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

Published

3 years 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

Thousands defy ban to join Pride march in Budapest

Published

1 hour ago

June 28, 2025

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Thousands defy ban to join Pride march in Budapest

If Hungary’s authorities thought banning this year’s Pride march would keep people off the streets, they were wrong.

Thousands turned out in Budapest, defying a law which said LGBTQ+ events like this should be cancelled to protect children.

The crowd was determined to fight for their rights.

“This is a special march, not just because it was the 30th, but also because it was banned,” said Orsi, who proudly wore a rainbow headband and waved a rainbow flag.

“I mean that’s all the more reason to go out on the street and show that Budapest and Hungary is a place where everybody is welcome, where love is equal,” she added.

Attendees had been warned that just being there could mean a 500 euro fine or prison time for the organisers.

They were told police would use facial recognition cameras to identify them, but they didn’t care.

Orsi said it was worth a fine.

Leonas had travelled from Poland to show his support and was also happy to take the risk.

“LGBT rights are attacked across the whole world, and we need to defend each other and work with each other,” he said.

Viktor Orban’s government has repeatedly pitched family values against LGBTQ+ rights.

“The mother is a woman, the father is a man and leave our kids alone,” he told conservative audiences in the past.

He says he is protecting Hungary’s Christian values, but critics say this is just part of a wider attack on democracy which has happened during his 15 years in control.

The Pride ban is just the latest targeting of LGBTQ+ communities.

In 2020, the country abolished its legal recognition of transgender people, and in 2021, politicians passed a law banning the depiction of homosexuality to under-18s.

While many were outraged by the attempt to cancel the Pride march, a small number of far-right activists organised demonstrations to show their support:

“Hungary and the Hungarian nation don’t want the aggressive LGBTQ+ propaganda. They are dangerous for our families, they are dangerous for our kids,” said Gabor Kelemen, a member of the 64 Counties Youth Movement.

However, the packed streets showed many disagree.

At one point, as far as the eye could see, the march snaked through streets and across the city’s bridges. The sound of drums and whistles mixing with gay anthems blaring out of speakers.

The organisers said they believed this will be the largest Pride march ever in Budapest.

The crowd was eclectic, with Hungarians from different communities joining a demonstration which many believe is now part of a fight for Hungary’s future.

“This is not only about the complexity of Pride, not only about love or equality… for Hungarians, it’s about sticking together, supporting each other, showing the government that we believe in a different kind of Hungary. We believe in freedom, we believe in democracy,” said activist Adam Kanicsar.

Despite the ban, today Pride attendees were celebrating a victory. But make no mistake, many in Hungary do not support the parade or what they see as an attack on traditional values.

Next year, the country will hold a general election, a vote which will expose how divided Hungary really is.

World

Chants of ‘death to America’ at funeral for Iranian military commanders and scientists

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1 hour ago

June 28, 2025

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Chants of 'death to America' at funeral for Iranian military commanders and scientists

Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Tehran to mourn top military commanders, nuclear scientists and others killed in Iran’s 12-day war with Israel.

State-run Press TV said the event – dubbed the “funeral procession of the Martyrs of Power” – was held for 60 people, including four women and four children.

It said at least 16 scientists and 10 senior commanders were among the dead, including head of the Revolutionary Guard General Hossein Salami and the head of the guard’s ballistic missile programme, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.

Their coffins were driven to Azadi Square on trucks adorned with their pictures as well as rose petals and flowers, as crowds waved Iranian flags.

Chants of “death to America” and “death to Israel” could be heard.

Attending the funeral were Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior figures, including Ali Shamkhani who was seriously wounded during the fighting and is an adviser to Iran‘s supreme leader.

There was no immediate sign of the supreme leader in the state broadcast of the funeral.

Iran’s president later thanked people for turning out.

“From the bottom of my heart, I thank you dear people,” Mr Pezeshkian wrote on social media.

“With love, you bid farewell to the martyrs of our homeland, and our voice of unity reached the ears of the world.”

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi called the deaths “hard and painful”.

Seemingly referencing the recent airstrikes, he added: “Institutions and structures, however important and valuable, return with new glory and greater strength over time, even if it takes years.”

Israel, the only Middle Eastern country widely believed to have nuclear weapons, said its attacks on Iran aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.

The US joined in by launching strikes on three nuclear enrichment sites in Iran, which Donald Trump said left them “obliterated”, however the exact extent of the damage remains unclear.

Iran denies having a nuclear weapons programme and the UN nuclear watchdog, which carries out inspections in Iran, has said it has “no credible indication” of an active, coordinated weapons project.

Over almost two weeks of fighting, Israel claimed it killed around 30 Iranian commanders and 11 nuclear scientists, before a ceasefire began on Tuesday.