Labour conference 2024: Unite accuses Labour of delaying winter fuel vote until ‘lights are out’ on Wednesday

Daniel Green    

23rd September, 2024

Photo: @Rachel_Reeves

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Unite has criticised Labour for postponing a vote on means testing the winter fuel allowance to the final day of conference.

A motion proposed by the trade union, which calls for the government to reverse the decision to cut the payment to ten million pensioners, will only be debated on Wednesday at the party’s annual meeting in Liverpool, when many attendees and media outlets will have already left the conference.

However, Unite has accused Labour of attempting to “silence” their concerns.

Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, said: “Right now, it is fair to say that the Labour leaders have tried to silence the voice of pensioners, workers and communities at party conference in this blatant manoeuvre to block debate on winter fuel cuts and the departure towards austerity mark 2.

“When this becomes widely known there will be real anger among everyday people. Real anger.”

Kate Dove, co-chair of the left-wing group Momentum, said it was “embarrassing” that the party’s leadership were “running scared of trade-union backed motions challenging the reversal of austerity measures”.

But Luke Akehurst,  Labour MP for North Durham, Labour national executive committee member and secretary of self-described moderates’ group Labour First, said: “The overwhelming mood of conference delegates is to get behind Keir and the Government and focus on promoting all the great Labour policies we all agree on, rather than having a public battle over points of disagreement, or trying to undermine or back seat drive ministers.”

It comes after Chancellor Rachel Reeves defended the decision to means test the benefit in a speech to conference earlier this afternoon.

In her address, Reeves said: “I know that not everyone in this hall or in the country with every decision that I make. I will not duck those decisions, not for political expediency, not for personal advantage.”

Corporations and lobbyists at Labour conference shred its already floundering climate credentials

LIKE THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION

 by Hannah Sharland

THE CANARY
23 September 2024
in Analysis

Amidst a Labour Party conference awash with warm promises to tackle the climate crisis, a campaign group has exposed the hypocrisy at the heart of the new government’s climate strategy. In particular, it has articulated the folly of fourteen years of financing a fossil fuel industry-favoured so-called climate solution. Specifically, this is the repeated abject failure of carbon capture and storage projects (CCS).

Of course, despite over a decade of falling far short, it hasn’t stopped the new Labour government getting on board with the greenwashing technology.
Labour conference: greenwashing technology for big oil and gas

In a nutshell, CCS is the fossil fuel industry’s latest greenwashing con for continuing on its polluting business-as-usual. Companies capture carbon emissions from large-scale industrial installations, and then pump it underground – for instance, in depleted oil and gas wells.

However, the technology isn’t proven at scale. For example, investigative outlet Desmog previously conducted an analysis of twelve large-scale fossil fuel industry-run CCS plants. Notably, the outlet identified:

a litany of missed carbon capture targets; cost-overruns, and billions of dollars of costs to taxpayers in the form of subsidies

Unsurprisingly, it isn’t the only study to have shown the technology woefully falling short. For instance, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) also found that ten out of 13 CCS sites it analysed had:

failed or underperformed against their designed capacities, mostly by large margins.

Now, anti-fossil fuel campaign group Oil Change International has revealed the staggering waste of UK taxpayers’ money into this unproven technology.
A trail of broken promises

On Sunday 22 September, Oil Change International published its new report titled:

Funding Failure: The True Cost of Carbon Capture in the UK

It uncovers how the UK government is funneling public money into the most expensive and least effective emissions mitigation option. Moreover, it underscores how this is benefitting the fossil fuel industry, while delaying a just transition to renewable energy.

Crucially the report identified how since 2010, previous Tory-led governments have committed or spent almost £500m on CCS projects.

Yet, despite hundreds of millions in public investment, companies have failed to bring even a single commercial-scale CCS project online in the UK.

It noted how the Tories funnelled £168m of this to two scrapped projects: Peterhead and White Rose.

However, even in the context of these glaring failures, the Tories have continued to develop policies to prop up this bogus technology. Oil Change International found that since 2020, the government has opened the door to £25.26bn for CCS and hydrogen projects.
Industry con at Labour conference again

Oil Change International noted that it was publishing it on the eve of the Labour Party’s annual conference. Therefore, it said that:

This is the first time in 14 years Labour will convene while in power, offering a powerful opportunity to lead on a just transition that is not reliant on failed technology.

On top of this, it pointed out that the £25.6bn could fund pensioners winter fuel allowance twelve times over. As a result, it also argued that:

Prime Minister Keir Starmer cites worsening economic pressures for proposed austerity measures, yet public funds continue to be diverted to carbon capture – propping up a failed technology.

Unsurprisingly however, the fossil fuel-backed CCS industry is already in bed with Labour. In 2023, Desmog revealed how industry trade body the Carbon Capture and Storage Association (CCSA) sponsored 15 events at the two major party’s conferences.

Once again, the CCSA has forked over thousands of pounds to secure itself a stand outside the main hall at this year’s conference. Significantly, as Desmog has highlighted:

Nearly a fifth of the CCSA’s 100 members are oil and gas companies, including BP, Exxon, Shell and Equinor.

What’s more, two major CCS developers are hosting a fringe event. These are Evero – which is developing two CCS projects at Mersey and Ince, and Climeworks, a direct air capture developer. Direct air capture is similar to carbon capture and storage (CCS) in that it removes emissions to be stored underground. However, whereas CCS is tied to industrial plants, DAC captures emissions from the air in any location.

On Tuesday 24 September, the pair are delivering a panel on:

Net zero and beyond – the role of Greenhouse Gas Removals in reversing climate change

Its listing on Labour’s programme states that:

Greenhouse Gas Removals (GGRs) are essential for the UK to achieve net zero. 23 million tons a year of GGRs by 2035 are already baked into the UK’s carbon budgets. But the Committee on Climate Change has recently pointed to ‘significant risks’ with the pace of government action on GGRs to meet this target.

For the UK to become an international leader in this sector, we all need to be more positive about negative emissions – from political leaders to technology developers and corporate GGR purchasers.

Moreover, lobby firm Arden Strategies is hosting this – and it too has a panoply of connections with big oil and gas.

Labour lobbyist in bed with the fossil fuel industry

Former Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy set up the agency. It has a dedicated ‘Labour directorate’ and its specific remit is to help clients “interact with Labour politicians”.

Notably, on its website, it advertises its services helping corporations map to “political stakeholders that share your company’s interests”. In particular, it states how Arden supports:

UK and global corporate clients to navigate and engage with Labour’s policies and politics. We also combine our in-depth knowledge of corporate advisory work with our team’s detailed understanding of how the Labour government operates and thinks.

While Arden does not list its clients, according to Tribune Magazine, it has organised events with British Gas owner Centrica. The multinational energy company holds a stake in oil and gas corporation Spirit Energy, which boasts assets in the North Sea.

In February, Arden was the official partner of a secretive lobbying event Scottish Labour hosted alongside its main party conference. As openDemocracy reported, the national party banned press from the this. Despite this, the independent outlet identified that Centrica’s CEO Chris O’Shea, and Scottish Renewables chief executive Claire Mack appeared on a panel discussion at the event. The pair sat on this alongside UK Labour and Scottish Labour’s net zero chiefs Ed Miliband and Sarah Boyack.

Despite the fact Scottish Renewables focuses on climate green technologies, the company counts oil majors like Shell and Equinor on its board.

In addition, German firm RWE also attended the lobbying affair. While the company’s main focus is on renewables in the UK, in Europe, it operates climate-polluting coal-fired power plants. It also owns one of Scotland’s most polluting industrial sites – Markinch biomass plant. As well as this, it operates Pembrokeshire gas power plant – the UK’s second largest greenhouse gas polluter.

Many of these same companies are coalescing round the unproven CCS technology as a smokescreen to prolong the industry. As well as this, Arden’s Murphy is on the board for the Future Energy Skills Programme coordinated by Centrica and GMB and backed by a who’s who of polluting corporations – which is also promoting CCS.
Subsidising CCS while slashing the winter fuel payment

Ahead of the election, Labour signalled its support for the technology. Its manifesto committed an additional £1bn to it directly.

Oil Change International senior campaigner Rosemary Harris again underscored the galling hypocrisy of this in light of the winter fuel payment cuts. This is especially the case given the government’s justification of clawing back £1.4bn in savings. She said that:


Globally, carbon capture has already had billions of pounds and decades to prove itself and it has failed on every promise.

As Keir Starmer’s government cuts winter fuel payments for vulnerable pensioners with one hand, they are handing out billions in subsidies to the oil and gas industry with the other. It is unfathomable that this government is continuing to spend public money on so-called ‘carbon capture’, when £500 million has already produced nothing.

Instead of propping up Big Oil’s last ditch efforts to maintain their profits, Keir Starmer and the Labour Party should lead a full, fast, fair, and funded phaseout of fossil fuels. We need to see an end to subsidies for the fossil fuel industry, and a real, funded transition plan that works for people and the planet.

Ultimately, another Labour Party conference flush with big polluters shows exactly whose side Starmer’s government is on. It’ll readily extend subsidies and support for an unproven technology acting as a lifeline for climate-wrecking industries – while removing a vital lifeline for the majority of pensioners this winter.

Featured image via the Canary

Student creates app to improve care for black babies

Amy Walker
BBC News, South East

BBC
Trainee midwife Ruby Jackson hopes to pilot the app across an NHS trust


A student midwife has created an app to help raise awareness of the symptoms of maternal and neonatal conditions on black and brown skin.

Ruby Jackson, 23, said she was inspired to create "Melanatal" due to a general lack of understanding about how some conditions present in people who are not white.

It will offer patients and clinicians visual guides to the signs and symptoms of conditions including jaundice, pre-eclampsia and mastitis.

The University of Brighton student, who has secured a place on the NHS clinical entrepreneur programme, hopes to pilot the app within a trust upon its completion.



A report last year found that between 2019 and 2021 woman from black ethnic backgrounds were four times more likely to die during pregnancy or immediately afterwards than white women.

Ms Jackson, who lives in Streatham, south London, said she was inspired to create the app after visiting a neonatal intensive care unit during a placement in Ghana.

HANDOUT
Ruby Jackson said she was inspired after a placement at a maternity clinic in Ghana

"They were showing us a baby and saying 'this baby is here because it has jaundice' and showing us what they were looking at, for example the soles of the feet and the whites of the eyes," she said.

"At university we were taught [to look for] yellow skin."

She said the experience made her realise she could have previously "missed" the signs for certain conditions.

UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON
Maggie Myatt, pictured with her daughter Cleo, said there was a lack of "visual information" that showed different conditions on black and brown skin

After securing a place on the NHS entrepreneur programme, Ms Jackson was given the opportunity to pitch her idea to digital health solutions firms Amazon Web Services Healthcare, Cogniss and The Validitron.

She was named as one of the winners in June, securing 12 months of mentorship and business support to create the app.

Sussex midwife Maggie Myatt, who is also a mother, said the app could mean "families can access their GPs sooner".

She said: "Medical professionals can recognise these conditions sooner and be able to do something about it before it becomes more serious."

UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON
Thelma Lackey said the university "recognised" a general lack of knowledge about how symptoms presented in non-white people

The app is currently being developed using "hyper-realistic" medical illustrations and photographs.

Thelma Lackey, a senior lecturer at the university's School of Education, Sports and Health Science, said the "knowledge gap around recognising different conditions of different coloured skin" was a national problem.

"We have updated all our PowerPoints and all our teaching materials, and when we talk about [for example] a deteriorating woman, we don’t say the sign is 'Oh they’ll go pale'; we talk about how that would look different in different women," said Ms Lackey.

UK

Thousands flock to Peace Museum's new location

Charles Heslett
BBC News•@CharlesHeslett
Reporting fromBradford

BBC
Dr Áine McKenny said the museum had seen a "massive increase" in visitors


More than 9,000 people have visited the newly reopened Peace Museum since its relocation to a new venue.

The museum, which charts the history of peace movements and peacemakers, moved from its original home in Bradford to Salts Mill in Saltaire, in August

Dr Áine McKenny, the museum's head of communications, said the "massive increase" of visitors had been "overwhelming" for all those involved.

A National Lottery heritage grant of just over £245,000 and an additional £150,000 from Bradford 2025 City of Culture helped fund the move to the Grade II listed mill.

Dr Áine McKenny
The museum has had up to 300 visitors per day since it reopened on 10 August

Formerly based in Piece Hall Yard, in Bradford, the museum closed at the start of the pandemic as the original site was no longer viable and had issues with access.

Since it reopened on 10 August, the museum has been open five days a week.

Dr McKenny said: "We're averaging about 300 a day, 1,500 every week, and it's been a massive increase since we were last open in our old site.

"We'd have five visitors a day to the old site. Ten on a really good day. That would be us really busy if we had ten people in.

"To have that massive increase of people coming in and getting to see our amazing collection, it's been incredible."

All 16,000 artefacts in the museum's collection have been moved into a specialist basement storage space in Salts Mill, and will be rotated in the new exhibition space.


Peace banners are among the museum's 16,000 artefacts


Dr McKenny said: "We've been spending years working on this project. Then we spent the whole year in the space getting it ready, getting the collection ready.

"And to see people interacting with it, engaging with it, seeing the positive feedback. It's been really overwhelming. We're really, really happy."

Later this year the museum, which first opened in 1998, will launch its Schools Programme and plans to hold workshops in classrooms across the district.

It also aims to launch an education space in the new site next year, to coincide with the start of the City of Culture programme.

UK

Six-wheeled delivery robot is talk of village

Jake Zuckerman
BBC News

Jake Zuckerman / BBC
Luna is expected to stay in Witham St Hughes for the foreseeable future


A little six-wheeled robot has become a local celebrity, after starting work as a parcel courier in a Lincolnshire village.

The delivery robot, named Luna, began daily rounds in Witham St Hughes near Lincoln three weeks ago as part of a trial by the company DPD, which has a depot in the village.

People living there said they were astonished to see Luna crossing roads and avoiding pedestrians, all without the help of a human operator.

“Everyone loves it, it’s all over the Facebook page,” said one local woman. “The kids all go up to the gate at the school to watch whenever it goes past.”

Another man said: “I saw it the other day and I thought I was in a dream. It came past me and I stood there waiting for the postman to come and nobody came."

The robot has been trained to find its own way around the village, picking the shortest route to its destination. Sensors detect when it’s safe to cross busy roads.

One resident added: “It avoids me and my dog when it passes by.

“It’s absolutely brilliant and I think it’s really funny.”

Once Luna arrives at her destination, a text message alerts the customer that Luna is outside. After the customer enters a four digit PIN number to access their parcel, Luna returns to base to collect the next package for delivery.

Operations manager Daniel McCarthy says Luna is currently making "20 deliveries a day"

Operations manager Daniel McCarthy said the depot is the fourth in the country to receive an autonomous delivery robot, and that Luna is expected to stay in Witham St Hughes for the foreseeable future.

“Luna is currently making 20 deliveries a day, and there are plans to increase that to 30 a day.

“She works a 12-hour shift without the need for a lunch break, but she still has a long way to go before she can match her human colleagues, who average around 120 deliveries a day.”

UK

IRONY

Defaced Banksy gets ‘anti-graffiti’ protection

Tony Grew
BBC News
Adrian Zorzut
Local Democracy Reporting Service
EPA
The work was the second of nine works by Banksy to appear in London


One of London’s recent animal-themed Banksy artworks, vandalised shortly after being discovered, has been restored and will now be protected by an "anti-graffiti solution".

The work - of two elephants poking their heads out of blocked-out windows - was painted on the side of a house in Chelsea, before it was defaced with white stripes.

Council workers removed the unwanted additions and added a special coat to protect the artwork.

It was the second of nine works by Banksy that appeared across the capital over nine days in August.

Handout
The artwork was vandalised with white stripes of paint


Kensington and Chelsea council said the liquid is specially designed not to alter the appearance of the surface it is applied to.

Josh Rendall, who represents the ward where the piece is located, said: “We hope that residents and visitors enjoy this and our other Banksy piece on Portobello Road for many years to come.”

The appearance of Banksy’s works last month led to speculation about their significance, if any.

Search for meaning


James Ryan, CEO of Grove Gallery which sells Banksy originals and prints, told BBC London he initially thought the works had "politically charged and motivated messages, so the goat - references to Palestine and Gaza, and then the wolf crying for help - some kind of persecution".

Some of the works were removed shortly after appearing, while one, a howling wolf sprayed on a satellite dish in Peckham, south-east London, was seemingly stolen.

Two others were removed by London authorities - a silhouette of a cat on a billboard in Cricklewood was taken down for safety reasons; and piranhas painted on a City of London Police sentry box was moved so it could be viewed safely.

UK

Running group call for climate action in the sport

BBC

The Green Runners
Damian Hall (L) and David Starley (R) are among the founders of The Green Runners

A running club has launched a campaign to promote climate action in the industry.

The Green Runners, a group which helps athletes live more sustainability, have created the Race for Change project to build a community and work towards action for the environment.

It was launched by Jasmin Paris MBE, Dan Lawson, and Damian Hall, an ultra-marathon runner from Corsham, Wiltshire.

The Green Runners was launched in 2022, after the founders realised how much the sport contributes to climate change, mainly through travel, clothing and equipment.


The Green Runners were nominated for a BBC Green Sport Award in 2023

Through the campaign, the group hopes to raise £50,000 to expand its work.

It comes as the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warns that the planet is likely to warm by 1.5ºC by the end of the century.

Ross Brannigan, from The Green Runners, said: “For the last two years, every Green Runner who has pledged to make a change in their lives for the planet is taking genuine action for our environment.

"Now, it’s about expanding that work, working with clubs and communities across the world, and collaborating with brands and events.

"This crowdfund does not just affect runners; it affects all of us, and we can make a genuine difference in this time of crisis.”

UK

Electric bus fleet to start operating next year

Daniel Mumby

BBC
Local Democracy Reporting Service
Reporting fromSomerset

LDRS
Taunton bus depot will get an upgrade to install electric charging points


Electric buses will begin operating on five routes across Somerset next year.

Almost 30 new electric double-decker buses will run on routes around Taunton, Burnham-on-Sea, Wellington and Minehead.

Planning permission has now been granted for a new substation and charging points at First Bus South's Taunton depot on Hamilton Road with work due to start next month.

The new electric buses would start operating from Spring 2025.

Alex Ethridge
First Bus operate most of the routes in Somerset

The Department for Transport (DfT) announced in late-March that it would be providing £43.4m of grant funding to councils across the south west to help fund more than 350 new double-decker electric buses, replacing existing diesel models on key routes.

Somerset Council has received £2.2m of funding from the zero emission bus regional area (ZEBRA) scheme, along with £12.5m from First Bus South, which operates Buses of Somerset.

A spokesman said: “Buses of Somerset’s depots in Taunton and Minehead will be electrified, as part of a joint bid with Somerset Council which secured a £2.2m grant from the DfT’s ZEBRA scheme, alongside a substantial investment of £12.5m from First Bus South, which operates Buses of Somerset.

“Work is expected to start in late October, and will complete in early-2025.

“Once works are complete, the depots will support 26 brand new electric buses which will serve communities across Somerset.”

Royals really cost £510m, anti-monarchists say

Sean Coughlan
Royal correspondent, BBC News

The royals cost more than official figures suggest, anti-monarchists say


The real cost of the Royal Family to taxpayers is £510m a year - nearly six times more than the £86m of state funding from the annual Sovereign Grant - anti-monarchy campaigners say.

The Sovereign Grant covers costs such as staffing, travel and the upkeep of royal buildings - but not security, for example.

And for security alone, the Republic group says - while calling on the government to provide a definitive figure - £150m is "indicative of a likely cost" based on press reports.

Keeper of the Privy Purse Sir Michael Stevens, who looks after the King's financial affairs, has previously spoken of the "determination to deliver value for money" in royal finances.

But Republic chief executive Graham Smith said: "How can we talk about cutting the winter fuel allowance while wasting half a billion pounds on the royals?"

The group's £510m figure also includes "lost income", such as the £96m a year commercial revenue it says could come from royal residences.

It also says the duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall's property businesses should be paying into the public purse rather than funding the King and the Prince of Wales respectively, with the taxpayer losing out on £99m per year.




Royals to get extra £45m as Crown Estate profits soar


Republic attacks the current funding for the royals as opaque and secretive and a "scandalous abuse of public money".

A head of state should have running costs of £5m-£10m a year, it says, and the King should have an annual salary of £189,000, with increases pegged to that of the prime minister.

Buckingham Palace has declined to respond.

But the latest accounts for the Sovereign Grant, published in July, show state funding for the Royal Household will remain at £86.3m for 2024-25 and rise to £132m in 2025-26.

The level of funding is calculated against the profits of the Crown Estate, with next year's rise reflecting increased income from offshore wind farms.

"This is now the third year for which the Sovereign Grant has not increased by one single penny, despite the supplementary costs incurred by the change of reign and despite the double-digit inflationary pressures that have impacted on goods and services for all organisations in that same period," Sir Michael said earlier this year.

"What has remained constant is the determination to deliver value for money in ensuring the Royal Family are able to serve our communities to the best of their abilities, even in difficult personal circumstances."

Significant divides

As well as costs, there are also harder-to-measure economic benefits from the royals, such as boosting tourism and supporting overseas trade.

Last month, 55% of those surveyed by YouGov viewed the monarchy as good value for money, while 30% saw it as poor value.The institution was seen positively by 59%, negatively by 32%
The King was seen positively by 63%, negatively by 29%

But below these headline figures, there are significant divides, particularly in terms of age groups, with support for the monarchy strongest among older people and opposition strongest among the young.

UK

XL Bully dogs found beheaded and floating dead in cages as neglect against the banned breed soars

IT'S NOT THE DOG IT'S THE OWNER

Cases of the XL Bully dog being abandoned have also increased by 692 per cent since the ban came in

Holly Evans
16 hours ago

The RSCPA have recorded a dramatic increase in abuse towards XL bullies since the government ban (PA) (PA Wire)

Shock figures from the RSPCA show a dramatic rise in abuse toward XL Bully dogs since the government ban on the breed, with the animals decapitated, injured and abandoned.

The animal charity has revealed that in the eight months since it became illegal to own the breed on 31 December last year, reports of neglect have increased by 239 per cent.

The number of reports made to the RSPCA of intentional harm to XL Bully dogs in the first eight months of 2024 was 103, compared to 39 in the same period in 2023.

Recent disturbing incidents of abuse towards the breed include the body and head of a decapitated dog being found in a shallow grave in Evesham, while another dog found in a south London alleyway in January with a fractured skull.

The charity has also responded to reports of a cage with a dead XL Bully dog found floating in a Birmingham canal in June, and a puppy discovered in Bexleyheath with blunt force trauma injuries to its dead.

XL bullies have been banned since 31 December after a spate of deadly attacks (Getty Images)

Meanwhile, reports of XL Bully dogs being abandoned have increased by 692 per cent, with 103 reported to the charity during the same time period.

Dr Samantha Gaines, the RSPCA’s dog welfare expert, said: “These are very concerning figures. We’ve seen an increase generally in reports of serious abuse to animals - particularly intentional harm and beatings - but the increase in reports relating specifically to XL Bully types is very alarming and we fear this is a direct result of the recent UK Government ban on this type of dog.

“This could be a result of the extra pressures this ban has placed on desperate owners who may already be struggling to care for their dogs during this cost of living crisis. But even worse, these could be deliberate acts of cruelty towards dogs who have become increasingly demonised in recent months.

“We’re also heartbroken that many dogs have been and will be put to sleep simply because they are considered to be dangerous because they look a certain way.”

Tens of thousands of the dogs are still kept by their owners who have successfully been granted exemption certificates. Under the agreements, they dogs must always being on the lead, muzzled in public and having been neutered.

Despite the ban, exclusive figures obtained by The Independent revealed that dog attacks have continued to rise, with 6,392 attacks recorded by police in England and Wales in the five months from 1 February.

This was up from 5,888 in the same period in 2023 with campaign groups slamming the “knee-jerk” policy while demanding an overhaul of legislation by the new Labour government.