Humza Yousaf defends including minister for independence in new team as his first FMQs is interrupted by protests – UK politics live

Postponing state pension age decision ‘not exactly sign of strength’, says Rees-Mogg

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, has said that the government’s announcement about postponing the decision about accelerating the rise in the state pension age to 68 is “not exactly a sign of strength”.

Speaking in the Commons, he told Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary:

Unlike the Labour party I don’t welcome this decision. That life expectancy from retirement from the 1940s to today has increased by seven years, which would indicate a retirement age of 72 rather than of 67 or 68.

The benefit of long-term decision-making is that it gives everybody the chance to plan well in advance. And the delaying the decision is a decision in itself, and is not exactly a sign of strength.

In response, Stride said the government wanted to wait “until we are more certain about what the future holds”.

This is Rigged, the Scottish climate activist group, has put out a statement about the disruption of first minister’s questions today at Holyrood. It says this is the eighth week in a row that FMQs has been disrupted, as part of a campaign that it is running with other groups, including Just Stop Oil. And it says the protests will continue until the Scottish government stops all new oil and gas projects, and commits to a “fully funded fair transition” to green energy.

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The statement includes quotes from three of the activists who took part in today’s protest.

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Jen (32), a climate scientist from Uddigston, said:

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n

I’m sick and tired of knowing the truth (climate reality- I had to leave my career, as a climate scientist, because the truth of climate breakdown is terrifying) and seeing it buried or ignored. The Scottish climate movement is here and we will not accept anything less than a just transition.

n

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Max, who is retired and from Midlothian, said:

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n

We now call on Humza Yousaf to reset Scotland on the right path, a path in which Scotland will lead the world in ultra-rapid decarbonisation, providing a truly just and equitable transition for its fossil fuel workers and the Global South in mitigating the worst of a crisis that we developed nations have bequeathed our global community. A clear public statement rejecting any new oil and gas development, including, most importantly, Rosebank, is an essential first step.

n

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And Emma English (23), a student from Glasgow, said:

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n

I am disrupting FMQ’s because the Scottish government must step up and commit to a green future. We are running out of time and so far the Scottish government has not done nearly enough to fight climate change.

n

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at FMQs will continue until Scottish government halts new oil and gas projects, say climate activists”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Thu 30 Mar 2023 10.44 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Thu 30 Mar 2023 04.13 EDT”},{“id”:”64257c758f082ce94b435b6e”,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, has said that the government’s announcement about postponing the decision about accelerating the rise in the state pension age to 68 is “not exactly a sign of strength”.

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Speaking in the Commons, he told Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary:

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n

Unlike the Labour party I don’t welcome this decision. That life expectancy from retirement from the 1940s to today has increased by seven years, which would indicate a retirement age of 72 rather than of 67 or 68.

n

The benefit of long-term decision-making is that it gives everybody the chance to plan well in advance. And the delaying the decision is a decision in itself, and is not exactly a sign of strength.

n

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In response, Stride said the government wanted to wait “until we are more certain about what the future holds”.

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Teaching leaders have called on ministers to provide guidance on how to support students who identify as transgender, saying they are “caught in the crossfire” between strongly held views, Alexandra Topping reports. This came after Policy Exchange, a conservative thinktank, published a report saying safeguarding principles were being “routinely disregarded in many secondary schools” when it came to gender identity, with some parents not told when their child first questioned their identity.

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Alexandra’s full story is here.

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Humza Yousaf, the newly elected SNP leader and first minister, said he believed there should be a byelection in Ferrier’s seat, and said he disagreed with the decision by the SNP MP on the standards committee to vote against her 30-day suspension. (See 9.35am and 12.01pm.)

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Yousaf told reporters at Holyrood he was not aware Allan Dorans, the SNP MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock, had backed a Tory move to set Ferrier’s suspension at nine days – a day below the 10-day threshold for a recall petition. That decision by Dorans may have preceded Yousaf’s election as SNP leader on Monday.

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Yousaf said:

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n

I think [Dorans] should’ve backed the suspension, which has been agreed by the committee. But I think the important thing is for the Margaret Ferrier to finally do the right thing and stand down.

n

We’ve said from day one that Margaret Ferrier should’ve stepped down because of her reckless actions, [and] I look forward to fighting that byelection on our strong track record.

n

We take nothing for granted and won’t be complacent [about the SNP’s prospects of holding the seat]. We have strong support, we know, in Rutherglen and right across that region but it will take hard work, but I think it’s the right thing for Margaret Ferrier to do, to stand down.

n

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Yousaf says he looks forward to byelection in Margaret Ferrier’s seat where he claims SNP support ‘strong'”,”contributors”:[{“name”:”Severin Carrell”,”imageUrl”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/contributor/2007/09/28/severin_carrell_140x140.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=268fdbe82024e185350f606ad4a8e90b”}],”primaryDateLine”:”Thu 30 Mar 2023 10.44 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Thu 30 Mar 2023 04.13 EDT”},{“id”:”642582cc8f082ce94b435ba0″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

In a speech on Tuesday Ed Miliband, the shadow secretary for climate change and net zero, gave a speech saying that Labour wanted to match the ambition of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act – his plan for a $369bn investment in renewable energy and cutting emissions, involving huge subsidies. Miliband argued that this was “a modern green industrial policy at work” and that the UK was falling behind in the race for green energy.

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In a column in the Times today Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, responds to some of the arguments used by Miliband. He argues that it is the US that is catching up, not the UK.

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n

While no one doubts that the US government’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is a significant intervention, it is not the starting pistol in the race for green tech. That race started decades ago in the UK, with the world now playing catch-up.

n

Just under 40 per cent of our power was generated from renewable sources last year, double that of the US.

n

We have invested more in green growth per year in the past two years than planned annual US IRA spending over the next ten years, relative to the size of our respective economies.

n

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Hunt also says the government does not want to follow Biden’s subsidy-heavy approach.

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n

Today we are going further with our “Powering Up Britain” plan, the first part in our response to the challenges created by the US IRA ahead of an even fuller national response at the autumn statement.

n

However, our approach will be different — and better. We are not going toe-to-toe with our friends and allies in some distortive global subsidy race.

n

With the threat of protectionism creeping its way back into the world economy, the long-term solution is not subsidy but security.

n

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Labour has welcomed the decision to postpone a decision about bringing forward the rise in the state pension age to 68. But Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said this was an admission that under government policy life expectancy is stalling.

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He told MPs:

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n

Today’s announcement that they are not going ahead with accelerating the state pension age is welcome, and it is the right one.

n

But it is the clearest admission yet that a rising tide of poverty is dragging life expectancy down for so many, and stalling life expectancy, going backwards in some of the poorest communities, is a damning indictment of 13 years of failure which the minister should have acknowledged and apologised for today.

n

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The UK’s new energy plan unveiled today is a missed opportunity full of “half-baked, half-hearted” policies that do not go far enough to power Britain’s climate goals, according to green business groups and academics. Jillian Ambrose has the story here.

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Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, has told MPs that the goverment is delaying a decision on when the state pension age should rise to 68.

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The state pension age (SPA) is currently 66, and is due to go up to 67 between 2026 and 2028.

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It is currently due to rise to 68 between 2044 and 2046.

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By law the government has to review the state pension age regularly, and today Stride published the report of an independent review by Lady Neville-Rolfe saying SPA should rise to 68 between 2041 and 2043 – three years earlier than currently planned.

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But Stride told MPs that, rather than accept this recommendation, he was going to put off a decision until after the next election – and commission a further review in the next parliament. He said:

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n

Given the level of uncertainty about the data on life expectancy, labour markets and the public finances, and the significance of these decisions on the lives of millions of people, I am mindful a different decision might be appropriate once these factors are clearer.

n

I therefore plan for a further review to be undertaken within two years of the next parliament to consider the rise to age 68 again.

n

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In a report explaining why the government is not going ahead with the Neville-Rolfe recommendation, the Department for Work and Pensions says:

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n

Since the 2017 state pension age review was undertaken, the rate of increase in life expectancy has slowed. For example, in the 2014-based projections that informed the 2017 review, life expectancy at age 65 was projected to reach 27.3 years by 2060, whereas in the latest 2020-based projections it is projected to reach 24.4 years.

n

For most people and communities this does not represent falling life expectancy, as life expectancy at age 65 is 20.9 as of 2020, but a slower rate of future improvement. Nevertheless, the government is aware of growing inequalities in life expectancy outcomes and is taking action to tackle this …

n

The government notes the independent report’s recommendations on the rise from 67 to 68. However, Baroness Neville-Rolfe was not able to take into account the long-term impact of recent significant external challenges, including the Covid-19 pandemic and recent global inflationary pressures.

n

This brings a level of uncertainty in relation to the data on life expectancy, labour markets and the public finances. The government is mindful that a different decision might be more appropriate once this is clearer. Given the wide-ranging impacts, it is important to take the time to get this right.

n

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Ross says independence is not a priority for people across Scotland right now. He quotes an SNP MSP as saying the government needs to reset its relationship with business. And he quotes another former minister as saying the best economic brains in the party have been sidelined. If members of Yousaf’s party do not have confidence in his ability to manage the economy, how can the country?

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Yousaf says Ross must be desperate. He says people have repeatedly shown confidence in the SNP in elections. He says Tory MSPs would not even make it onto his subs bench.

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He says the Scottish Tories are in third place, so Ross is “a third-rate politician leading a third-rate party”.

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There are more interruptions, and the presiding officer, Alison Johnstone, says they will have to clear the public gallery.

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Douglas Ross, the Scottish Tory leader, asks why Humza Yousaf appointed a minister for independence in his reshuffle yesterday, when posts like social security and tourism were abolished.

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Yousaf says he is delighted to have appointed a cabinet with a majority of women, and many members under 40. He defends the appointments he made.

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n

I make no apology whatsover for having a minister for independence because, my goodness, we need it more than ever before.

n

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Ross says he was hoping for another interruption from the gallery, because Yousaf’s “rant” was going on for so long.

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There is another interruption, and proceedings are suspended.

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(The minister for independence is Jamie Hepburn.)

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Humza Yousaf is about to take first minister’s questions for the first time in Edinburgh.

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But before he started proceedings had to be halted shortly because of protesters in the public gallery.

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Three Conservative MP who will have a say over Boris Johnson’s political fate tried to reduce the suspension of Margaret Ferrier to avoid a potential by-election, the standards committee report reveals.

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But the three Tories, who were joined by the one SNP MP on the committee, were outvoted by the other members, who decided that Ferrier should face a 30-day suspension, making a recall byelection likely.

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The standards committee, which adjudicates on MPs who break the code of conduct, and the privileges committee, which deals with contempt of parliament complaints, are two separate bodies. But in the past they used to be combined and six of the seven MPs on both committees are the same.

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Until last year all seven MP members were the same – but Chris Bryant quit the privileges committee, to be replaced by Harriet Harman, because he decided that his past comments about Boris Johnson meant he could not judge the former PM fairly.

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Johnson’s fate will be decided by the seven MPs on the privileges committee. But, as well as seven MPs, the standards committee has seven lay members, and that is why the four MPs who tried to stop Ferrier facing a 30 day suspension were outvoted.

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The minutes printed at the back of today’s report show that the Tories Alberto Costa, Sir Bernard Jenkin and Sir Charles Walker, and the SNP’s Allan Dorans, all proposed a nine-day suspension – which would have avoided a recall byelection.

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Those four MPs voted against publishing the report as a whole, but were outvoted by everyone else.

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The fourth Tory on the committee, Andy Carter, joined his three Tory colleagues and Dorans in proposing an addition to the report explaning why Ferrier deservied leniance. It would have said:

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n

Ms Ferrier was a woman on her own in London, not her home city. There were no family or close friends to assist her. Her actions were not designed to enrich her or give her any form of benefit in kind. Her behaviour and judgement was directly affected by her distress and panic in her health condition and loneliness.

n

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This was also voted down, and does not appear in the final report.

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The Commons privileges committee is expected to conclude that Johnson committed contempt of parliament by giving misleading answers to MPs about Partygate, and that he was recklesss as to establishing whether or not what he said was true.

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But whether or not that would merit a suspension of 10 days or more is less clear – partly because there is no obvious precedent for the appropriate punishment for a PM recklessly misleading MPs.

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Although the cases are very different, the Ferrier case suggests at least four members of the privileges committee have some concerns about punishments that trigger the recall petition process.

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Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, is speaking at the start of the launch of Labour’s campaign for the local elections.

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She starts with the Ronald Reagan question, which she has posed before:

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n

The question that I want to pose this morning is a really important one after 13 years of Conservative government – are you and your family better off?

n

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She says real wages are falling, taxes rising and public services crumbling.

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The government should use a windfall tax on energy companies to fund a freeze in council tax, she says.

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And she introduces the next speaker, Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, saying she was the person who destroyed Dominic Raab at PMQs yesterday.

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Grant Shapps, the energy secretary, has said the government’s energy security blueprint is not a “rip-out-your-boiler” plan, despite measures aimed at shifting households away from gas, PA Media reports. PA says:

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n

The plan confirms measures aimed at making it cheaper to buy and run a heat pump rather than a traditional gas boiler.

n

But Shapps admitted he did not own a heat pump and insisted “we’re not forcing anyone to remove their gas boilers”.

n

The strategy confirms that the government will set out plans during 2023-24 to “rebalance gas and electricity costs” – which could cut the cost of electricity, which can be generated cleanly, at the expense of gas.

n

Homes will move from gas to cleaner energy “over the next decade or two”, Shapps said.

n

He told Sky News: “We all know that electricity can be a big way to decarbonise, but we also know these are big changes. So this is not a sort of rip-out-your-boiler moment. This is a transition over a period of time to get to homes which are heated in a different way and also insulated much better.”

n

He admitted “we’re in the low numbers still” of heat pumps, with around 42,000 installed last year and “there are technical issues that people are having to deal with in order to meet the switchover”.

n

Listing steps taken in his own home, including turning down the boiler flow temperature, Shapps said: “I’m gradually doing things. I’m not sort of some eco-warrior in this. I just want to try and save money on my energy bills like everybody else.”

n

The Government is extending a scheme offering £5,000 grants towards heat pump insulation to 2028 instead of its previous 2025 cut-off.

n

The package has been criticised by some as offering little more than reannouncements of existing plans.

n

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After Rishi Sunak published his tax returns, Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, posted a message on Twitter saying that he was paying “a far lower tax rate than working people” because most of the money he makes comes in the form of capital gains, and capital gains tax (CGT) is lower than income tax.

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Rishi Sunak’s much delayed return reveal a Tory tax system where the PM pays a far lower tax rate than working people – who face the highest tax burden in 70 years.

His latest handout to the richest 1% shows you exactly who he puts first.https://t.co/nPs0MdKjPU

— Angela Rayner 🌹 (@AngelaRayner) March 23, 2023

n”,”url”:”https://twitter.com/AngelaRayner/status/1638822363771858945″,”id”:”1638822363771858945″,”hasMedia”:false,”role”:”inline”,”isThirdPartyTracking”:false,”source”:”Twitter”,”elementId”:”71dc329d-3871-40fa-b665-76d50df80ba1″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

Conservatives claimed this showed Labour is planning to raise capital gains tax after the election. CGT was aligned to income tax until Gordon Brown cut it in 1998. His successor, Alistair Darling, put it back up, introducing a top rate of 28%, but in 2016 the Tories reduced that to 20% (for gains other than those related to residential property, where a 28% rate applies). The 2016 cut is estimated to have saved Rishi Sunak more than £300,000.

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In an interview on the Today programme Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said Labour was not planning to raise CGT. Asked why, in the light of the fairness argument made by Rayner, she replied:

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n

There are people who have built up their own businesses who maybe at retirement want to sell that business.

n

They may not have had huge income through their life if they’ve reinvested in their business, but this is their retirement pot of money.

n

And we also have said we want Britain to be the best place to start and grow a business.

n

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The Commons standards committee says Margaret Ferrier should be suspended for 30 days for breaches of Commons rules related to the incident where she travelled by train from London to Scotland after testing positive for Covid in 2020.

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Last year a court sentenced her to 270 hours of unpaid work in relation to the offence, but the standards commmittee says a further sanction by the Commons is required.

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Ferrier currently sits as an independent, but she was elected as an SNP MP and the 30-day suspension means she could face a recall election if 10% of voters in her constituency sign a petition calling for one. At the last election she had a majority of 5,230 over Labour in Rutherglen and Hamilton West and a byelection would indicate whether the recent resignation of Nicola Sturgeon, and the divisive SNP leadership contest, really is paving the way for a Labour combeack.

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In its report the standards committee says:

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n

The threshold for a breach of paragraph 17 of the code [which says MPs should “never undertake any action which would cause significant damage to the reputation and integrity of the House of Commons as a whole”] is necessarily high. However, any finding that a member’s actions have brought the house into disrepute must be considered to be a serious breach. The 2019 Code states that “members have a duty to uphold the law”; something the public rightly expect. If Ms Ferrier had been a public sector employee in a position of trust or leadership, she could have faced severe disciplinary consequences, potentially including dismissal, for these or similar actions.

n

We therefore recommend that Ms Ferrier is suspended from the service of the house for 30 days.

n

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Ferrier set to be suspended from Commons for 30 days over Covid rule breach, creating possible byelection test for SNP”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Thu 30 Mar 2023 10.44 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Thu 30 Mar 2023 04.13 EDT”},{“id”:”6425391a8f08a2f794cc48a5″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

Good morning. Keir Starmer is launching Labour’s campaign for the local elections today with a pledge that is simultaneously complete nonsense, but also an interesting piece of political positioning.

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In an overnight press release Labour says Starmer will announce that the party “would freeze council tax this year if in government, a move funded by a proper windfall tax on oil and gas giants”.

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But, as Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, has confirmed in interviews this morning, the party is not promising to do this if it wins the election, expected next year. It will publish its manifesto nearer the time.

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Greg Hands, the Conservative party chair, says this pledge is worthless. He says:

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n

Labour’s announcement isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. They have no plan to introduce this if elected. They’re taking the British people for fools.

n

If Labour were serious about cutting council tax Labour councils would be doing it now.

n

Instead across the country it’s Labour-run councils with higher council tax, Labour-run Wales where bills have quadrupled and Labour-run London where council tax has gone up 9.7 per cent.

n

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And Stephen Bush, the Financial Times columnist, has made much the same point on Twitter.

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I am torn between finding it engaging to make a commitment that you absolutely won’t have to kepe because you are *not* in power now, and finding it obnoxious.

— Stephen Bush (@stephenkb) March 29, 2023

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I mean, knock me sideways, if ‘time travel’ is a revenue raiser, why stop there?

— Stephen Bush (@stephenkb) March 29, 2023

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And yet – even nonsense announcements can convey a message that has some sort of foundation, and what Starmer is actually saying is that he wants to go into the next election outflanking the Tories on tax cuts for working people. In a statement issued overnight he says:

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n

There is a choice on tax. A Tory choice – taxes up for working people, tax cuts for the 1%.

n

Or a Labour choice. Where we cut business rates to save our high streets and where, if there was a Labour government, you could take that council tax rise you just got and rip it up.

n

A Labour government would freeze your council tax this year – that’s our choice.

n

A tax cut for the many, not just for the top 1 per cent.

n

So take this message to every doorstep in your community: Labour is the party of lower taxes for working people.

n

That’s the difference we can make. That’s the choice in May. A better Britain.

n

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I will post more on this, and Reeves’ morning interviews, shortly.

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Here is the agenda for the day.

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Morning: Rishi Sunak is visiting a research laboratory to promote the govenrment’s energy security plan published today. In our story on the plan, Fiona Harvey and Jillian Ambrose say the government defying “scientific doubts to place a massive bet on technology to capture and store carbon dioxide in undersea caverns, to enable an expansion of oil and gas in the North Sea”. The energy department’s news release is here, and a longer summary is here.

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11am: Keir Starmer launches Labour’s campaign for the local elections at an event in Swindon. Later, at 2.30pm, he will do a Q&A with students on Radio Wiltshire.

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11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

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After 11.30am: Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, is expected to make a statement to MPs saying the government will not bring forward the age at which the state pension age is increased to 68.

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12pm: Humza Yousaf takes first minister’s questions for the first time in Scotland.

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I’ll try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.

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If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

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Alternatively, you can email me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com.

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Key events

Protests at FMQs will continue until Scottish government halts new oil and gas projects, say climate activists

This is Rigged, the Scottish climate activist group, has put out a statement about the disruption of first minister’s questions today at Holyrood. It says this is the eighth week in a row that FMQs has been disrupted, as part of a campaign that it is running with other groups, including Just Stop Oil. And it says the protests will continue until the Scottish government stops all new oil and gas projects, and commits to a “fully funded fair transition” to green energy.

The statement includes quotes from three of the activists who took part in today’s protest.

Jen (32), a climate scientist from Uddigston, said:

I’m sick and tired of knowing the truth (climate reality- I had to leave my career, as a climate scientist, because the truth of climate breakdown is terrifying) and seeing it buried or ignored. The Scottish climate movement is here and we will not accept anything less than a just transition.

Max, who is retired and from Midlothian, said:

We now call on Humza Yousaf to reset Scotland on the right path, a path in which Scotland will lead the world in ultra-rapid decarbonisation, providing a truly just and equitable transition for its fossil fuel workers and the Global South in mitigating the worst of a crisis that we developed nations have bequeathed our global community. A clear public statement rejecting any new oil and gas development, including, most importantly, Rosebank, is an essential first step.

And Emma English (23), a student from Glasgow, said:

I am disrupting FMQ’s because the Scottish government must step up and commit to a green future. We are running out of time and so far the Scottish government has not done nearly enough to fight climate change.

A protester being removed from the public gallery at Holyrood today.
A protester being removed from the public gallery at Holyrood today. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA

The Interntional Longevity Centre, a thinktank focusing on longetivity, has criticised the govenment’s announcement about putting off until after the next election the decision about whether to speed up increasing the state pension age to 68.

David Sinclair, the ILC’s chief executive, said:

A delay to the increase in state pension age may be politically expedient but in the long term it is inevitable that we will be getting our pension later than previous generations. So, a failure to make the tough decision now will give any future government difficult financial choices about increasing taxation or reducing spending.

The state pension costs the government over £100bn a year and has increased 3-fold since 2000. By 2040 there will be more than 17m people aged 65+, 4m more than today and so these costs will rise even further. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has suggested that delaying the increase by seven years is likely to cost over £60bn. This could pay for a lot of levelling up, a lot of preventative health and a lot of care.

But Independent Age, a charity that supports the elderly, welcomed the decision. John Palmer, its director of policy and communications, said:

Many people can breathe a sigh of relief for now as there won’t be an imminent speeding up of plans to increase the pension age to 68. We know that previous changes to the state pension age resulted in increased poverty among people left behind. Bringing forward the rise to 68 would have meant more people struggling financially in their mid 60s and beyond.

In the Commons the Tory MP Sir John Redwood asked Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, how much the government would save by raising the state pension age to 68. Stride did not give an answer in the chamber, but he said he would write to Redwood with a reply.

Stride may have been better placed to give an answer if he had read last week’s Institute for Fiscal Studies briefing on this topic. “A reasonable estimate is that increasing the state pension age by one year in the late 2030s would save the government £8-£9bn a year in today’s terms,” the IFS said.

Postponing state pension age decision ‘not exactly sign of strength’, says Rees-Mogg

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, has said that the government’s announcement about postponing the decision about accelerating the rise in the state pension age to 68 is “not exactly a sign of strength”.

Speaking in the Commons, he told Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary:

Unlike the Labour party I don’t welcome this decision. That life expectancy from retirement from the 1940s to today has increased by seven years, which would indicate a retirement age of 72 rather than of 67 or 68.

The benefit of long-term decision-making is that it gives everybody the chance to plan well in advance. And the delaying the decision is a decision in itself, and is not exactly a sign of strength.

In response, Stride said the government wanted to wait “until we are more certain about what the future holds”.

Teachers call for clear guidance on how to support trans pupils in England

Teaching leaders have called on ministers to provide guidance on how to support students who identify as transgender, saying they are “caught in the crossfire” between strongly held views, Alexandra Topping reports. This came after Policy Exchange, a conservative thinktank, published a report saying safeguarding principles were being “routinely disregarded in many secondary schools” when it came to gender identity, with some parents not told when their child first questioned their identity.

Alexandra’s full story is here.

Humza Yousaf says he looks forward to byelection in Margaret Ferrier’s seat where he claims SNP support ‘strong’

Severin Carrell

Severin Carrell

Humza Yousaf, the newly elected SNP leader and first minister, said he believed there should be a byelection in Ferrier’s seat, and said he disagreed with the decision by the SNP MP on the standards committee to vote against her 30-day suspension. (See 9.35am and 12.01pm.)

Yousaf told reporters at Holyrood he was not aware Allan Dorans, the SNP MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock, had backed a Tory move to set Ferrier’s suspension at nine days – a day below the 10-day threshold for a recall petition. That decision by Dorans may have preceded Yousaf’s election as SNP leader on Monday.

Yousaf said:

I think [Dorans] should’ve backed the suspension, which has been agreed by the committee. But I think the important thing is for the Margaret Ferrier to finally do the right thing and stand down.

We’ve said from day one that Margaret Ferrier should’ve stepped down because of her reckless actions, [and] I look forward to fighting that byelection on our strong track record.

We take nothing for granted and won’t be complacent [about the SNP’s prospects of holding the seat]. We have strong support, we know, in Rutherglen and right across that region but it will take hard work, but I think it’s the right thing for Margaret Ferrier to do, to stand down.

Humza Yousaf (right) in the Scottish parliament today.
Humza Yousaf (right) in the Scottish parliament today. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Hunt says UK will not be going ‘toe-to-toe’ with US in ‘global subsidy race’ on renewable energy

In a speech on Tuesday Ed Miliband, the shadow secretary for climate change and net zero, gave a speech saying that Labour wanted to match the ambition of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act – his plan for a $369bn investment in renewable energy and cutting emissions, involving huge subsidies. Miliband argued that this was “a modern green industrial policy at work” and that the UK was falling behind in the race for green energy.

In a column in the Times today Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, responds to some of the arguments used by Miliband. He argues that it is the US that is catching up, not the UK.

While no one doubts that the US government’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is a significant intervention, it is not the starting pistol in the race for green tech. That race started decades ago in the UK, with the world now playing catch-up.

Just under 40 per cent of our power was generated from renewable sources last year, double that of the US.

We have invested more in green growth per year in the past two years than planned annual US IRA spending over the next ten years, relative to the size of our respective economies.

Hunt also says the government does not want to follow Biden’s subsidy-heavy approach.

Today we are going further with our “Powering Up Britain” plan, the first part in our response to the challenges created by the US IRA ahead of an even fuller national response at the autumn statement.

However, our approach will be different — and better. We are not going toe-to-toe with our friends and allies in some distortive global subsidy race.

With the threat of protectionism creeping its way back into the world economy, the long-term solution is not subsidy but security.

Rishi Sunak and Grant Shapps visiting Culham Science Centre in Abingdon this morning, to coincide with the publication of the government’s energy security plan.
Rishi Sunak and Grant Shapps visiting Culham Science Centre in Abingdon this morning, to coincide with the publication of the government’s energy security plan. Photograph: Reuters

Labour says state pension age decision ‘damning’ admission life expectancy stalling under government policies

Labour has welcomed the decision to postpone a decision about bringing forward the rise in the state pension age to 68. But Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said this was an admission that under government policy life expectancy is stalling.

He told MPs:

Today’s announcement that they are not going ahead with accelerating the state pension age is welcome, and it is the right one.

But it is the clearest admission yet that a rising tide of poverty is dragging life expectancy down for so many, and stalling life expectancy, going backwards in some of the poorest communities, is a damning indictment of 13 years of failure which the minister should have acknowledged and apologised for today.

Here are pictures of some of the climate activists who disrupted first minister’s questions at Holyrood.

Police and security staff escort a protester from the public gallery at Holyrood.
Police and security staff escort a protester from the public gallery at Holyrood. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Police and security staff escort a protester from the public gallery during FMQs.
Police and security staff escort a protester from the public gallery during FMQs. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Police and security staff escort a protester from the public gallery during FMQs.
Police and security staff escort a protester from the public gallery during FMQs. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Police and security officers remove a protester from the chamber during FMQs.
Police and security officers remove a protester from the chamber during FMQs. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA

‘Half-baked, half-hearted’: critics deride UK’s long-awaited climate strategy

The UK’s new energy plan unveiled today is a missed opportunity full of “half-baked, half-hearted” policies that do not go far enough to power Britain’s climate goals, according to green business groups and academics. Jillian Ambrose has the story here.

The National says the protesters who disrupted FMQs in Edinburgh today (see 12.16pm) were all from This is Rigged, a Scottish climate activist group opposed to new oil and gas developments in the North Sea. It has written about them here.

This Is Rigged confirmed to The National that they were responsible for all five suspensions at today’s FMQs

Here’s who they are and what you need to know about themhttps://t.co/aYfhwFpugs

— The National (@ScotNational) March 30, 2023n”,”url”:”https://twitter.com/ScotNational/status/1641409185085816832″,”id”:”1641409185085816832″,”hasMedia”:false,”role”:”inline”,”isThirdPartyTracking”:false,”source”:”Twitter”,”elementId”:”475a31bc-efa2-4dcc-9eb8-c48c36786e89″}}”>

This Is Rigged confirmed to The National that they were responsible for all five suspensions at today’s FMQs

Here’s who they are and what you need to know about themhttps://t.co/aYfhwFpugs

— The National (@ScotNational) March 30, 2023