Child poverty is set to increase under a Labour government for the first time in history and an “alternative path” is needed to stop the rise of Reform UK, Sir Keir Starmer has been warned.

A joint statement signed by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and other cross-party MPs calls for a wealth tax on those with assets over £10m “so we can rebuild our schools and hospitals”.

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The letter, in response to Rachel Reeves’s spring statement, says the chancellor has made a “choice” to push more disabled people and children into poverty by announcing departmental spending cuts while increasing money invested into defence.

“This isn’t about scarcity, it’s about priorities”, it said, adding: “This is set to be the first Labour government in history under which child poverty increases.

“Labour’s failure has paved the way for Reform. We need an alternative path.

“Parroting the rhetoric of Reform UK on migrants, minorities and Muslims just endorses their scapegoating and makes society worse for us all.”

As well as Mr Corbyn, who is now an independent MP, the statement was signed by suspended Labour MPs Sarah Zultana and Apsana Begum, Green MPs, independents and other figures calling for “progressive politics”.

It comes ahead of the launch of Reform UK’s local election campaign on Friday, with the party hoping to make gains in May after overtaking Labour in multiple polls.

The letter describes the “alternative path” as one where the richest in society and multinational companies face higher taxes, rent controls are brought in, water and energy are nationalised and money is invested “in welfare, not warfare”.

These measures have previously been ruled out by Ms Reeves, but she is coming under pressure following her spring statement on Wednesday.

Spring statement takeaways

The economic update included a £2.2bn increase in defence spending over the next year to help the government reach its goal of spending 2.5% of GDP on defence by 2027.

The chancellor also deepened previously announced welfare cuts alongside further departmental spending reductions to make up for £10bn in lost fiscal headroom since her October budget, caused by poor growth and global instability.

The government’s own impact assessment estimates another 250,000 people – including 50,000 children – could be pushed into relative poverty by 2030 because of the measures.

However Ms Reeves said that assessment did not take into account steps the government was taking to get people back into work. She has also rejected a separate analysis that suggests the average family could be £1,400 a year worse off by the end of the decade.

Labour MPs unhappy

Several Labour MPs have spoken out against the cuts and some have said they will vote against them. However Ms Reeves is believed to have staved off a full-scale rebellion for now, as most trust she is serious about getting the nation’s finances back on track.

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The chancellor is determined to stick to her self-imposed fiscal rules, including using tax receipts rather than borrowing to account for day-to-day spending.

However she may come under pressure to change course if global factors like Donald Trump’s trade war eat into her fiscal headroom again by the time of the next budget in October – meaning she would have to raise taxes or announce further spending cuts in order to balance the books.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned tax rises are likely in the autumn as Ms Reeves has left herself vulnerable to forecast changes, speculating that pensioners and the wealthiest could be targeted in the raid.

Earlier this week, a YouGov poll found three quarters of the British public would support tax rises on the very richest over expected cuts to public spending, including a 2% wealth tax on net assets worth more than £10m.

The amount of sewage being dumped into English rivers remains “disgraceful”, despite improved monitoring, supposed investment by water companies and threats of penalties from government, the latest data reveals.

Overall, there was a 2.9% decrease in the number of sewage spills last year compared to 2023, according to water company data collected and analysed by the Environment Agency.

Despite this small improvement in the number of events, the duration of spills – the amount of time a water treatment plant discharges untreated sewage into a river or the sea – increased by 0.2%.

“This year’s data shows we are still a long way off where we need to be to stop unnecessary sewage pollution,” said Alan Lovell, chair of the Environment Agency.

The EA says it has secured £10.2bn from water companies to reduce sewage dumping.

“While these improvements get under way, we expect water companies to do what customers pay it to do: ensure their existing assets are maintained and operating properly,” said Mr Lovell.

‘Stark reminder’

The latest data is bad, if not unexpected news, for the government.

“These figures are disgraceful and are a stark reminder of how years of underinvestment have led to water companies discharging unacceptable levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas,” said Environment Secretary Steve Reed.

The government says part of its £100bn public infrastructure investment plans will address water pollution.

But repairing or replacing thousands of miles of ageing water pipes and dilapidated water treatment works, as well as building new ones, is expected to take decades.

This year, it also introduced the Water (Special Measures) Act which it said it would use to get “tough” on water companies.

The bill allows for the banning of bonuses for water company bosses failing to meet targets and allows criminal charges to be brought against companies in breach of the law.

The government, however, may soon find itself in the stink.

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Last week, environment watchdog the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) announced it was launching an investigation into whether proposed plans from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to clean up waterways are in breach of the law.

The OEP is to decide whether DEFRA’s plans, implemented by the Environment Agency and the water regulator Ofwat, are too generic and fail to address the environmental risk of sewage pollution at particular sites.

England, for example, is home to the majority of the world’s chalk stream rivers and streams that are particularly sensitive to sewage pollution.

‘Still broken’

For clean water campaigners, the latest data is just more of the same.

“The water industry is still broken,” said James Wallace, chief executive of River Action.

He added: “The numbers are staggering: over 3.6 million hours of sewage spills from almost 450,000 discharges.

“That’s equivalent to 412 continuous years of sewage polluting our rivers, lakes and seas.”

The frustration for consumers is that many of us will see significant increases to our bills in order to finance the investments being demanded by Ofwat and the government to meet pollution targets.

Last year, an independent Water Commission was launched by the government.

Led by Sir Jon Cunliffe, it is charged with coming up with long-term reforms for the way water companies are regulated.

The commission should look at the structure and ownership of water companies themselves, according to campaigners.

“[It] must put an end to this failed privatisation experiment and force real reform of the industry and regulators,” said Mr Wallace.

“We need to learn from our European neighbours, and use finance and governance models that put people and nature before investors.”

UK greenhouse gas emissions fell by 3.5% last year compared with 2023, according to provisional government figures.

The Energy Department (DESNZ) said climate-warming emissions generated in the UK were 371.4 million tonnes of carbon equivalent in 2024.

That’s down from 385 million tonnes in 2023 and 406 million tonnes in 2022.

The latest figure is 54% lower than in 1990.

As a signatory to the 2015 Paris Agreement, the UK is aiming to reduce emissions by 68% by 2030 and 81% by 2035 compared with 1990 levels.

The aim is to get to net-zero by 2050, meaning Britain would no longer be adding to the total amount of gases in the atmosphere.

DESNZ said the fall was largely due to reductions from the electricity supply and industry sectors, which made up 10% and 13% of emissions respectively.

Electricity supply drove the largest share of the reduction, as more electricity imports and increased renewable generation led to lower gas and coal use in power stations.

The UK’s last coal-fired power station, Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, actually closed at the end of September.

Domestic transport was the biggest emitter in 2024, added DESNZ, making up 30% of total emissions. However, it was down 1.5% on the previous year.

Emissions in the building and product use sector – already the UK’s second-largest emitter, making up 21% of the total – increased by 2.3%.

Notably, last year was a record for renewable energy generation, such as wind and solar.

It was the source of 50.8% of the UK’s electricity in 2024, up from 46.4%, according to DESNZ.

It’s the first year renewables have exceeded 50%.

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Jane Cooper, RenewableUK’s deputy chief executive, said: “These new figures show the pace at which our energy system is changing, benefiting billpayers and the climate.

“The UK is moving away rapidly from fossil fuels to low-cost renewables which bring down consumer bills, with wind providing the bulk of our clean power.”

Doug Parr, Greenpeace UK’s policy director, said it showed “the UK’s efforts to tackle climate change are working”.

However, he said that “while emissions are falling, we’re still very much dependent on expensive and polluting gas for our energy”.

“The government must put a stop to the great gas rip-off and rapidly make renewables the backbone of our energy system to lower our bills for good,” Mr Parr added.