UK first in Europe to invest in next generation of nuclear fuel

£196 million for high-tech nuclear fuel facility and new measures for fusion energy.

From:

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, The Rt Hon Claire Coutinho MP, and The Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP

Published

8 May 2024

UK invests in nuclear fuel and fusion to guarantee future energy security

• UK to build first high-tech nuclear fuel facility in Europe to shut Putin’s Russia out of the global market and create hundreds of jobs to improve energy security at home and abroad
• high-assay low enriched uranium (HALEU) will power the UK’s future civil nuclear power stations, support 400 highly-skilled jobs and boost Cheshire
• announced competition for up to £600 million in contracts to build the world’s first commercially viable fusion power station prototype

The UK will be the first European nation to produce advanced nuclear fuel – a market currently dominated by Russia – to help fuel nuclear power plants at home and abroad. This is part of the government plan to push Putin out of the global energy market and drive down energy bills.

The UK will build Europe’s first facility to power future nuclear reactors - helping to isolate Russia from global energy markets, boost British energy security and provide reliable, affordable energy.

The government is awarding £196 million to Urenco to build a uranium enrichment facility. This will produce fuel by 2031 that would be ready to export or use domestically, and could power UK homes in the next decade. It will put an end to Russia’s reign as the only commercial producer of high-assay low enriched uranium (HALEU) and ensure other countries are not reliant on Russian exports.

The new facility will support around 400 highly-skilled jobs, helping to boost the local supply chain and grow the economy. Located at Capenhurst in Cheshire, this will cement the status of the North-West of England as a world leader in nuclear fuel production. This builds on the Prime Minister’s ‘national endeavour’ to secure the future of the UK’s thriving nuclear industry – investing at least £763 million in skills, jobs, and education.

In the 2 years since Putin illegally invaded Ukraine, the UK has led the way in cracking down on Russian oil and gas imports. Now, the UK is working with its nuclear allies to build a secure global uranium supply chain free from Russian influence.

The UK is also leading the way in fusion energy development, as engineering and construction companies will be invited on to bid for up to £600 million to build the first commercially viable fusion prototype power plant at a former coal plant in Nottinghamshire. Fusion could generate a near limitless source of clean electricity, securing the UK’s long-term energy independence.

Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, said:

Building our own uranium enrichment plant is essential if we want to prise Putin’s blood-soaked hands off Europe’s energy market.

Russia has been the sole provider of this powerful nuclear fuel for too long and this marks the latest step in pushing him out of the energy market entirely.

The wider future of British nuclear remains a critical national endeavour –  guaranteeing nuclear and energy security, and reducing energy bills for Brits.

Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Claire Coutinho, said:

We stood up to Putin on oil and gas, and we won’t let him hold us to ransom on nuclear fuel.

Backing Urenco to build a uranium enrichment plant here in the UK will mean we are the first European nation outside Russia to produce advanced nuclear fuel.

This will support hundreds of new jobs, bring investment for the people in Cheshire and is a huge win for energy security at home and abroad.

HALEU is needed to power most advanced modular reactors which are crucial to meeting the UK’s ambition to quadruple nuclear capacity by 2050 – the biggest expansion in 70 years. Like small modular reactors, they can be made in factories and transform how power stations are built by making construction faster and less expensive.

These advanced reactors are more efficient and use novel fuels, coolants, and technologies to generate low-carbon electricity. Their high heat output means they can also be used to decarbonise industry, produce hydrogen for transport or heat for homes.  

Meanwhile, the UK was the first country in the world to legislate for commercial fusion regulation, giving companies the confidence to invest here in the UK. New simpler planning measures will provide certainty to industry and strengthen the UK as a competitive location for companies to invest – putting the nation on the front foot before the technology is ready to be deployed.

A consultation launched today proposes designating all fusion plants nationally significant infrastructure projects that will be assessed by the Planning Inspectorate and ultimately decided on by the Secretary of State for energy.

Fusion power creates nearly 4 million times more energy for every kilogram of fuel than burning coal, oil or gas. Investment in the fusion technology of the future will help to create jobs, grow the economy, and strengthen the country’s energy security – delivering a cleaner energy system that will benefit future generations and bring the UK even closer to connecting fusion energy to the grid by the 2040s.

Separately, investment in high-tech nuclear fuel will unlock the market for advanced nuclear reactors and help the UK’s allies to build up their own nuclear capabilities without relying on Russia – bolstering Western energy security.

Urenco’s facility will have the capacity to produce up to 10 tonnes of HALEU per year by 2031. When fabricated into fuel, 10 tonnes of HALEU could contain as much energy as over one million tons of coal.

The funding is part of the £300 million HALEU programme announced in January this year. Urenco, which is part owned by the UK government and renowned for nuclear enrichment services, will co-fund the facility.

The programme builds on commitments made at COP28 which saw the G7 nuclear nations or ‘Sapporo 5’ - Canada, Japan, France, the UK and US – commit to increasing uranium production, as they are responsible for 50% of the world’s nuclear fuel conversion and enrichment capability.

Boris Schucht, CEO of Urenco, said:

The responsibility the nuclear industry has to help governments and customers to achieve climate change and energy security goals is clear. 

We welcome this government investment, which will help accelerate the development of a civil HALEU commercial market and in turn the development of the next generation of nuclear power plants. These plants will have even higher safety standards and lend themselves to quicker licensing and construction processes.

Urenco has the knowledge and experience to play a leading role in the production of HALEU and other advanced fuels, operating securely under inter-governmental treaties to ensure the peaceful use and safeguarding of nuclear technology.

Paul Methven, CEO, UK Industrial Fusion Solutions, responsible for the delivery of the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP), said: 

We are looking towards a very significant milestone for STEP in the next 2 weeks as we are set to launch our search for industrial partners in engineering and construction who will join us in designing and delivering the STEP prototype plant at West Burton. This will demonstrate that fusion energy can work, and through that endeavour, we will develop an industry that can deliver commercial fusion for decades beyond.

The launch of formal consultation on a National Policy Statement for fusion energy is very welcome and an important milestone in the journey towards a new energy source, deployed in the right way. It reflects the UK’s proactive leadership in fusion energy by putting in place the critical enablers that all fusion developments will need, and in a way that will bring communities and the public along.

Zara Hodgson, Director of the Dalton Institute, said:

This is the biggest single investment in UK nuclear fuel production capability in decades, and it is especially welcome as it will accelerate the supply of the next generation of fuels that are vital for this new net zero nuclear era. 

Urenco Capenhurst’s HALEU Enrichment capability will help hugely to unlock the deliverability of advanced nuclear projects, opening the door to sustainable  electricity and heat for industries from nuclear, across the UK and overseas. 

North West of England is the home of the UK’s fuel production capability, and the Dalton Nuclear Institute celebrates this HMG and Urenco partnership that will be a catalyst for nuclear skills here and across the UK supply chain. 

We look now towards to how we can support this important project through training and innovation.

Tom Greatrex, Chief Executive of the Nuclear Industry Association said:

This investment will enable the UK to fuel advanced reactors around the world, building on our existing capabilities to strengthen energy security for our allies while reducing their reliance on Russia.

Urenco at Capenhurst is at the very forefront of the UK’s capability, with this new facility bringing opportunities for the supply chain, new jobs and investment in the North West of England.

Notes to editors

The remaining funding will be allocated later this year to support deconversion capability, which after enrichment converts it into a form to be made into fuel, research into these innovative nuclear fuels, and capability for regulation and transport.

The procurement for STEP will be launched on 22 May.

The funding for HALEU is subject to final approvals.

Humza Yousaf and Rishi Sunak have helped change attitudes towards race – Scotsman comment

As a young boy, Humza Yousaf did not think high political office was for ‘people who looked like me’. By serving as First Minister, he has changed that impression forever and defied the racist bigots who told him to ‘go home’

Columnists

By Scotsman Comment
Published 8th May 2024, 

In his speech to Conservative party conference in October, Rishi Sunak moved some in the audience to tears when he said: “I am proud to be the first British Asian Prime Minister, but you know what… I’m even prouder that it’s just not a big deal”. Yesterday, as Humza Yousaf formally resigned as First Minister, he spoke about how “as a young Muslim boy, born and raised in Scotland, I could never have dreamt that one day I would have the privilege of leading my country. People who looked like me were not in positions of political influence, let alone leading governments when I was younger."

Both politicians have struggled with turbulent political times. Both were dealt bad hands by their predecessors, who were arguably more responsible for their parties’ slide down the polls, and failed to reverse that direction of travel. But both will also go down in history as trailblazers, people who managed to achieve high office despite racist attitudes that were once common and which still persist today.

Yousaf told the Scottish Parliament that he was just six when he was first told to “go home” – and it was still an “almost daily” occurrence. This, he said, was the racial slur that hurt him the most “simply because I have no other home than this one, I never will, I never have”.

Humza Yousaf signs his official letter of resignation as First Minister to King Charles at the Scottish Parliament (Picture: Jane Barlow/pool/Getty Images)

“My heart will forever belong to Scotland,” he added. “So to have the opportunity to defy the far right, to defy the racist bigots who told me to go home, to be in a position to serve my home, to contribute to public life in my home, and to have the opportunity to lead my home – that has been the most tremendous honour that I didn’t think was reserved for people who looked like me.”

Sunak and Yousaf have helped to change attitudes; Labour's Anas Sarwar, who could be John Swinney's successor in Bute House, is doing so too. Race is no longer a “big deal” for many voters, as it once undoubtedly was. However, until the glorious day it is no deal at all, there is still work to do.

The mood in the UK hasn't changed and it doesn't bode well for Sunak and the Conservatives

The Conservatives are on borrowed time even as there are probably months before the UK general election

GAVIN
ESLER

Conservative party candidate Ben Houchen, left, one incumbent survival, with Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, following his re-election as Tees Valley Mayor in Teesside, England, on May 3.

 

How bad is bad? Well, that depends upon what you were expecting.

Everyone expected bad news for the British Conservative party from last week’s local government elections, but some calculate that they could be the worst local government election results for the Conservatives in four decades.

The party resembles a runaway train that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak can neither halt nor turn away from an inevitable crash. Rebels on his right have for months muttered about unseating Mr Sunak, but those rebels are not known either for courage or for thinking strategically. Nonetheless, they now seem to understand that any attempt to give the UK its fifth Conservative prime minister in five years would be ludicrous, potentially suicidal.

Mr Sunak will therefore (barring accidents or miracles) lead the party into the next general election later this year and they will lose. The Conservatives will then fight out their internal feuds and hatreds without continuing to trouble the rest of the British people.

In Abraham Lincoln’s famous phrase, “a house divided against itself cannot stand”. The Conservative party is just such a divided house. The mood across Britain right now is therefore quite complicated. It seems most people, including former Conservatives, have had enough of incompetence, policy announcements and posturing instead of policies that actually work.


The degree of incompetence is itself astonishing. Perhaps it can be summed up by former prime minister Boris Johnson who turned up to vote in the local elections last week, but was turned away. That’s because he failed to bring along to the polling station acceptable photo-identification to prove his identity.

Everyone in the UK, including election staff at the polling station, of course, recognise Mr Johnson, but one thing all British people agree on is that rules are rules. Even an old Etonian prime minister who appears to believe rules are for little people and don’t apply to him perhaps is beginning to understand that such carelessness, arrogance or incompetence is not in tune with what citizens require from leaders.

What makes the Johnson story even more damning is that the law to bring in compulsory photo identification at polling stations was introduced by … prime minister Boris Johnson. More than failed policies, perhaps the insouciance of that former leader sums up why after 14 years of interchangeable Conservative prime ministers, so many British voters want a change.

That desire is not confined to the Conservatives nor limited to England. The Scottish National Party is in search of a new leader. It follows the resignation of Humza Yousaf as Scotland’s First Minister. He had been in the job only a year but made a number of significant errors. And the core problem in Scotland, as it is in Westminster, goes beyond specific policies. The SNP has been in power too long. They first led the Scottish government 17 years ago. They have now run out of ideas.

All this turmoil therefore presents an enormous opportunity for Keir Starmer and the Labour party. They appear on course to take power after the next election.

Labour leader Keir Starmer speaks following Labour candidate for West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker's victory following the declaration for West Midlands Mayor, on May 4, in Birmingham.

The decline of the SNP in Scotland is just as important as the unpopularity of the Conservatives in England as part of Labour’s potentially winning strategy. That’s because the SNP currently has 43 out of Scotland’s 59 seats. The Labour party has just two. Scottish Labour politicians are confident of making big gains, and combined with the English local election results, power at Westminster seems within Mr Starmer’s grasp.

Poll after poll of public opinion suggests at least two out of three British people think the UK is on the wrong track. Key Conservative government policies, including Brexit, are not popular. The cost of living, a shortage of affordable housing, the failure of public services and numerous other legitimate gripes explain both the sour mood of many voters and the turning away from the party in power.

There are, however, probably several months before the general election. Labour party politicians I have spoken with remain nervous that their party could make a mistake, take voters and victory for granted and fail to capitalise on the profound public mood for change.

But one failure, at the highest level, sums up why the Conservatives cannot turn things around – namely declining healthcare outcomes. Michael Marmot is one of Western Europe’s most respected public health experts. Back in February 2010, in the last months of the last Labour government, his “Marmot Report” revealed how in the previous decade British health outcomes improved markedly.

But now, with a real sense of outrage, the new Marmot report “confirms [that] since 2010, central government spending cuts to local authorities were highest in areas with lower life expectancy and more health inequalities, further harming health in these places”. Conservative governments have for years boasted “levelling up” British society. The new Marmot report confirms that their policies have done the reverse.

The public mood is clear: Mr Sunak and the Conservative party are on borrowed time. It’s bad. Very bad for the Conservatives.

MORE FROM GAVIN ESLER
The truth about the Conservatives: Sunak is in office but not really in power

Exhibition shows 500 years of Black British Music

Curtis Lancaster,

BBC News

Portsmouth City Council
The panel displays will be on show at libraries across the UK until 25 August

An exhibition at a Portsmouth library is looking at how 500 years of black music has "transformed British culture".

The city's central library is one of 30 across the UK looking at the people, places and genres behind black music in Britain over the last five centuries.

It will run, in collaboration with the British Library’s new Beyond the Bassline exhibition, until 25 August.

A Portsmouth City Council spokesperson said the city had "a rich musical history and a diverse culture".

'More than a soundtrack'


The displays will look at clubs, carnivals and community hubs from across the country that have played their part in influencing black music.

The library, in Guildhall Square, will host a talk by Simon Hudson, the author of History Through the Black Experience, on 25 June.


Dr Aleema Gray, lead curator of Beyond the Bassline, said: “Black British Music is more than a soundtrack.

"It has formed part of an expansive cultural industry that transformed British culture.”

The exhibitions are part of the Living Knowledge Network, which is a UK‑wide partnership of national and public libraries.

In Pictures

Student protests against Israel’s war on Gaza spread across Europe

Growing calls and demonstrations for universities to sever ties with Israel trigger clashes and arrests.

A demonstrator holds up the Palestinian flag as police block the entrance of Humboldt University following a pro-Palestinian sit-in in Berlin, Germany. [John Macdiugall/AFP]

Published On 8 May 2024

Students at various European universities, inspired by the continuing pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campuses in the United States, have been occupying halls and facilities, demanding an end to partnerships with Israeli institutions because of Israel’s war on Gaza.

Several hundred protesters resumed a demonstration around the University of Amsterdam campus in the Netherlands where police were filmed baton-charging them and smashing their tents after they refused to leave the grounds.

As the protests resumed on Tuesday night, the demonstrators erected barriers to access routes watched over by a heavy police deployment.

Also in the Netherlands, about 50 demonstrators were protesting on Tuesday outside the library at Utrecht University and a few dozen at the Technical University of Delft, according to the ANP news agency.

In the eastern German city of Leipzig, the university said in a statement that 50 to 60 people occupied a lecture hall on Tuesday, waving banners that read: “University occupation against genocide.”

Protesters barricaded the lecture hall doors from the inside and erected tents in the courtyard, according to the university, which called in the police and filed a criminal complaint.

Earlier, at Free University, in the German capital Berlin, police cleared a demonstration after up to 80 people erected a protest camp in a campus courtyard.

Berlin police said they made some arrests for incitement to hatred and trespassing.

Police twice intervened at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po) in the French capital to disperse about 20 students who had barricaded themselves in the main hall.

Security forces moved in to allow other students to take their exams and made two arrests, according to Paris prosecutors. The university said exams proceeded without incident.

Protests spread to three universities in Lausanne, Geneva and Zurich in Switzerland.

The University of Lausanne said in a statement it “considers that there is no reason to cease these relations” with Israeli universities as protesters demand.

In Austria, dozens of protesters have been camped on the campus of Vienna University, pitching tents and stringing up banners since late Thursday.

A pro-Palestinian activist is led away by police officers at the campus of the Free University of Berlin. [Tobias Schwarz/AFP]
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Police officers try to remove a pro-Palestinian protester at the campus of the Free University of Berlin. [Tobias Schwarz/AFP]

Students and employees of the University of Amsterdam take part in a march against Israel's war on Gaza. [Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters]

Police break up a pro-Palestinian demonstration camp at the University of Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. [AP Photo InterVision]

Police arrest a pro-Palestinian protester as they disperse an encampment at the University of Amsterdam. [AP Photo InterVision]

People hold banners at a pro-Palestinian protest camp at the Vienna University campus in Vienna, Austria. [Heinz-Peter Bader/AP Photo]

Students take part in a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. [Emma Farge/Reuters]

Students and staff are calling on Imperial College London to end its complicity in the climate crisis

 by The Canary
7 May 2024
in Analysis

This article was updated on 7 May at 8pm to reflect an error. Imperial College London informed us that as of 31 January 2024 it no longer invests in EOG Resources and Berkshire Hathaway. It also claimed that it “does not have any existing fossil fuel investments – its investment portfolio currently has no exposure to companies that derive revenues from fossil fuel extraction”. The Canary looked into this last claim. Read more below.

Hundreds of Imperial College London students, staff, and alumni – including former government chief scientific advisor David King – have called on the university to fully divest its £542m endowment from the fossil fuel industry.

Imperial College London must divest from fossil fuels

In December 2022, the student group Imperial Climate Action (ICA) released a student petition, which has now received 792 signatures. A similar open letter has garnered over 200 signatures from Imperial academics. The Imperial College Union, which represents the university’s student body, also supports full divestment.

The open letter is directed towards professor Brady, professor Walmsley, and professor Ryan – the president, provost, and vice-provost of the university, respectively.


Prominent alumnus David King, as well as special representative for climate change and alumna Harvard professor Naomi Oreskes who has written extensively on the fossil fuel industry misinformation, have joined calls on Imperial College London to divest from fossil fuels.

The student open letter outlines the profound misalignment of all major fossil fuel companies with the goals of the Paris Agreement. It also notes the disproportionate impact of the climate crisis on women, Indigenous Peoples, working-class communities, and low-emitting nations in the Global South.

The letter goes on to state that:


the College’s continued investment in fossil fuel companies is in contradiction with the climate science being produced by its own academics.

This makes clear that all new investment in oil, coal or gas expansion must cease immediately.


‘Imperial Net Zero’… Really?

The fossil fuel companies that remained in Imperial’s portfolio, EOG Resources and Berkshire Hathaway, were there until 31 January 2024; something this article previously did not state. Imperial College London told the Canary that:


The university does not have any existing fossil fuel investments – its investment portfolio currently has no exposure to companies that derive revenues from fossil fuel extraction.

The Canary looked at Imperial College London’s latest endowment fund breakdown. Aside from it having direct investments in some of the most notoriously unethical, environment and human rights-abusing companies on the planet – like Rio Tinto Mining, McDonald’s, and Nike – it also still has indirect holdings in companies that, contrary to its claims, do indeed “derive revenues from fossil fuel extraction” – albeit they don’t take the fossil fuels directly out of the ground themselves.

For example, Imperial College London has indirect (i.e. through an investment vehicle) holdings in General Electric. As campaign group As You Sow wrote in November 2023:


the General Electric Company (GE), whose technology is used to produce 30% of global electricity, continues to expand global reliance on fossil fuels through the sale of high-emitting, long-lived products including natural gas-powered turbines and liquid natural gas infrastructure. The emissions from downstream use of these carbon-intensive products accounts for 90% of GE’s total carbon footprint. Continued investments in such high-carbon energy infrastructure locks in high emissions for decades, jeopardizing the achievement of global net zero targets.

In the past year, GE’s sales of natural gas-powered turbines have increased.

So, while Imperial College London can claim it doesn’t have investments in “companies that derive revenues from fossil fuel extraction” – this has a distinct stench of whataboutery when it has investments in companies like General Electric that directly derive revenue from the burning of fossil fuels.

It all seems a bit like Imperial College London are greenwashing, don’t you think?
Greenwashing?

Students at Imperial stated their grave concern that, until it divests, Imperial is lending its world-renowned reputation for scientific excellence to companies ignoring climate science at every turn, helping to greenwash their reputations and add legitimacy to their false sustainability claims.

Amidst these calls for divestment, Imperial has announced the release of the Imperial Zero Index. The index will be used to ‘assess annually how its energy industry collaborators are performing in their commitment, strategy and operational efforts towards net zero’.


The university has stated that it will disengage from collaborations with companies that score poorly in this assessment.

However, it remains unclear if investments are to be included in this assessment, yet campaigners are urging the university not to apply this index to its investments – where evidence and precedent in the sector for divestment, is overwhelming – and to heed the calls of the Imperial community to fully divest from the fossil fuel industry.

Imperial’s investment policy currently states that it will only invest in Fossil Fuel companies that are aligned to the Paris Agreement. Yet, there is already overwhelming evidence that the fossil fuel industry is not transitioning its business model in line with the Paris Agreement, instead doubling down on long-term fossil fuel expansion several orders of magnitude greater than the planet can withstand.
Unresponsive to demands

In addition, the Imperial Climate Action group has stated that “decades of investor engagement efforts” have failed to transition these companies away from their core oil, coal and gas business models. Fossil fuel companies continue to invest billions into new long-term fossil fuel expansion projects.

The student letter makes the case that “divestment by respected public institutions is a key strategy… as it helps to expose fossil fuel companies’ failure to voluntarily shift their business models”, helping to pave the way for the necessary legislative action to compel companies to halt destructive business practices.

In other words, investor engagement approaches rely on companies voluntarily transitioning their business models. Divestment approaches aim to increase public awareness of company malpractice, and therefore pressure on governments to force companies to halt practices and make the necessary transitions within the timelines dictated by science.

Imperial College has continued to delay taking action on the matter, and has been unresponsive to demands of its staff and students.
Break up with fossil fuels for Valentine’s Day

In response to this, ICA undertook an action for Valentines Day, in which multiple students signed a valentine’s day card asking Hugh Brady (the university president) to break up with fossil fuels. A response has not been given to the student group:



This action is the latest in Imperial Climate Action’s Fossil Free campaign It is coordinated by student-led campaigning charity People & Planet in partnership with SOS UK’s Invest for Change campaign.

The Fossil Free campaign has seen almost 75% of UK universities divest from fossil fuels. This includes 21 out of the UK’s 24 research-intensive Russell Group universities, further showing how Imperial College London is falling behind in the sector.

Ioana Balabasciuc, divestment campaign leader at Imperial Climate Action, said:


With time running out, and the fossil fuel industry rolling back the inadequate climate transition plans it had committed to, it has never been clearer that light-touch shareholder engagement is not the answer.

We need institutions like Imperial to join the rest of the university sector and stop pedalling this myth. Instead, Imperial must mobilise its reputational influence to put pressure on our government to finally legislate against the fossil fuel industry’s catastrophic business practices.

The scientific evidence is unequivocal and strongly condemns the fossil fuel industry’s deliberate disregard for alarming indicators of climate change. We don’t require yet another index to comprehend this; we need full divestment from fossil fuels.
Imperial College London: it’s time to act

Naomi Oreskes said:


Around the globe, world leaders and citizens have recognized the need for immediate action to address the climate crisis. Yet, fossil fuel development continues unabated, in part because banks, financial institutions and individual investors continue to invest in it.

The time has come to stop the flow of finance that supports and sustains this damaging industry. As a leader in science, technology, and engineering, Imperial College should have been at the forefront of the divestment movement. Instead, Imperial stands as one of the few Russell Group universities still investing its endowment in fossil fuels. It is time to fix this!

David King said:


The climate crisis has entered a new phase.

Key scientific information now available on the rapid rate of ice loss from Greenland to 30m tons per hour following on from the data showing that over the past 15 years the Arctic Circle has been heating up at four times the rate of the global average temperature rise since the pre-industrial period.

I strongly urge the College to divest from those fossil fuel industries, including Shell, BP and Exxon-Mobil, that are still investing in new oil and gas discovery. As many economists point out, this will not only worsen our chances of a manageable future for humanity, it will also prove to be a stranded economic asset.

Women receive worse healthcare in the UK than in Vietnam, Latvia and even KAZAKHSTAN, shock study finds

The UK dropped to 37th place in the Hologic Global Women's Health Index


By SHAUN WOOLLER HEALTH EDITOR FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED 7 May 2024

Britain's women receive poorer healthcare than those in Vietnam, Latvia and even Kazakhstan, an international study has found.

The UK has dropped from 30th to 37th place in a global league table which ranks how nations perform in five key areas of women's health and wellbeing.

Experts blamed the slide on the UK's failure to make much-needed progress in women's healthcare over the last three years, while other countries had 'leapfrogged' ahead.

The country scored lower than the EU average on areas like cancer screening, emotional health and women's safety in the 2023 Hologic Global Women's Health Index, published today.

There were also declines in how women in the UK rated their pregnancy care, access to healthcare and happiness levels.

The annual survey of nearly 79,000 women from 143 countries and territories found women's health in the UK had not improved on average since 2020, while other nations had advanced.

Poland, for example, scored the same as the UK last year but positive changes meant it jumped ahead to 9th place globally this year.

Tim Simpson, of Hologic UK & Ireland, a medical technology company specialising in women's health, described the findings as 'a call for action and improvement'.

He said: 'Despite significant potential for progress, the UK is being leapfrogged by other countries, which are making more substantial gains in women's health.

'This underscores an urgent need for enhanced focus on topics like preventative measures and pregnancy care, to not only catch up but to set a standard for women's health globally.'

The poll found women in the UK were less likely than those living in EU countries to have received preventive care in the past year, with fewer receiving screening for high blood pressure, cancer, diabetes and sexually-transmitted infections than the EU average.

Two in five women in the UK reported feeling daily worry and stress, with women more likely to say they felt sadness, stress and anger than those living in EU countries.

Levels of negative emotions, including worry, sadness, stress and anger among women living in the UK have all risen significantly since 2020, while levels have slightly reduced across the EU on average.

In fact, sadness levels reported by women in the UK have increased every year since the survey was first published in 2020.

Now one in three (32 per cent) said they felt sad the previous day, up from one in five (21 per cent) three years ago.

Women in the UK were also more likely than their EU counterparts to feel dissatisfied about being able to access high-quality healthcare — such as getting a GP or hospital appointment — where they lived.

Two thirds of women surveyed in the UK (67 per cent), compared with 68 per cent in the EU, said they were satisfied they could access high-quality healthcare, down from 75 per cent three years ago.

In the UK, women are also now less likely to say care during pregnancy is satisfactory, with 74 per cent agreeing with this statement compared to 77 per cent last year.

In the UK, women are also now less likely to say care during pregnancy is satisfactory. The graphic shows the NHS trusts in England that have logged the biggest drop in midwives between September 2022 and July 2023 — the latest data available. Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust has seen its midwife workforce drop 12.8 per cent over this period

Gaza cut off from outside aid, two main crossings into Palestinian enclave remain shut: UN

The global agency’s humanitarian office spokesperson Jens Laerke told journalists Israel had shut both the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings for aid and people as part of its military operation in Rafah, where around 1 million uprooted people are sheltering

Reuters Geneva Published 08.05.24, 


UN agencies said on Tuesday the two main crossings into the southern Gaza Strip remained shut, virtually cutting off the Palestinian enclave from outside aid with few stocks positioned inside.

The global agency’s humanitarian office spokesperson Jens Laerke told journalists Israel had shut both the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings for aid and people as part of its military operation in Rafah, where around 1 million uprooted people are sheltering.

The Israeli military said a limited operation in Rafah was meant to kill fighters and dismantle infrastructure used by Hamas, which governs the besieged Palestinian territory.

“The two main arteries for getting aid into Gaza are currently choked off,” Laerke said, adding UN agencies had very low stocks inside the Gaza Strip since humanitarian supplies were consumed immediately. The enclave has just a one-day buffer of fuel stocks, he said.

“If no fuel comes in for a prolonged period of time it would be a very effective way of putting the humanitarian operation in its grave,” he said.

A WHO spokesperson said in response to a journalist’s question that no exceptions were being made for sick and injured patients. While some non-fuel supplies have entered Gaza via the northern Erez crossing in recent days, the UN agencies said this was insufficient and difficult to deliver to Rafah.

Reuters

UK

A Labour government must stand up for Palestine

 

7th May 2024Leave a Commenton A Labour government must stand up for Palestine

At the forthcoming general election, we are all hoping there will be a change of government, our aim must be to ensure that this results in a change of UK policy on Palestine.

Hugh Lanning

Labour and Palestine’s Hugh Lanning urges all those in Labour to take the struggle for Palestinian self-determination into the Party. We reproduce his speech from last Wednesday’s May Day rally hosted by Arise Festival and Labour and Palestine.

When the general election happens, every candidate of every party is going to be asked: what did you do in the war on Gaza?

They will all be judged by what they did and didn’t do – did they call for an immediate ceasefire, or support continuing the supply of arms and the “industrial carnage” in Gaza in the name of self-defence? Israel’s war on Gaza is going to haunt today’s generation of political leaders in the UK and across the globe.

We must start challenging the view that the survival of one group of people can be won at the expense of another. It took the death of white aid workers for Western governments and their media to start saying ‘enough’ – hypocritically so, after they had supplied the means to enable the massacres to take place.

This is not now and never has been self-defence. Israel is using it as a long-awaited opportunity to seek to eliminate a Palestinian Gaza from the map. This is not just an occupation, it is a full-scale colonisation of historic Palestine. We need to be calling for the decolonisation of Palestine, not just the piecemeal condemnation of individual acts of occupation and settlement by Israel. We must start upholding international law “to fully realise the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.”

The pro-Palestine solidarity movement has been the biggest continuous political mobilisation this country has ever seen. How do we translate this incredible mobilisation into a movement?

One of the critically important arenas where this work needs to focus – particularly those of us still in the Labour Party – is to put Palestine upfront on the agenda of the Labour Party and every other political party. At the forthcoming general election, we are all hoping there will be a change of government, our aim must be to ensure that this results in a change of UK policy on Palestine.

As it stands, on Palestine, a Starmer government could be just as bad as a Sunak one. Many CLP’s have, but we need many more local constituencies to reclaim the right to discuss Palestine. We have therefore launched a motion for CLPs to use to discuss Palestine within their constituencies.

It says that international law is the central, legitimate framework that Labour must adopt, together with the need for actions to bring about Israel’s compliance. Not just an arms embargo of selling arms, but ending the totality of the arms trade, including the security and military collusion with Israel’s military machine. It also calls for Labour to support Palestine’s right to self-determination.

Please table and get this motion discussed in as many constituencies as possible. From day one, the pressure must be on a Labour Government for a dramatic shift in the UK’s stance.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have lost their lives; many more will die. We cannot allow that generational sacrifice to be in vain. We must ensure that Israel is made to feel that it can never again act with international impunity.

Together, we must ensure that Labour is standing up for the oppressed, not standing arm in arm with the oppressor.

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• Hugh Lanning is an officer of Labour and Palestine and also a former Chair of Palestine Solidarity Campaign and former Deputy General Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union
• Read the motion here.

 UK

Left MPs cry out for Rafah and challenge government complicity in war crimes

                 

7th May 2024Leave a Commenton Left MPs cry out for Rafah and challenge government complicity in war crimes

“As bombs rain down on a trapped and terrified population, we implore our government to find an ounce of humanity and end its complicity in war crimes”

Jeremy Corbyn MP 

By Labour Outlook

Israel’s assault on Rafah is now underway, with fears growing of a humanitarian catastrophe for the 1.4 million Palestinians taking shelter in the city. Reports that Israel is blocking aid, fuel or goods from entering the two crossings of Rafah and Kerem Shalom, will make humanitarian efforts to save lives even more difficult. 

Thousands of activists gathered outside Downing Street to speak out against the attack on Rafah, while inside parliament, a range of left MPs called on the Government to push for an immediate ceasefire, demanded an end to arms sales to Israel and challenged the UK Government’s complicity in war crimes.

Jeremy Corbyn was among those voices, labelling the military assault “another utterly despicable war crime.”

Richard Burgon MP, Secretary of the Socialist Campaign Group of MPs, spoke in parliament to demand that the Government take action against the clear breaches of international law by ending arms sales and suspending trade talks with Israel.

Speaking during the debate, Apsana Begum MP challenged the Government for continuing to arm Israel despite clear breaches of their own licensing criteria.

Former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell labelled the assault “genocide in action,” urging for international action to end the attack and for an urgent vote in parliament to end UK complicity in war crimes.

Zarah Sultana MP called for immediate action to stop the assault, including banning arms sales and for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to hold Israeli Prime Minister and Israeli Government officials accountable for war crimes.

Diane Abbott MP criticised ongoing government support for Israel, which is allowing them to continue the assault without consequence.

Adding to the call for arms sales to Israel to be stopped, Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP raised the plight of the 1.4 million Palestinians sheltering in an area “more densely populated than Paris.”

Citing the Tory Deputy Foreign Minister’s own comments, where he stated that he couldn’t see how an assault on Rafah could be compliant with international law, Imran Hussain MP asked why the Government has still not taken action to support the ICC’s war crimes investigation or to stop arms sales to Israel.

Nadia Whittome MP joined the debate, calling out the Government’s failure to hold Israel to account and asking what will it take for them to stop enabling war crimes?

Kim Johnson MP warned of the “catastrophic consequences” for the Palestinian civilians sheltering in Rafah, furthering the call for the Government to press for an immediate ceasefire, end arms sales to Israel and challenge Israel’s breaches of humanitarian law.

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• You can read our write-up of the demonstration held in opposition to the Rafah offensive on May 7th, 2024, here.