Ed Miliband rejects claim southerners would pay more for electricity under zonal pricing plan
Good morning. Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, has been doing an interview round this morning. The government wants to talk about a £300m investment in offshore wind. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero sums it up in its news release like this.
Workers and businesses in the UK’s industrial heartlands will benefit from an initial £300m of funding through Great British Energy to invest in supply chains for domestic offshore wind. It is expected that the investment will directly and indirectly mobilise billions in additional private investment – helping de-risk clean energy projects and supporting thousands of jobs and revitalising the UK’s industrial heartlands.
The public investment complements the £43bn of private investment pledged for clean energy projects since July.
But Miliband has spent more time talking about a story on the front page of the Daily Telegraph this morning saying that Miliband is “poised to approve changes that would mean households in the south pay more for electricity than those in Scotland and the north”. The Telegraph says:
The energy secretary has been weighing up whether to push ahead with zonal pricing, which would split the country’s single national power market into different regions.
Supporters say the change will cut household electricity bills overall by reducing the need for grid upgrades, while opponents counter that it will create a “postcode lottery” and deter investment in wind and solar farms.
But in a blow to critics, The Telegraph has been told that government officials have advised Mr Miliband to press ahead with the policy.
Speaking to the Today programme this morning, Miliband said claims that he would be jacking up electricity prices for southerners were
Asked about the report, he said:
Copper-bottomed nonsense than the Daily Telegraph. No decision has been made on this issue.
This is an incredibly complex question that we are looking at about how we reform our energy market.
There are two options, zonal pricing and reformed national pricing.
Whatever route we go down, my bottom line is bills have got to fall, and they should fall throughout the country. I’m not about to introduce a post code lottery. I’m determined we don’t do that. But absolutely no decision has been made. We’re going to take our time over this very complex and important decision.
Alert readers will notice that he did not deny that zonal pricing was an option, as the Telegraph reported. But he was denying that he might implement a change that would put prices up in parts of the country.
Miliband said zonal pricing was an option when the last government started the process of considering electricity market reform.
Asked what factors Miliband would consider when deciding whether or not to change the way the electricity market operates, he replied:
My test of any reform – I’m not going to get into the detail now – is will it cut bills and will it do it across the country in a fair way.
I’m not in favour of a post code lottery on these on bills.
Actually, it’s already the case that different parts of the country to pay different amounts for bills.
But what I do not want to do is to make that situation worse, or somehow jack up bills in one part of the country in favour of another.
I will post more from his interviews soon.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: Keir Starmer is visiting the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales before it sets off on a voyage to the Indo-Pacific. He will be speaking to broadcasters.
9.05am: Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, speaks at the opening of a two-day energy security summit in London.
9.30am: The Office for National Statistics publishes crime figures for England and Wales in 2024.
11am: Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, holds a press conference in Dover.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
Morning: Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, is campaigning in Warwickshire.
Afternoon (UK time): Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is giving interviews in Washington to US broadcasters, including Fox News.
3pm: Starmer is meeting Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, for talks in No 10.
Afternoon: Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, is on a campaign visit in the East Midlands.
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Key events
Farage claims doctors ‘massively over-diagnosing’ children with Send and mental health conditions
Andrew Sparrow
Nigel Farage has claimed that doctors are “massively over-diagnosing” children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) and mental health conditions.
Asked at this press conference about the rising number of children diagnosed with Send, and what could be done to help them, Farage replied:
It’s a massive problem. I have to say, for my own money, when you get to 18 and you put somebody on a disability register, unemployed, with a high level of benefits, you’re telling people aged 18 that they’re that they’re victims. And if you are told you’re a victim, and you think you’re a victim, you are likely to stay [a victim].
So many of these diagnoses, for Send before 18, for disability register after 18 – so many of these have been conducted on Zoom, with the family GP.
I think that is a massive mistake. I think you’re the family GP, and I’ve know your family for generations, and you’re saying to me there’s a real problem here with depression, or whatever it may be, it’s quite hard for me as your GP to say no.
I don’t think any of these allocations should be done by family GPs. I think should be done independently.
And I think we are massively – I’m not being heartless, I’m being frank – I think we are massively over-diagnosing those with mental illness problems and those with other general behavioural disabilities. And I think we’re creating class of victims in Britain that will struggle ever to get out of it.
My colleague Amy Sedghi is taking over for a while now. I will be back later.
Q: There is an estimate you could win 450 seats in the local elections next week. Do you think that’s right?
Farage says he does not know.
But he says, if the forecast does turn out to be right, that would be “quite a political revolution”.
The question referred to a prediction from Lord Hayward, a Tory peer and respected pollster. He said this week that he expects his party to lose between 475 and 525 seats in the local elections next week, and Reform UK to win between 400 and 450.
Many of these losses are expected to be to Reform in the Midlands and the North, with Mr Farage’s party possibly winning 400 to 450 seats.
Q: In Kent could Reform UK councillors do anything differently on immigration?
They could complain, says Farage. And they could refuse to accept migrant hotels.
Lisa O’Carroll
Lisa O’Carroll is a Guardian correspondent covering the EU and Brexit.
European commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s meeting with Keir Starmer today is a key meeting to forge a deal ahead of the first UK-EU summit next month in London, the EU has said.
A spokeswoman for the European Commission said this morning that the meeting would lay the groundwork for the first bilateral summit since the UK left the EU five years ago.
The summit is expected to deliver a new defence and security pact along with a deal on youth mobility, carbon emissions pricing on cross border trade and a potential veterinary deal to remove barriers for food and drink exporters.
The EU’s chief spokeswoman Paula Pinho said:
The objective of that bilateral meeting [today] is, among other things, to prepare the ground for the summit in May. This is very much unique in the past years. All the preparatory work is being done, including at the highest level, and that’s as much as we can say now.
Farage says the Reform UK membership has now passed 225,000.
Farage claims defence pact with EU could ‘fundamentally damage’ UK’s relations with Nato and US
Q: Should the government make fishing concessions to the EU?
Farage claims he is the only MP with a financial interest in a commercial fishing boat. Since Brexit, there have been more EU fishing boats fishing near the British coast, he says.
He says many people in the fishing industry think Brexit has made things worse for the sector. He claims further concessions could finish it off.
He says he is worried that Keir Starmer wants more alignment with the EU. And he says is worried the proposed defence and security pact with the EU will “fundamental damage our relationship with Nato and America”.
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, opened his press conference with a long speech about immigration. But largely it was a repeat of things he has said many times before. He confirmed that Reform UK would take the UK out of the European convention on human rights, to enable the government to remove all people arriving in the country illegally.
He is now taking questions.
Q: What would you do if you were in charge of Birmingham? Would you talk to the unions?
Farage starts talking about his time as a metal trader, and he says that in that period he worked with people in manufacturing.
He says Reform UK wants to reindustrialise the country. That will involve talks with the unions.
He says he expects further Birmingham-style disputes this year. He says the government is facing a “very difficult summer and autum”.
Mahmood says young offender institutions more violent than adult jails, as she allows pepper spray to be used in them
Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, has confirmed that she is authorising prison officers to use Pava pepper spray to incapacitate children in youth offender institutions (YOIs). She has published a written ministerial statement announcing the decision, which Rajeev Syal first reported two days ago.
Explaining why prison officers needed more protection in YOIs, Mahmood said that level of voilence in these jails was “unacceptable”, and higher than in adult prisons. She said:
The levels of violence across the Children and Young People’s Secure Estate are unacceptable. On a weekly basis there are assaults involving young people in custody. Serious assaults can see these young people use homemade weapons, including stabbing implements, against each other and our staff.
Today, levels of violence are higher than in the adult prison estate. For the 12 months to Dec 2024, the rate of assaults by children and young people, on staff across the three public YOIs (HMYOI Feltham A, HMYOI Werrington and HMYOI Wetherby) increased by almost 25% compared to previous year – rates are around 14 times higher than that in the adult estate. In July 2024, HM Inspectorate of Prisons described HMP & YOI Feltham A as the ‘most violent prison in the country’.
The Howard League for Penal Reform has condemned the decision to authorise the use of Pava in YOIs. It said Pava is “a chemical irritant spray that can cause severe pain” and is classified as a prohibited weapon under the Firearms Act 1968.
Andrea Coomber, the Howard League’s chief executive, said:
There is too much violence in prisons holding children, but this is a direct consequence of a failing system that keeps boys as young as 15 locked in their cells for up to 23 hours a day without meaningful access to education or social interaction.
It reflects a profound failure on the part of those responsible for children in custody that they would consider introducing weapons in the name of safety. The Howard League will take whatever steps necessary, including legal action, to challenge this decision.
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, is about to speak at a press conference in Dover. There is a live feed here.
Opening the press conference, Zia Yusuf, the party chair, said the party was now leading in national polling.
(The Economist’s poll tracker has Reform UK on 25%, Labour on 23% and the Conservatives on 22%.)
Streeting says men hit particularly hard by some illnesses as he seeks input for England’s first men’s health strategy
Men are “disproportionately affected” by a number of serious medical conditions including cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes, health leaders have said as they called for input on a men’s health plan. PA Media says:
On average, men have a shorter life expectancy compared to women – a difference of almost four years – and officials are asking for views on what must be done to “close the gap”.
Men are also more likely to die by suicide compared to women, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) added.
The department said that action must be taken to “prevent and tackle” the biggest issues facing men as it called for insights on what needs to be included in England’s men’s health strategy.
Announcing a call for evidence for what is described as England’s first ever men’s health strategy, Wes Streeting the health secretary, said: “Every day, men across England are dying early from preventable causes.
“Men are hit harder by a range of conditions, while tragically suicide is the leading cause of death for men under 50.
“Our Plan for Change means we will tackle these issues head on through a men’s health strategy, and today’s call for evidence is the crucial next step in understanding what works, what doesn’t, and how we can design services men will actually use.
“I urge people to come forward to share their views.”
Shoplifting offences in England and Wales passed 500,000 for first time in 2024, ONS says
Crime figures for England and Wales in 2024 have been published this morning in a report from the Office for National Statisics. Here are some of the main points, picked up by PA Media.
A total of 516,971 offences were logged by forces last year, up 20% from 429,873 in 2023.
The figure is the highest since current police recording practices began in the year to March 2003, according to the ONS.
Shoplifting offences have been running at record levels for the past two years and have seen a “sharp rise” since the Covid-19 pandemic, the ONS said.
Some 152,416 theft from the person offences were recorded by police in England and Wales last year, up 22% from 125,379 in 2023 and the highest number since current data began in 2003. PA says:
A total of 1.80 million theft offences were recorded by forces in 2024, up 1% on 2023.
The increase was driven by the rise in shoplifting and theft from the person, the ONS said.
Knife crime recorded by police in England and Wales stood at 54,587 offences in 2024, up 2% from 53,413 in 2023 but 1% below the the pre-pandemic figure of 55,170 in the year to March 2020. PA says:
The number of offences involving possession of an article with a blade or point stood at 28,150, up 1% year-on-year from 27,892 and higher than the pre-pandemic figure of 23,264 in 2019/20.
Knife-enabled homicides stood at 216, down 16% from 258 in 2023.
Some 535 homicide offences were recorded by forces in 2024, down 5% from 563 in 2023 and the lowest figure since 533 in the 12 months to March 2014.
And here is a graphic from the ONS report showing trends in main crime types.
www.theguardian.com
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