more of them than we have at the moment.”

It’s a message that should resonate here.

From fishing to green energy

Grimsby once boasted the largest fishing fleet in the world – there are signs of that heritage all over the town. However, the industry has shrunk dramatically.

Instead, renewable energy is the promise of the future.

Situated here is a port to the world’s largest offshore wind farm and thousands of locals are already employed in the sector.

Demand for apprenticeships is rife.

People here are excited by these opportunities and green jobs are welcome but they are not convinced by Labour’s promises, especially after the party scaled back its £28bn green spending plan.

James Elliott, a local resident and environmentalist, said the U-turn was deeply disappointing. “I think politicians need to do a better job.

“When politicians make these pledges, we need to scrutinise them a lot more. So, when they come into power they can’t mould it into something else.”

Pushing through green policies has been a thorny experience for Labour.

Not only has the party been forced to U-turn on its green spending ambitions after relentless attacks from the Conservatives about the cost, but it is also coming under fire from unions representing workers in Scotland because of Labour’s refusal to issue new licences for drilling in the North Sea.

The head of the GMB union, Gary Smith, has called the stance “naive” and trade bodies have warned that thousands of jobs in Scotland are at stake.

However, on his visit to Grimsby, Mr Miliband was untroubled by this. “The truth is that new oil and gas licences will not provide long term sustainable jobs.

“Indeed, we’ve had new licences over the past 13 years and we’ve seen the North Sea workforce actually halve…Now, of course, we’re going to keep the existing oil and gas fields in the North Sea, so we have a just and orderly transition.”

Yet, Labour’s own green policymaking has been anything but orderly.

On the plan, a government spokesperson said: “Ed Miliband has one question to answer and that’s how is this plan funded. The answer it isn’t.

“Just like their 2030 decarbonisation promise, which Labour say costs £28 billion, they can’t say how they’d pay for their pledges because they don’t have a plan. The only certainty is taxes would go up.

“Only Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives will stick to our plan which is working and that means we can cut taxes so working people keep more of their own money. To keep cutting taxes, we must stick to the plan which will mean a stronger economy and a brighter future for you and your family.”

In Grimsby and Cleethorpes there is clear political capital to be gained through the promise of green jobs. However, the challenge is getting people to believe in the promise.

Sky News’ Target Towns series aims to follow the build-up to the general election from a key constituency prized by both Conservatives and Labour – Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes. Send in your stories to targettowns@sky.uk.

Politics

Coinbase CEO to meet with Trump to discuss personnel appointments — WSJ

Published

3 hours ago

November 18, 2024

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Coinbase CEO to meet with Trump to discuss personnel appointments — WSJ

Before US Election Day, Brian Armstrong said Coinbase was “prepared to work” with either a Kamala Harris or Donald Trump administration.

Politics

Row over how many farms will be affected by inheritance tax policy – as PM doubles down ahead of farmers protest

Published

4 hours ago

November 18, 2024

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Row over how many farms will be affected by inheritance tax policy - as PM doubles down ahead of farmers protest

Sir Keir Starmer has insisted the “vast majority of farmers” will not be affected by changes to Inheritance Tax (IHT) ahead of a protest outside parliament on Tuesday.

It follows Chancellor Rachel Reeves announcing a 20% inheritance tax that will apply to farms worth more than £1m from April 2026, where they were previously exempt.

But the prime minister looked to quell fears as he resisted calls to change course.

Speaking from the G20 summit in Brazil, he said: “If you take a typical case of a couple wanting to pass a family farm down to one of their children, which would be a very typical example, with all of the thresholds in place, that’s £3m before any inheritance tax is paid.”

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The comments come as thousands of farmers, including celebrity farmer Jeremy Clarkson, are due to descend on Whitehall on Tuesday to protest the change.

And 1,800 more will take part in a “mass lobby” where members of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) will meet their MPs in parliament to urge them to ask Ms Reeves to reconsider the policy.

Speaking to broadcasters, Sir Keir insisted the government is supportive of farmers, pointing to a £5bn investment announced for them in the budget.

He said: “I’m confident that the vast majority of farms and farmers will not be affected at all by that aspect of the budget.

“They will be affected by the £5bn that we’re putting into farming. And I’m very happy to work with farmers on that.”

Sir Keir’s spokesman made a similar argument earlier on Monday, saying the government expects 73% of farms to not be affected by the change.

Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs Secretary Steve Reed said only about 500 out of the UK’s 209,000 farms would be affected, according to Treasury calculations.

However, that number has been questioned by several farming groups and the Conservatives.

Government figures ‘misleading’

The NFU said the real number is about two-thirds, with its president Tom Bradshaw calling the government’s figures “misleading” and accusing it of not understanding the sector.

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) said the policy could affect 70,000 farms.

Conservative shadow farming minister Robbie Moore accused the government last week of “regurgitating” figures that represent “past claimants of agricultural property relief, not combined with business property relief” because he said the Treasury does not have that data.

Agricultural property relief (APR) currently provides farmers 100% relief from paying inheritance tax on agricultural land or pasture used for rearing livestock or fish, and can include woodland and buildings, such as farmhouses, if they are necessary for that land to function.

Farmers can also claim business property relief (BPR), providing 50% or 100% relief on assets used by a trading business, which for farmers could include land, buildings, plant or machinery used by the business, farm shops and holiday cottages.

APR and BPR can often apply to the same asset, especially farmed land, but APR should be the priority, however BPR can be claimed in addition if APR does not cover the full value (e.g. if the land has development value above its agricultural value).

Mr Moore said the Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Treasury have disagreed on how many farms will be impacted “by as much as 40%” due to the lack of data on farmers using BPR.

Lib Dem MP Tim Farron said last week1,400 farmers in Cumbria, where he is an MP, will be affected and will not be able to afford to pay the tax as many are on less than the minimum wage despite being asset rich.

Politics

Cabinet split over assisted dying as Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson latest to reveal she will vote against bill

Published

4 hours ago

November 18, 2024

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Cabinet split over assisted dying as Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson latest to reveal she will vote against bill

A split is emerging in the cabinet, with Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson revealing she will join several of her colleagues and vote against the bill to legalise assisted dying.

Ms Phillipson told Sky News she will vote against the proposed legislation at the end of this month, which would give terminally ill people with six months to live the option to end their lives.

She voted against assisted dying in 2015 and said: “I haven’t changed my mind.

“I continue to think about this deeply. But my position hasn’t changed since 2015.”

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MPs will be given a free vote on the bill, so they will not be told how to vote by their party.

The topic has seen a split in the cabinet – however, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has yet to reveal how he will vote on 29 November.

Ms Phillipson joins some other big names who have publicly said they are voting against the bill

These include Deputy PM Angela Rayner, Health Secretary Wes Streeting, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds.

Border security minister Angela Eagle is also voting against the bill.

Senior cabinet members voting in favour of assisted dying include Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, Science Secretary Peter Kyle, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn, Transport Secretary Louise Haigh and Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens.

The split over the issue is said to be causing friction within government, with Sir Keir rebuking the health secretary for repeatedly saying he is against the bill and for ordering officials to review the costs of implementing any changes in the law.

Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates has been told Morgan McSweeney, the PM’s chief of staff, is concerned about the politics of the bill passing.

He is understood to be worried the issue will dominate the agenda next year and, while he is not taking a view on the bill, he can see it taking over the national conversation and distracting from core government priorities like the economy and borders.

Details of the bill were published last week and include people wanting to end their life having to self-administer the medicine.

It would only be allowed for terminally ill people who have been given six months to live.

Two independent doctors would have to confirm a patient is eligible for assisted dying and a High Court judge would have to give their approval before it could go ahead.