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Apr 19 2024

All the Tory MPs who have been suspended since Rishi Sunak became prime minister | Politics News

Rishi Sunak is facing a fresh headache after a Conservative MP was suspended over allegations he misused campaign funds.

The Times newspaper report into Mark Menzies is the latest sleaze row to rock the Tories since the prime minister entered Downing Street with a promise to bring “integrity and accountability” to government.

Having sought to draw a line under the scandal-hit era of Boris Johnson, problems have continued to mount for Mr Sunak.

Sky News looks at the MPs who have been suspended during his time in office so far.

Mark Menzies

Fylde MP Mr Menzies lost the Conservative whip and was suspended as one of Rishi Sunak’s trade envoys after The Times published claims that he had used political donations to cover medical expenses and pay off “bad people” who had locked him in a flat and demanded thousands of pounds for his release.

Mr Menzies, who will now sit as an independent MP, disputes the allegations but “agreed to relinquish the Conservative whip, pending the outcome of an investigation”, Chief Whip Simon Hart said.

Mr Sunak is facing questions over how the claims were handled, with reports suggesting that the party had been aware of the allegations for more than three months.

Sky News understands there had been an ongoing investigation by Conservative Campaign Headquarters into Mr Menzies, but further information came to light following the newspaper’s report and Mr Hart acted immediately.

William Wragg

William Wragg, the MP for Hazel Grove in Greater Manchester, also gave up the whip after he admitted to The Times he had given his colleagues’ phone numbers to someone he met on a dating app.

The senior backbencher apologised and said the person “had compromising things on me. They wouldn’t leave me alone”.

Scotland Yard later said it is investigating reports of the so-called “honeytrap” scam after it was suggested at least 12 men in political circles received unsolicited messages, raising security concerns.

Mr Wragg’s decision to voluntarily give up the whip led to criticism from within Conservative ranks, with a senior Tory source telling Sky News: “Rishi is so weak Wragg decided he’d have to fire himself instead.”

Lee Anderson

Former deputy party chairman Lee Anderson had the whip suspended over “Islamophobic” comments he made about Sadiq Khan.

The MP for Ashfield, who has since defected to the Reform party, said he believed “Islamists” had “got control” of the Mayor of London, saying: “He’s actually given our capital city away to his mates.”

A day later Mr Khan accused the prime minister of being “complicit” in racism for failing to condemn Mr Anderson‘s comments that “pour fuel on the fire of anti-Muslim hatred”.

Mr Anderson was ultimately suspended, with the chief whip Mr Hart saying this was due to his “failure to apologise”.

Mr Anderson said at the time that he “fully” accepts the party had to suspend him – adding that he “will continue to support the government’s efforts to call out extremism in all its forms – be that antisemitism or Islamophobia”.

Scott Benton

Scott Benton was suspended last April after suggesting to undercover reporters at The Times that he would be willing to break lobbying rules for money.

A subsequent parliamentary investigation found he had committed a “very serious breach” of the rules and recommended he be suspended from the Commons for 35 days, a punishment backed by MPs.

Mr Benton resigned before that could happen, triggering a by-election in his Blackpool South constituency which will coincide with next month’s local elections.

He had denied wrongdoing and appealed the suspension but the ruling was upheld. Had he not resigned, he would have faced being removed from his seat via a re-call petition which would have triggered a by-election if 10% of eligible voters in the area backed it.

Bob Stewart

Bob Stewart, who represents Beckenham in southeast London, surrendered the party whip after he was found guilty of a racially-aggravated public order offence.

The conviction was quashed on appeal in February, but he has not had the whip restored.

Mr Stewart was convicted after telling Bahraini refugee Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei to “go back to Bahrain” during the incident in December 2022.

In overturning the decision, Mr Justice Bennathan said that while the words amounted to abuse, it was not believed that they caused Mr Alwadaei harassment, alarm or distress.

Crispin Blunt

Former minister Crispin Blunt had the whip suspended pending the outcome of the police investigation into allegations of rape and possession of controlled substances, which he denies.

The Reigate MP announced his arrest in October, calling it “unnecessary” but saying he was ready to co-operate and “I am confident will end without charge”.

Mr Blunt has said he does not intend to contest the next election. In January he was re-bailed until April.

Peter Bone

Disgraced ex-Tory MP Peter Bone lost his seat after being removed by constituents in a recall petition. The move came after he was suspended as an MP over bullying and sexual misconduct claims, which he denies.

Mr Bone’s partner was chosen to run as his replacement in the subsequent Wellingborough by-election. Labour managed to achieve a swing of 28.5% – the largest swing of this parliament at the time.

Chris Pincher

Former deputy chief whip Chris Pincher quit parliament in disgrace after losing his appeal against a suspension from the Commons following groping allegations made in June 2022.

The allegations ultimately led to the downfall of Boris Johnson, after it emerged the then prime minister was aware of an investigation into his conduct three years before, yet still appointed him to a role in his government involving MPs’ welfare.

Mr Pincher did not appeal against the rule breach, but argued to the Independent Expert Panel (IEP) that the punishment was disproportionate.

His resignation triggered a by-election in his seat in Tamworth in October, which the Tories lost to Labour.

David Warburton

David Warburton stood down from his seat in Somerton and Frome last summer while being investigated for claims of sexual misconduct. Mr Warburton, who was suspended over the allegations 14 months earlier, denied making unwanted advances but did admit to drug use.

In his resignation letter he said he had been denied a fair hearing by the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) and prevented from “speaking out” while it investigated the accusations.

An independent panel later found the investigation into claims he sexually harassed someone was “materially flawed“, but said it had made “no findings on the substance of the complaint against the respondent, or the allegation that the complaint was fabricated”.

Julian Knight

Juian Knight was suspended as a Conservative after a serious sexual assault allegation was made against him.

The MP for Solihull has always maintained his innocence and in April last year, the Metropolitan Police dropped the investigation without questioning him.

But he remained suspended from the Tory party as the chief whip said “further complaints” had been made against him.

Mr Knight announced he would be standing down at the next election as a result.

Andrew Bridgen

Mr Bridgen was kicked out of the Conservative Party last year after comparing COVID vaccines to the Holocaust.

The North West Leicestershire MP claimed a “consultant cardiologist” told him COVID jabs were “causing serious harms”, adding that the vaccine programme was “the biggest crime against humanity since the Holocaust”.

He stood by his comments following his expulsion, saying he would use his “newfound freedom” as an independent MP “to fight for justice for all those harmed, injured and bereaved due to governmental incompetence”.

Matt Hancock

Matt Hancock resigned as health secretary in disgrace during the pandemic when he was caught having an affair with his aide and now girlfriend, Gina Coladangelo, in breach of his own social distancing rules.

But it was his appearance on reality TV show I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! that caused him to lose the whip.

Mr Hancock was heavily criticised by MPs, including Mr Sunak, who said MPs should spend their time “serving constituents”.

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Mar 16 2024

Vaughan Gething: The vet’s son and cricket fan who’s set to become Wales’s first minister | UK News

Vaughan Gething has been elected leader of Welsh Labour – and is set to become the next Welsh first minister and first black leader of any European country.

Currently serving as minister for the economy, Mr Gething, 50, has been in politics since he was a teenager.

But he rose to prominence as health minister throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, when, he told Sky News years later, “you had to make really difficult, big calls and go out and front them up on a daily basis”.

Mr Gething described himself during the leadership race as “experienced, engaging and ambitious”.

Mr Gething was born in Zambia, where his father, a Welsh vet, met his mother, a Zambian chicken farmer.

He has spoken in the past about experiencing prejudice, and the impact it has had on him and his family.

In the 1970s, when he was two, his family moved to Abergavenny in Monmouthshire, where his father was due to start a new job – only to find the offer withdrawn when he arrived with a black family.

The family eventually relocated to Dorset, where he was brought up.

Set to become the nation’s first black first minister, he said: “Today we turn the page in the book of our nation’s history.

“A history that we write together.”

Early career

Mr Gething studied law at Aberystwyth University and then qualified as a solicitor at Cardiff University, having also served as the president of Wales’s National Union of Students.

His passion for politics began at a young age: he joined the Labour Party at 17 to help campaign in the 1992 elections.

Before being elected to the Senedd, he worked as a researcher to former Assembly Members Val Feld and Lorraine Barrett between 1999 and 2001.

Mr Gething became the youngest ever president of the Wales Trade Union Congress in 2008.

Elected to the Senedd

He was first elected to the Senedd in 2011 as the member for Cardiff South and Penarth.

Mr Gething joined the cabinet in 2013 as deputy minister for tackling poverty, the first black cabinet minister in any of the devolved governments of Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales.

He was appointed deputy minister for health in 2014, before he took on the role of health minister in 2016.

He retained the role throughout the first year of the pandemic until he was made economy minister.

The government’s COVID response is currently the subject of an ongoing public inquiry.

This was the second time he ran to become leader of the Welsh Labour Party, having stood in 2018 against Mark Drakeford.

Read more from Sky News:
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A ‘retired’ cricketer

He is a keen cricketer but now describes himself as “largely retired”.

While cricket is his main sporting passion, Mr Gething is also a fan of rugby and football.

But he says most of his time outside of parliament is spent with his wife and young son.

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Mar 11 2024

UK needs to reach 2.5% of GDP for defence spending ‘now – as soon as possible’, security minister warns | Politics News

Tom Tugendhat, the security minister, has told Sky News he wants to see defence spending reach 2.5% of GDP “now – as soon as possible”.

This departs from the stated government position – repeated at the budget last week – that spending will reach the 2.5% target “as soon as economic conditions allow”.

Mr Tugendhat – a former soldier – last week urged the prime minister to “lead the way” on increasing defence spending.

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He made the intervention in a post on LinkedIn alongside Foreign Office minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan.

In the social media post last week, Mr Tugendhat called on the UK to increase its spending on defence to “2.5% and beyond”.

Asked today if he wanted to see Rishi Sunak do more, Mr Tugendhat said: “Well, I want to achieve 2.5% now – as soon as possible.

“That is exactly what we need to achieve.

“You know, the first step is to get to 2.5% and then we’ll have to adjust as the challenges we face evolve.”

There was no additional money for the armed forces in the budget last week. Currently, spending on defence is at around 2.2% of GDP.

Speaking at the budget last week, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: “Our armed forces remain the most professional and best-funded in Europe with defence spending already more than 2% of GDP.

“We are providing more military support to Ukraine than nearly any other country and our spending will rise to 2.5% as soon as economic conditions allow.”

Mr Tugendhat said that Mr Hunt “set out a very strong budget last week about growth and he’s absolutely right”.

He added that it’s “clear” the UK “must increase defence spending”.

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The security minister listed the “challenges of Iran’s ambitions in the Middle East”, the “threat that Russia poses to Ukraine” and also the “rise in autocratic states” as the reasons for needing to increase defence spending.

Mr Tugendhat also said that Mr Sunak – who was then the chancellor – should be thanked as much as Boris Johnson and former defence secretary Ben Wallace for the growing defence budgets in recent years, which had been at 2%.

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In the LinkedIn post last week, Mr Tugendhat and Ms Trevelyan said: “Former defence secretary Ben Wallace and prime minister Boris Johnson made inroads into growing our defence budgets, which had been shrinking in real terms for years. But that only filled the hole. Now we need growth.”

Mr Tugendhat denied the article was implying Mr Sunak had to be dragged “kicking and screaming” into agreeing to the previous boosts.

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Mar 8 2024

Abolishing national insurance could take ‘several parliaments’, minister admits | Politics News

A minister has admitted that the government’s desire to scrap national insurance could take “several parliaments” to achieve as confusion over the policy mounts.

In his budget earlier this week, Jeremy Hunt slashed national insurance by 2p and said the government intended to scrap payments entirely, branding them “unfair” and a “double taxation” on work.

However, following a backlash and questions from Labour over how abolishing the tax would be funded, the chancellor admitted his plans would not happen “any time soon”.

And speaking to Sky News this morning, Gareth Davies, exchequer secretary to the Treasury, conceded that enacting the policy may take “several parliaments” – potentially at least a decade – to achieve.

“The starting point is that we think there’s a fundamental unfairness that if you work in a job you pay two types of tax; you pay income tax and you pay national insurance contributions,” he said.

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“So what we want to do, what we’ve demonstrated at the last two fiscal events, is that we want to get national insurance contributions down to the extent that we remove the unfairness over time.

“The long-term ambition, it may take several parliaments, but the long-term ambition is to remove that unfairness.”

Mixed messages

Mr Davies’ comments add to the confusion surrounding the policy after two ministers appeared to contradict each other this week.

Treasury minister Bim Afolami told Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge on Wednesday that the government wants to “eliminate” national insurance entirely.

But on Thursday, Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride said his “understanding” was the government aspires to bring down national insurance and taxes more generally over time.

Mr Hunt said that while the government wanted to “end the unfairness” of taxing work twice when other firms of income are taxed only once, it would only do so “when it’s possible to bring down taxes without increasing borrowing, while also prioritising public services”.

He also suggested income tax and national insurance could be merged.

Asked whether the government wanted to merge income tax and national insurance, Mr Davies said: “We keep all these things under review, but we want to remove the unfairness of having two taxes for those in work.”

According to the Office for Budget Responsibility, the independent public finances forecaster, income tax brought in £251bn in 2022-23, while national insurance brought in £177bn.

How much will it cost?

Labour has demanded the chancellor reveal how much his plan to scrap national insurance would cost, after its own estimates suggested the move could require an outlay of £46bn a year – equivalent to £230bn over a five-year parliament.

The party has argued such a move could prove more costly than the £45bn package of unfunded tax cuts announced by Liz Truss in her 2022 mini-budget which unleashed economic chaos and upended her premiership.

Darren Jones MP, Labour’s shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said: “Another day, another new claim from a Treasury minister over their £46bn unfunded tax cut.

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“And yet we still haven’t heard a word about how they plan to pay for it. If they are going to continue to confirm it is their policy, they should explain where the money is coming from.

“Another five years under Rishi Sunak risks re-running the disastrous Liz Truss experiment, which crashed the economy and sent mortgages rocketing for working people.”

A Number 10 source said the government would “make progress as rapidly as we can” and pointed to the reductions in national insurance that have already been made.

The Treasury also said Mr Davies’ timeline reflected the existing position.

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Feb 23 2024

Post Office would stand by prosecution of more than 350 sub-postmasters, boss told minister in letter | UK News

The boss of the Post Office wrote a letter to ministers saying he would stand by the prosecution of more than 350 of the sub-postmasters convicted in the Horizon scandal.

Chief executive Nick Read sent the letter to Justice Secretary Alex Chalk last month, informing him that the Post Office would be “bound to oppose” appeals against at least 369 prosecutions.

The document was dated 9 January – the day before the government announced plans for a new law to exonerate and compensate sub-postmasters who had been wrongly convicted in the Horizon scandal.

Mr Read’s letter was published by the Post Office on Thursday, as the government confirmed it was pressing ahead with the legislation to automatically quash convictions by July.

In response, the government said it would introduce “safeguards” to avoid “anyone who was rightly convicted” attempting to “take advantage” of the compensation scheme.

“Innocent post-masters have suffered an intolerable and unprecedented miscarriage of justice at the hands of the Post Office, which is why we are introducing legislation to swiftly exonerate all those convicted as a result of the Horizon scandal,” a government spokesperson said.

In the letter, Mr Read wrote that the Post Office had conducted an external legal review into prosecutions linked to the Horizon IT system between 1999 and 2015.

The period saw hundreds of sub-postmasters prosecuted because of discrepancies in the IT system, in what has been called the biggest miscarriage of justice in UK history.

Mr Read wrote that the review found that the Post Office was “bound” to oppose appeals against 369 of the roughly 700 prosecutions made in the period of the Horizon scandal because the evidence relied on in these cases was unrelated to the faulty system.

He wrote that a further 11 cases were under review, while there was insufficient evidence to take a decision either way in 132 cases.

“This clearly raises acute political, judicial, and communications challenges against the very significant public and parliamentary pressure for some form of acceleration or by-passing of the normal appeals process,” he wrote.

Attached to Mr Read’s letter was a note by Nick Vamos, the head of business crime at Peters & Peters, the solicitors for the Post Office.

In the note, Mr Vamos wrote that it was “highly likely that the vast majority of people who have not yet appealed were, in fact, guilty as charged and were safely convicted”.

The publication of the letters comes after allegations from the former chairman of the Post Office, Henry Staunton, who claimed there was “no real movement” on payouts to sub-postmasters until after the airing of ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office earlier this year.

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The claim was denied by the government and sparked a high-profile row between Mr Staunton and Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch.

While making the allegations, Mr Staunton revealed the existence of Mr Read’s letter.

The Post Office published the letter and the note on Thursday with a comment which said they were sent to “explain the work that the Post Office had requested its legal counsel, Peters & Peters, undertake to proactively identify, on the papers available, any convictions that could be unsafe”.

“This was primarily to offer the government any support that might assist them as they consider relevant issues in advance of passing legislation, without any value judgement on what the correct course of action might be,” it said in a statement, alongside publishing the letters.

The Post Office also said the note provided by Peters & Peters was “not solicited” by them and was sent to “express the personal views of its author”.

“(The) Post Office was in no way seeking to persuade the government against mass exoneration,” it said.

“We are fully supportive of any steps taken by government to speed up the exoneration of those with wrongful convictions and to provide redress to victims, with the information having been provided to inform that consideration.”

On Thursday, the government announced it aimed to get the exonerations done “as soon as possible before the summer recess” on 23 July.

Writing to the House of Commons, Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake said: “As noted in my statement on 10 January, the legislation is likely to exonerate a number of people who were, in fact, guilty of a crime.

“The government accepts that this is a price worth paying in order to ensure that many innocent people are exonerated.”

In an attempt to ensure people are truthful in signing up for compensation linked to convictions being overturned, they will have to sign a disclaimer confirming their innocence.

“Any person found to have signed such a statement falsely in order to gain compensation may be guilty of fraud,” Mr Hollinrake added.

An independent public statutory inquiry is ongoing to establish a clear account of the implementation and failings of the Horizon IT system at the Post Office over its lifetime.

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Feb 3 2024

Northern Ireland’s new first minister Michelle O’Neill ‘contests’ claim Irish unity is ‘decades’ away | UK News

Northern Ireland’s new first minister has told Sky News she “absolutely contests” the UK government’s claim that a referendum on Irish unity is decades away.

Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill, the first nationalist to occupy the office, described her elevation at Stormont as “a historic day, truly representing a new dawn”.

In a document, outlining the basis of the DUP’s return to power-sharing, the UK government said it saw “no realistic prospect of a border poll”.

But Ms O’Neill said: “I would absolutely contest what the British government have said in that document, in so far as my election to the post of first minister demonstrates the change that’s happening on this island.

“That’s a good thing. It’s a healthy thing because this change I think can benefit us all.

“I believe that we’re in the decade of opportunity and I believe, also equally, that we can do two things at once.

“We can have power-sharing, we can make it stable, we can work together every day in terms of public services, and whilst we also pursue our equally legitimate aspirations.

“There are so many things that are changing. All the old norms, the nature of this state, the fact that a nationalist republican was never supposed to be first minister. That all speaks to the change,” she added.

Ms O’Neill grew up in the “murder triangle” in County Tyrone. Her father was an IRA prisoner and her cousin was shot dead by the SAS.

But having pledged to be a “first minister for all”, she broke with republican tradition by using the term “Northern Ireland” in her acceptance speech.

“I’m somebody who wants to be a unifier. I’m somebody that wants to bring people together.

“We’ve had a difficult past, a turbulent past. A lot of harm was caused in the past and I think it’s so, so important that here in 2024, and we’ve just celebrated the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement last year, that we very much look towards the future.

“I hope I can represent the future. I believe I can represent the future, as somebody who wants to work with all communities.

“I obviously am a republican, a proud republican, but I think it’s really, really important that I can look towards those people who identify as Irish republicans, but also those of a British identity and unionist identity and tell them that I respect their values, I respect their culture.”

Asked if her pledge meant she would consider attending a Protestant Orange Order march, she said: “I will consider every invitation that comes my way.

“I’m hoping that I get invitations. I want to step into ground that republicanism hasn’t stepped into before,” she added.

Watch the full interview with Michelle O’Neill on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News from 8.30am.

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Feb 3 2024

Power-sharing to return to Northern Ireland as Michelle O’Neill becomes first nationalist first minister | Politics News

A power-sharing government will return to Northern Ireland today, as Michelle O’Neill makes history as the first nationalist first minister.

Politicians will gather at Stormont later for a sitting at which a series of ministers will be appointed to the executive, bringing an end to a two-year political quagmire.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the country’s largest unionist party, had signalled it was ready for the recall of the political institutions after forging a deal with the UK government on post-Brexit trade, which party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson says has effectively removed the so-called Irish Sea trading border.

Two pieces of legislation contained in the agreement were fast-tracked through the House of Commons on Thursday, paving the way for the Assembly at Stormont to return.

MLAs (members of the legislative assembly) will elect a new Stormont speaker, followed by nominations for the offices of first and deputy first minister.

Sinn Fein’s Ms O’Neill will take the first minister role, but the DUP has not yet said who it will nominate for deputy first minister. Under the Good Friday Agreement, the deputy has an authority equal to that of the first minister.

The power-sharing arrangement brought in by the agreement played a key role in ending the sectarian violence of the Troubles.

A series of ministerial positions across Stormont will also be filled.

After a meeting of party leaders at Stormont Castle on Friday, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey said: “It is important when the executive meets that we have a real sense of what those priorities are for everyone in Northern Ireland.

“We are looking forward to the Assembly meeting, going through the formalities, getting devolution restored.”

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Budget crisis is key priority

A key priority will be dealing with the budget crisis affecting public services in Northern Ireland.

The UK government has offered a £3.3bn package to secure Northern Ireland’s finances when the Assembly returns, including £600m to settle public sector pay claims.

But Sir Jeffrey indicated the parties would work together to secure more money from the Treasury, adding: “The finance piece is unfinished business which we intend to finish.”

Ms O’Neill’s selection as first minister, made possible after she led Sinn Feinn to victory in the 2022 Assembly elections, will mark the first time the post has been held by a nationalist committed to seeing Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland united as one country.

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Jan 20 2024

‘Campaigns of misinformation’ around heat pumps says energy minister amid record number of installations | Climate News

The energy minister, Lord Callanan, has accused “vested interests” of “funding campaigns of misinformation” about heat pumps.

“I’m not going to mention names but people have a vested interest in maintaining our current supplies of gas boilers and the like”, he told The Climate Show with Tom Heap.

Heat pumps – which run on electricity and don’t emit planet-warming carbon dioxide – are likely to be the technology of choice for most homes in Britain as we move towards net zero. But they don’t always get the best press.

The government already provides a grant of up to £7,500 for households making the switch, but the upfront cost can still exceed that of a new gas boiler if other adjustments to the home are required.

We visited a home in Woking, Surrey where the gas boiler was being removed and a heat pump installed.

After the government grant, the cost of the pump, water tank, new radiators and extra insulation still came to £6,500 – a cost that’s out of reach for many.

Mike Foster is from the Energy and Utilities Alliance – a trade body which represents gas and boiler companies and lobbies on their behalf. He says the higher upfront cost is a huge barrier.

“If we alienate the consumer on the journey to net zero, my fear and the fear of people in organisations like mine is that we’ll fail to get to net zero, and that will be the biggest crime.”

He rejected accusations that the industry has been spreading misinformation.

“Far from it. Our members make heat pumps. They make boilers. They make parts for heat networks, heat interface units. So we are technology agnostic, but we want to do what is right for the consumer,” Mr Foster said.

But the government says that the cost of swapping gas for a heat pump is already coming down – and that some installations are already cheaper than a boiler replacement.

“Fairly soon, as prices come down, the installation routine becomes more efficient, the prices will be very low,” Lord Callanan said.

The UK had a record year for heat pump installations last year, with 35,000 put into our homes. But that’s still a fraction of the 600,000 a year the government is targeting by 2028.

Much of the bad press around heat pumps focuses on claims that they don’t work well with much of Britain’s housing stock and some consumers are angry about being pushed to ditch gas.

How we heat our homes has never been so controversial, so on the Climate Show this week, we went out to meet installers, customers, industry insiders, gas backers and even government ministers to separate fact from fiction and shed some light about heat pumps.

They don’t work well with old, often poorly insulated houses

Any energy system will be warmer or cheaper to run or keep if you don’t let the heat leak out – that is true for gas, oil, wood or a heat pump.

Because heat pumps work best delivering warmth at a lower level for longer periods, they might struggle to make a really badly insulated home really cosy.

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Heat pumps are very expensive

Typically a pump, water tank, radiators and extra insulation cost around £14,000 – reduced to £6,500 after the government grant. This is more than an average gas boiler at around £2,000-£3,000.

Undoubtedly this is a steep upfront sum for many but given heat pumps’ unique ability to deliver more heat with less power means many customers find them cheaper to run.

But this does depend hugely on the price of electricity.

Fitting heat pumps requires enormous disruption in the home

Unlike the instant hit of heat from a gas boiler, heat pumps warm a greater volume of water over a longer time period in order to regulate and maintain consistent temperatures within the home.

This means they may need bigger radiators with more surface area to deliver the same warmth to a room.

They’re also very well-matched to under floor heating though, depending on how your house is built, this can be more expensive to fit.

Heat pumps are noisy

The government says the noise should not be higher than 45 dB when being one metre away from the window of a neighbouring residential property.

This is variously described as the same volume as whispering in a library, the sound of a babbling brook and quieter than light traffic noise.

They don’t work well in cold weather

Heat pumps are very common in Scandinavian countries, in Sweden making up more than half of all home heating systems.

Temperatures there are routinely sub-zero – much lower than here. Many do have wood burning stoves too but principally for the aesthetic appeal.

Customers don’t like them

A report for the MCS, the body which certifies the technology, found that 80% of people were either satisfied or very satisfied with their heat pump, which is higher than for gas boilers.

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Nov 26 2023

Minister plays down cabinet split after Cleverly says Rwanda plan ‘not be all and end all’ | Politics News

A cabinet minister has played down the suggestion of a government split on the Rwanda asylum plan after the home secretary said it was not the “be all and end all” of migration policy.

Backbench Tory MPs have criticised James Cleverly after he urged people not to “fixate” on the controversial deportation scheme, and said that leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) would undermine attempts to stop the boats.

Laura Trott, the chief secretary to the Treasury, told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips the home secretary was on the same page as the prime minister, who has pledged to do “whatever is necessary” to ensure flights take off.

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She said Rwanda remains “central” to the government’s promise to stop Channel crossings and “both are saying it is part of the plan, it is not all of the plan”.

Ms Trott said small boat crossings have already reduced despite no flights taking off with the £140m deal held up by legal challenges for over a year.

“We have successfully, in the last year, bought the numbers of people coming over here illegally down by a third,” she said.

“That is at a time when the numbers coming into Europe are up by 80%.”

Ms Trott went onto say that she was not worried about the Reform UK party outflanking the Conservatives from the right if the government fails to make true on its stop the boats pledge.

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Deep concern’ over Cleverly comments as Braverman’s ideas on net migration linger within cabinet
Nigel Farage may make political comeback, Reform UK leader suggests

“I’d be very clear that a vote for Reform or any other party which is not Conservative is a vote for Keir Starmer as prime minister.

“But what I would say is one of the reasons it’s so important for me to come on shows like yours is for us to communicate as a government what we are doing to stop the boats.”

Reform UK, previously the Brexit Party, has only taken small proportions of the vote in recent by-elections.

But that has not stopped some Conservatives fearing that Richard Tice’s party could exploit voter unhappiness over small boats at the next general election – especially given the advance of anti-immigration parties in other European countries.

Mr Sunak’s stop the boats pledge faced a huge set back this month after the Supreme Court ruled the plan to deport asylum seekers who arrive by unauthorised means to Rwanda to be unlawful.

Although Mr Sunak has doubled down on the policy, with a plan to sign a new legally binding treaty with Rwanda aimed at addressing the judges’ concerns, Mr Cleverly appeared to take a more measured approach when he wrote in the Times: “My frustration is that we have allowed the narrative to be created that this was the be all and end all.

“The mission is to stop the boats. That’s the promise to the British people. Never lose sight of the mission. There are multiple methods. Don’t fixate on the methods. Focus on the mission.”

It comes amid a separate row over the levels of legal migration to the UK, after new figures revealed net migration is at an all-time high – despite a Conservative 2019 manifesto pledge to bring numbers down.

Mr Sunak is under pressure from Tory MPs to take radical measures to make true on that pledge, including significantly increasing the minimum salary requirement to get a work visa and capping the number of health and social work visas.

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Nov 25 2023

Energy minister says hydrogen will ‘not play a major role’ in heating homes in the UK | Climate News

The government has given one of its strongest indications yet that it is going cold on hydrogen for home heating.

The energy minister Lord Callanan told The Climate Show with Tom Heap: “It will not play a major role in home heating.

“There’s no way that could be practically achieved”.

When hydrogen burns, it gives off no carbon dioxide as it is pure h2 – there is no carbon in the molecule.

This has led to considerable interest in using it as a domestic fuel for home heating and cooking to replace natural gas which is methane, a fossil fuel that worsens climate change when it burns.

Natural gas is still the workhorse of domestic energy with roughly three-quarters of UK homes on the gas grid and many supply companies are hoping hydrogen might be close to a ‘drop-in replacement’ for their current fuel.

But opposition has been mounting.

Many scientists point out that it takes enormous amounts of electricity to make clean green hydrogen, and it would be much more efficient to use that electricity directly in our homes to run heat pumps.

Read more from Sky News:
Investigation launched into Worcester Bosch over hydrogen marketing concerns
Potentially misleading boiler marketing over the use of hydrogen removed

The National Infrastructure Commission, the body created by the government to advise on critical fabric for the nation’s economy, has said there is “no public policy case for hydrogen” in domestic heating.

Lord Martin Callanan said: “It is clear that the vast majority of decarbonisation of home heating in the UK will be electrification.

“If we have hydrogen production locally it might play a small role in some localised areas”.

One of those areas could be the Yorkshire coastal town of Redcar, where a pilot project is proposed to swap natural gas for hydrogen and force people to choose between that or a heat pump.

But there is considerable local opposition, with residents questioning the safety of hydrogen and resenting the imposition of a change to their home heating.

Locals have already rejected a similar hydrogen village idea close to Ellesmere Port in Cheshire.

However, some gas companies are still insisting there is a role for hydrogen.

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Tim Harwood is Hydrogen Programme Director for the supply company Northern Gas, and they are backing the Redcar trial.

“We’re doing this project to demonstrate we can convert the gas network over to hydrogen.

“We can do it safely and we can provide resilience…and customers like it as it doesn’t change their lifestyle very much as it is similar to using natural gas.”

Whether the Redcar hydrogen trial will go ahead is still up in the air, with the government promising a decision before the end of the year.

But overall they seem to be pushing new hydrogen towards industry and away from our homes.

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