‘We’re not going to save the planet by bankrupting Britons,’ says Braverman – as car makers hit out at government
The home secretary has said that “we’re not going to save the planet by bankrupting the British people” in response to reports the government is looking at watering down some of its key green pledges
Among the changes being considering are the pushing back of a ban on the sales of new vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICE) from 2030 to 2035 – and a weakening of plans to phase out gas boilers by 2035.
After calling an emergency meeting of his cabinet this morning, Rishi Sunak is set to outline his next steps in a news conference at 4.30pm today.
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Suella Braverman told Sky News that, while the government remains committed to the goal of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, “we need to put economic growth first”.
“We need to put household costs and budgets first. We need to put the cost of living first,” she added.
“And we’re only going to achieve that net zero target whereby people and the British people can go about their daily lives using their cars, using the facilities that are available.”
The chair of Ford UK says a delay to the 2030 deadline for selling ICE vehicles would undermine the “ambition, commitment and consistency” they need from the UK government.
The 2030 ban on ICE vehicles is considered a key plank of the government’s goal of achieving net zero because experts say it will encourage people to switch to zero-emission electric vehicles sooner.
Climate scientists say that urgent cuts are needed to the world’s greenhouse gas emissions if we are to stop temperatures rising to a potentially catastrophic extent.
The reported change in stance has led at least one Tory MP to “seriously” consider putting in a letter of no confidence in Mr Sunak’s leadership.
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In a statement, Mr Sunak said: “No leak will stop me beginning the process of telling the country how and why we need to change.
“As a first step, I’ll be giving a speech this week to set out an important long-term decision we need to make so our country becomes the place I know we all want it to be for our children.”
Conservative MPs are particularly angry at the potential delay to the ending of the sale of internal combustion engines to 2035.
One branded the move “anti-business” given how much has been invested into electric vehicles (EV) and the associated infrastructure.
Could watering down net zero pledges trigger Tory civil war?
An unusual late-night statement from the prime minister triggered by leaks to the media regarding the government’s plans to water down its net zero pledges: Rishi Sunak is continuing to draw the battlelines for the next general election.
Green policy is a contentious topic for both main parties – Keir Starmer, like Sunak, has been heavily criticised for abandoning his green pledges.
But as politicians struggle to balance the cost of going green with boosting the UK’s recovering economy, how much political pain could this really inflict on the prime minister?
Despite a vocal group of critics, behind the scenes many Tory MPs are keen on the climbdown.
One Tory backbencher told Sky News that being “pragmatic and outcome-focused beats virtue signalling every time”.
And Marco Longhi, a Tory MP with a red wall constituency, told me the PM’s decision was extremely welcome.
He said: “While fully behind efforts to deliver a greener planet I am not going to support policies that are only affordable by the richest.”
And at a time when the Conservative party is 19 points behind in the polls – with Labour on 44 points and the Tories lagging on 26 points – Rishi Sunak is keen to make some bold policy decisions in an attempt to close that gap.
However, it remains to be seen whether this is the smartest policy area in which to do that.
According to a YouGov poll from August, 33% of those surveyed said they believe the government should be spending more on the environment and climate change, and 49% believe Sunak’s government isn’t doing enough to reduce carbon emissions.
So, with tentative public support for a green economy, Sunak’s predicted climbdown is an electoral gamble he will be hoping pays off at the ballot box.
They told Sky’s deputy political editor Sam Coates that a push back on the petrol and diesel ban would mean breaking a promise the prime minister made to Conservative MPs privately.
One minister said they would be “staggered” if the ban was delayed, telling Sky News: “Every automotive company is investing in EV, we’ve just given Tata all this money to make batteries, it’s bonkers.”
He was referring to plans by the owner of Jaguar Land Rover to build an electric car battery factory in the UK.
Tory MPs Chris Skidmore, Alok Sharma and Sir Simon Clarke all complained publicly about the potential watering down of the pledges.
One senior Tory MP told Sky News this morning that the change in policy “has absolutely nothing to do with protecting the British public”, but rather the “sign of a government that’s desperately trying to cling onto power through dangerous and disingenuous rhetoric”.
They added: “It is an outright lie that tackling the climate crisis has to be at the cost of ordinary people, while letting off the hook the rich and powerful fossil fuel companies that are overwhelmingly responsible for the climate crisis the world is already experiencing.”
Lisa Brankin, the chair of Ford UK, highlighted that her company had invested £430m in UK development and manufacturing facilities, with more cash to come to fit the 2030 timeframe.
Explained: What are Rishi Sunak’s policies on net zero?
Ms Brankin said: “This is the biggest industry transformation in over a century and the UK 2030 target is a vital catalyst to accelerate Ford into a cleaner future.
“Our business needs three things from the UK government: ambition, commitment and consistency. A relaxation of 2030 would undermine all three.
“We need the policy focus trained on bolstering the EV market in the short term and supporting consumers while headwinds are strong: infrastructure remains immature, tariffs loom and cost-of-living is high.”
A spokesperson for Jaguar Land Rover said: “We are committed to and on track to offer pure electric variants across our brands by 2030 and welcome certainty around legislation for the end of sale of petrol and diesel powered cars.
“We are investing £15bn over the next five years to electrify our luxury brands, which is key to JLR reaching net zero carbon emissions across our supply chain, products, and operations by 2039.”
Stellantis, the owner of Vauxhall, Fiat, Alfa Romeo and DS said: “Clarity is required from governments on important legislation, especially environmental issues that impact society as a whole.”
BMW MINI, which announced plans to construct its electric Mini in Oxford, said it “neither sought or was made any promises” about the timings of an ICE ban when the decision was made.
Asked about the EV industry, Ms Braverman said: “I’m not going to prejudge what the prime minister is going to set out in detail.
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“But I would say I do commend him for taking difficult decisions, long-term decisions in the national interest and in the interest of the British people.”
Asked about the concerns raised by her Conservative MPs, Ms Braverman said “everyone should just wait until they hear the detail from the prime minister himself”.
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Darren Jones, Labour’s shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said we will need to wait for the reaction of the car companies to the anticipated policy change.
He told Sky News that “part of the problem” is Mr Sunak’s “weak leadership”, and the way in which the changes first surfaced through a leak and with a “late night press release from the prime minister’s bunker”.
A former British soldier who escaped from Wandsworth Prison has been found guilty of spying for Iran.
Daniel Khalife, 23, who was a lance corporal in the Royal Signals, used a sling made from trousers worn by inmates working in the kitchen to cling to the underside of a food delivery lorry on 6 September last year.
He was being held in the Category B prison accused of handing secret information, including a list of soldiers – some of whom were serving in the SAS – to Iranian spies.
MI5, the Ministry of Defence and counter-terrorism police launched a nationwide manhunt, fearing Khalife would try to flee to Tehran or get to the Iranian embassy in London.
Woolwich Crown Court heard that while on the run he bought a mobile phone to call his handlers, who used the code name “David Smith”, and sent the message: “I wait.”
Khalife was arrested on 9 September. Pic: Met Police
But Khalife was arrested on the morning of 9 September when he was spotted riding a stolen mountain bike along the canal towpath in Northolt, west London – about 14 miles away from Wandsworth Prison.
He initially pleaded not guilty to an escape charge but changed his plea after describing the break-out to jurors, saying it showed “what a foolish idea it was to have someone of my skillset in prison”.
Khalife, who first contacted an Iranian spy soon after he joined the Army aged 16, claimed he wanted to be a “double agent” and “thought he could be James Bond” but had only passed on fake or useless information.
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From October: Jurors shown CCTV of Khalife after escape
Giving evidence, he described himself as an English “patriot”, adding: “I’m certainly not a terrorist or a traitor.”
But he was found guilty of a charge of gathering, publishing or communicating information that might be useful to an enemy between 1 May 2019 and 6 January 2022, under the Official Secrets Act.
Khalife, from Kingston, in southwest London, was also found guilty of eliciting personal information about armed forces personnel that was likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism on 2 August 2021.
The charge related to a photo of a handwritten list of 15 soldiers, including some from special forces serving in the Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS).
Khalife was found not guilty of perpetrating a bomb hoax at his barracks in January 2023.
Daniel Khalife joined the Army aged 16
‘The ultimate Walter Mitty’
Dominic Murphy, the head of the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism command, said while Khalife’s approach was “amateurish” with elements of “fantasy”, the reality was he provided “highly sensitive” information to the Iranian state.
“He’s the ultimate Walter Mitty character,” he said. “The problem is he’s a Walter Mitty character that was having an extremely significant impact on the real world.”
A Walter Mitty character is someone who is ordinary but has an extraordinary imagination and daydreams about personal triumphs to escape their dull life.
Mr Murphy said the “game” played by Khalife to “fuel his ego” posed “a significant risk to national security” and he had “enjoyed the thrill of the deception throughout”.
Police have disrupted 20 direct plots from the Iranian government, including assignations or immediate threats to life, and the state’s agents “pose a very real threat to national security and to individuals here in the UK”, Mr Murphy said.
Khalife told the jury he contacted an Iranian agent through Facebook because he wanted to endear himself to the UK security services after he was told he couldn’t pass developed vetting to fulfil his dream of working in intelligence because his mother was born in Iran.
A selfie of Daniel Khalife in Mill Hill Park. Pic: Met Police
Khalife collected cash in a dog poo bag. Pic: Met Police
Dead drops
Khalife left material in public locations in exchange for cash in an old-fashioned spy tactic known as the “dead drop” or “dead letter box”.
He first collected £1,500 in a dog poo bag in Mill Hill Park in Barnet, north London, in August 2019 and made a second £1,000 cash pick-up from Kensal Green Cemetery, in North Kensington, in October 2021.
He twice travelled from his barracks, in Staffordshire, to the Iranian embassy in South Kensington, in London, and even flew to Istanbul, where he stayed in the Hilton hotel between 4 and 10 August 2020, and “delivered a package” for Iranian agents, the court heard.
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Sky’s Shamaan Freeman-Powell reports from Woolwich Crown Court
The contact continued while he was deployed to Fort Hood, Texas, where he received training in Falcon, a military communications system.
Khalife repeatedly contacted the British security services himself saying he wanted to be a “double agent”, but MI5 reported him to police, who arrested him.
While on bail, he went AWOL from his base, leaving a device made from three laughing gas canisters bound with sniper tape on his desk.
Khalife left a fake device. Pic: Met Police
He stayed in a stolen Ford Transit van, later found containing a camp bed, around £20,000, and notes saying he wanted to defect to Iran.
Prosecutors said he planned to leave the country, having previously travelled to Turkey as a test for onward travel to Iran, and he was in contact with his Iranian handlers, making attempts to get to the embassy.
But he was arrested again three weeks later after a colleague spotted him in the leisure centre. He was then held on remand in Wandsworth Prison, where he managed to get a job in the kitchen.
Escape planned for ‘quite some time’
Khalife told the jury he planned the escape because he wanted to be moved to the high-security unit in Belmarsh to avoid sex predators and terrorists who wanted to do him harm.
Khalife escaped under a Bidfood lorry. Pic: PA
Khalife used a makeshift sling. Pic: Met Police
Police believe he had been planning the “pretty audacious” break-out for “quite some time” and he wrote in his prison diary of a “failed” escape attempt on 21 August last year.
Khalife told the jury he attached the makeshift rope to the Bidfood lorry on 1 September to test prison security as it made its daily deliveries.
“When I had made the decision to actually leave the prison I was going to do it properly,” he said, describing how he concealed himself, resting his back on the sling as the vehicle was searched.
The driver Balazs Werner said two guards told him someone was missing as they checked the truck with a torch and mirror and he was surprised he was allowed to drive off and that the prison wasn’t in lockdown.
Khalife said he waited for the lorry to stop, dropped to the ground and lay in the prone position until it moved off.
He used the phone at the Rose of York pub in Richmond before a contact withdrew £400 from a nearby cashpoint, which he used to buy a sleeping bag, a mobile phone and a change of clothes.
CCTV footage captured his movements as he bought clothes from Marks & Spencer, stole a hat from Mountain Warehouse, drank coffee at McDonald’s and even read about his escape in the newspaper.
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From October: Khalife caught on CCTV. Pic: Met Police
When he was arrested on the footpath of the Grand Union Canal in Northolt after four days on the run, Khalife told police: “My body aches. I f****d myself up under the lorry” and “I don’t know how immigrants do it”.
Police said he had no help from anyone inside prison, Iran or close family members in London but a 24-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman were arrested earlier this year on suspicion of assisting an offender and the investigation is ongoing.
The prisons watchdog called for Wandsworth to be put into emergency measures in the wake of Khalife’s escape, while a security audit identified “81 points of failure” and resulted in “long overdue” upgrades to CVTV cameras which hadn’t worked for more than a year.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) later announced it would be redirecting £100m from across the prison service to spend over five years on bringing in “urgent improvements”.
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Meanwhile, Bethan David, from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: “As a serving soldier of the British Army Daniel Khalife was employed and entrusted to uphold and protect the national security of this country. But, for purposes of his own, Daniel Khalife, used his employment to undermine national security.
“The sharing of the information could have exposed military personnel to serious harm, or a risk to life, and prejudiced the safety and security of the United Kingdom.
“It is against the law to collate and share secret and sensitive information for a purpose against the interests of the United Kingdom.
“Such hostile and illegal activities jeopardise the national security of the United Kingdom, and the CPS will always seek to prosecute anyone that carries out counter state threats.”
UK
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The Prince and Princess of Wales have paid tribute to a teenage photographer who they met during an investiture at Windsor Castle.
Liz Hatton, who died yesterday, was pictured hugging Kate after the princess invited her to take pictures of the Prince of Wales at the event in October.
The 17-year-old from Harrogate started a photography bucket list appeal in January after she was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer.
She was given between six months and three years to live.
Kate and Will with Liz (centre), her mother Vicky Roboyna, stepfather Aaron and brother Mateo. Pic: Andrew Parsons/Kensington Palace
In a statement, William and Kate said: “We are so sorry to hear that Liz Hatton has sadly passed away. It was an honour to have met such a brave and humble young woman.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Liz’s parents Vicky and Aaron and her brother Mateo at this unimaginably difficult time. W & C.”
Announcing her death on X, her mother Vicky Roboyna said: “Our incredible daughter Liz died in the early hours of this morning. She remained determined to the last.
“Even yesterday, she was still making plans. We are so very proud of the kindness, empathy and courage she has shown in the last year.
“She was not only a phenomenal photographer, she was the best human and the most wonderful daughter and big sister we could ever have asked for.
“No one could have fought harder for life than she did. There is a gaping Liz-shaped hole in our lives that I am not sure how we will ever fill.”
She asked people to share one of Liz’s photos in tribute using the hashtag #LizHatton and to support the family’s mission to fund research into desmoplastic small round cell tumours, which Liz was diagnosed with.
She has set up a JustGiving fundraising page with a goal of raising £100,000.
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In a personal message on social media after meeting Liz in October, William and Kate said: “A pleasure to meet with Liz at Windsor today.
“A talented young photographer whose creativity and strength has inspired us both. Thank you for sharing your photos and story with us. W&C.”
Ticking off items from her bucket list, Liz went on to photograph comedian Michael McIntyre, the red carpet at the MTV Europe Music Awards, the London Air Ambulances from a helipad and joined acclaimed photographer Rankin in leading a fashion shoot.
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