Sadiq Khan joins Labour figures urging PM not to water down electric vehicle targets – UK politics live | Politics
London mayor Sadiq Khan joins Labour figures urging PM not to water down electric vehicle targets
Kiran Stacey
Kiran Stacey is the Guardian’s policy editor.
Sadiq Khan has become the most high-profile Labour figure to weigh into the increasingly fractious debate over what the government should do with its electric vehicle targets.
Ministers are meeting today in Downing Street to decide whether to cut legally binding requirements for carmakers to ensure 80% of the vehicles they sell in 2030 are electric.
Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, is pushing for the target to be reduced to 50%, but Miatta Fahnbulleh, the energy secretary, wants to keep it as close to 80% as possible.
But as ministers wrangle among each other, City Hall officials have made clear that the London mayor is on Fahnbulleh’s side.
Khan’s position was laid out in a letter from his deputy mayor for transport Seb Dance to Oliver Lord, the UK director of Clean Cities, which has been seen by the Guardian.
Dance wrote:
We and Transport for London share your view that the ZEV [zero-emission vehicle] mandate must not change. We outlined in our submission to the government’s consultation that London supports a strong and credible ZEV mandate.
We do not support any weakening of the current trajectories to 2030 or beyond, which risks damaging the case for investment in the ZEV and charging infrastructure industries, slowing down the pace of change, and the associated reduction in harmful emissions.
Department for Transport officials insist that no decision has yet been made but with the government likely to announce a cut to the 2030 target in the next two
weeks, this is likely to leave Khan opposed to official government policy.
Key events
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Reform UK proposes to set up ‘industrial strongholds’, starting in Black Country, with tax breaks to boost jobs
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Farage was guest on Brand podcast after sexual assault investigation began
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Minister says councils will be told to use neighbourhood commissioning for care, to make service more personalised
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Long waits for operations in English hospitals at lowest level for 5 years, NHS England says
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Meg Hillier says she will give ‘fair wind’ to Milburn’s welfare plans, saying they’re not like Pip cuts she opposed in 2025
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Tories describe Milburn’s plans as ‘welfare doom loop in action’ because they propose extra spending on employment support
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Burnham announces fresh sanctions on Russian oil producers as he attends summit with European leaders in Dublin
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London mayor Sadiq Khan joins Labour figures urging PM not to water down electric vehicle targets
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How many Neets are not claiming benefits, and who are they?
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Milburn says proposed welfare cuts won’t be ‘pain-free’ – but says they’d be offset by higher employment support spending
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What changes to youth sickness and disability benefits will Milburn propose?
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Greens condemn Milburn’s proposal for some young people to lose sickness or disability benefits
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More than 3,500 patients a day getting corridor care in English hospitals, NHS figures show
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EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas says she would like UK back in EU, but warns there’s ‘lot of trauma’ from Brexit
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EU Parliament president pledges support for UK-EU reset ahead of next week’s summit
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‘The world will breach the 1.5c target,’ Burnham tells Cop31 summit
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Under-25s could be moved off key sickness and disability benefits in welfare shake-up
The latest episode of the Guardian’s Politics Weekly UK is out, and it features Kiran Stacey and Jessica Elgot discussing some of the concerns starting to be raised by Labour MPs about Andy Burnham’s policies.
Reform UK proposes to set up ‘industrial strongholds’, starting in Black Country, with tax breaks to boost jobs
Ben Quinn
Ben Quinn is a Guardian political correspondent.
Reform UK has pledged to create “industrial strongholds” that would get tax breaks and other incentives aimed at spurring reindustrialisation, with the Black Country identified by the party as the first area for one.
The West Midlands area encompassing Wolverhampton, Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Cannock Chase – all Reform UK targets in any upcoming general election – was identified by the party as its first proposed “stronghold” zone.
Each zone would be a place where employer national insurance on net new hires would be halved, along with “streamlining” of planning policy and 100% first-year tax relief on new brownfield residential buildings and extensions.
Four more areas are to be unveiled by Reform UK in the months ahead, a rally in Wolverhampton was told by Reform’s economics spokesperson, Robert Jenrick.
Gordon Brown’s controversial 2007 pledge to create “British jobs for British workers” was also repurposed by Jenrick in a speech in which he spoke of plans for new visa sponsorship rules. He said:
Under Reform, jobs in Britain go to British workers first. Advertised here, to our people, before an employer can look anywhere else. And no sitting out the clock to fly somebody in on a visa.
Cheaper to hire from Bilston. Dearer to hire from abroad. British jobs for British workers. It’s about time you came first.
In a briefing explaining how the policy would work, Reform UK said:
Each Industrial Stronghold will be a defined geographical area, within which businesses will benefit from significant incentives for growth. These will include:
-Employer national insurance contributions reduced by 50% for the first £50,000 of earnings for net additional employees for five years.
-100% first-year tax relief on new brownfield residential buildings, extensions and substantial improvements.
-10-year exemptions on the extra business rates that result from new investment, from improvements, and from establishing a business in a high street retail unit that has been vacant for more than two years.
-Streamlining planning policy by creating a presumption in favour of development according to an updated local plan, with a strictly limited set of circumstances in which planning applications can be refused.
Andy Burnham said he had been “really looking forward” to meeting Italian premier Giorgia Meloni for the first time face to face, the Press Association reports. PA says:
The pair highlighted close UK-Italian ties and joint projects – including the Global Combat Air Programme (Gcap) to build the next generation fighter jet – as they met on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Dublin.
Speaking to the media ahead of private talks, the prime minister said: “It’s a real pleasure for me to meet the prime minister of Italy, Giorgia, for the first time.
“Italy, one of the UK’s biggest trading partners, we have such a close relationship on so many levels, not just trading partners, security partners, because working together on the next generation fighter jet Gcap.
“Working together closely on security, particularly on Ukraine, and we really salute your strong stance on Ukraine.”
Meloni told Mr Burnham “it’s a pleasure to know you personally”, and also referenced the two countries’ co-operation on migration.
EU relations minister Hamish Falconer and national security adviser Jonathan Powell also attended the meeting.
Farage was guest on Brand podcast after sexual assault investigation began
Nigel Farage appeared on Russell Brand’s US podcast nine months after the comedian was investigated by police over allegations of sexual assault, Rowena Mason reports.
Minister says councils will be told to use neighbourhood commissioning for care, to make service more personalised
Jessica Murray
Jessica Murray is a Guardian social affairs correspondent.
Alison McGovern, the social care minister, has announced a shake-up of home care that will mean people see the same carer more regularly and workers spend less time travelling between visits.
Speaking at the National Children and Adult Services Conference in Liverpool, McGovern said councils in England will be encouraged to commission care around smaller neighbourhoods, with just one or two main providers in each area.
She said:
I want to see more local authorities commissioning home care on a neighbourhood basis over time. This will be a very different way of doing things, and we are asking everybody to break habits that have been long in the making.
There have long been problems with care workers being forced to travel long distances between visits, with some not being paid for travel time or fuel, and having to cut visits short.
McGovern said this was one of several small changes she was committed to making while waiting for the Casey Commission to report back on sector-wide reform and the road map to a National Care Service.
Whilst Baroness Casey looks at what more needs to change for the years to come, this is change that we can make now.
Yesterday, Louise Casey told the conference that successive governments had been “asleep at the wheel” on social care, leaving the system to grow as a chaotic patchwork of local services with no clear vision.
Taking questions from the audience, Casey indicated that she approved of a mandatory register of care workers that would give staff better protections and give providers a better overview of qualifications and training.
McGovern did not say exactly when she expected the National Care Service to be operational, but said it would be based on “shared expectations” and Casey would set out long-term plans next summer.
Nick Thomas-Symonds, who was minister for EU relations when Keir Starmer was PM, has said that Andy Burnham is right to say that the 2024 Labour manifesto red lines – ruling out joining an EU customs union, the single market, or full EU membership – should not apply at the next election. In an interview with Politico, he backed Burnham’s call for a debate on a closer relationship. He said:
Given the status quo is not working in the way that it should be, given I think where public opinion is as well – I don’t think anyone was interested in another Brexit election in 2024 – but certainly now where public opinion is as well, I think it’s absolutely right to have a debate about these different options that are available to us.
Here are some pictures of Andy Burnham at the European Political Community meeting in Dublin this afternoon.
Long waits for operations in English hospitals at lowest level for 5 years, NHS England says
It is not hard for opposition parties to find something to criticise when NHS England publishes its monthly hospital performance figures; because there is so much data, some of it is bound to reflect badly on the government.
By the same token, there is always something ministers can welcome. While the Lib Dems have highlighted the corridor care figures today (see 11.26am), NHS England is focusing on waiting times. Its press release says:
The NHS delivered its best 18-week elective performance for more than five years in September, as staff manage record demand on services.
New NHS figures published today show almost 66% of patients on the waiting list have been waiting less than 18 weeks – the highest proportion since September 2021.
The progress comes alongside a record number of diagnostic scans and tests being delivered for September, following investment in NHS diagnostic capacity. The improvement in elective performance came despite a record number of people being referred onto the waiting list.
Yvette Cooper, the health secretary, said:
This autumn has been the busiest ever for our NHS – with record numbers of people attending A&E and record numbers of elective appointments and treatments.
Despite the relentless pressure, the NHS has delivered a record 30.6m diagnostic tests, checks and scans over the last 12 months, and more people are being treated within 18 weeks than the same time last year.
I want to pay tribute to all the NHS staff whose commitment and hard work have made that possible.
Meg Hillier says she will give ‘fair wind’ to Milburn’s welfare plans, saying they’re not like Pip cuts she opposed in 2025
Meg Hillier, chair of the Treasury committee, was one of the Labour MPs who led the successful campaign to get Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves to abandon plans to cut Pip (personal independence payments) last year. But, as she revealed in an interview on the World at One, she is not minded to do the same with the Alan Milburn plans. She said she wanted to give him a “fair wind” because he was explaining how his proposed cuts might eventually benefit young people.
She said:
What happened last year was a cut was being proposed and none of us could explain to people what would happen to them. Milburn has done some very good work on this so I’m giving him a fair wind.
Tories describe Milburn’s plans as ‘welfare doom loop in action’ because they propose extra spending on employment support
At a press conference on Tuesday, Kemi Badenoch said that Alan Milburn had briefed the shadow cabinet on his plans and that she thought there would be “many good things” in his report. “Our issue is not with Alan Milburn,” she said.
Two days on, the line has changed. The Conservatives have issued a press release about what they describe as the “Milburn review leaks” (even though an interview in the Times is not a leak) and it includes this statement from Helen Whately, the shadow work and pensions secretary. She said:
We await the detail of Alan Milburn’s review, but he’s right to say it’s time to stop handing out cash for mild conditions. That’s in our welfare savings plan already. Conservatives will support measures to reduce benefits for people who should be in work, including existing claimants. The question is whether Andy Burnham has the backbone to get these reforms through his welfare-obsessed MPs.
However, Milburn’s proposals also appear to involve spending billions more on subsidised work placements to compensate for the jobs Labour have killed with their taxes and red tape. This is Labour’s welfare doom loop in action: destroy jobs, then spend more taxpayers’ money on benefits.
Ben Quinn
Ben Quinn is a Guardian political correspondent.
Andrew Rosindell has backed a bid by Rupert Lowe to block a bill aimed at rejecting the ethnic basis for Englishness, in a rare move by a Reform UK MP supporting Nigel Farage’s hardline rival on the right.
The move now opens up questions for Farage himself as to whether he will also add his name to the motion at a time when he faces severe pressure on his right.
Andy Burnham said on Wednesday that he is likely to support a bill tabled by a Liberal Democrat MP that would allow people to define themselves as both black and English for ethnicity options in the census for England.
The bill was drawn up by Josh Babarinde, the Lib Dem president, with backing from a cross-party mix of MPs including David Lammy, a former Labour deputy prime minister, and James Cleverly, the Conservative former foreign secretary.
Lowe, who set up his own Restore Britain party after leaving Reform, has tabled an early day motion which “expresses grave concern that the political redefinition of ethnicity risks obscuring the existence and demographic security of England’s, Scotland’s, Wales’s and Northern Ireland’s historic populations”.
It calls on the government to “resist attempts to erase the distinction between citizenship, national belonging and ancestral heritage”.
Rosindell effectively became the co-sponsor of Lowe’s bill today by becoming the second signatory to it. It’s not clear if he has had authorisation from his own party to sign the motion. Lowe welcomed him as Restore Britain supporters called on Farage and others to follow suit.
Tensions between Lowe and Farage remain at rock bottom after a bitter break which saw the Great Yarmouth MP being suspended and expelled. The emergence of Restore Britain, which has been growing in the polls, has already cost Reform council seats and is projected to cost Farage’s party dozens of general election gains.
Burnham announces fresh sanctions on Russian oil producers as he attends summit with European leaders in Dublin
The UK is sanctioning all 10 of Russia’s major oil producers, Andy Burnham will announce as he attends a gathering of European leaders in Ireland.
According to the Press Association, Burnham will use the European Political Community (EPC) summit in Dublin to urge leaders from some 50 nations to ramp up pressure on Vladimir Putin to take peace talks seriously.
Burnham said Britain has slapped a package of new sanctions on Moscow, including on shadow fleet vessels illicitly transporting Russian oil, Russian oil company Slavneft, and Rosneft’s flagship Arctic oil and gas project LLC Vostok Oil.
He said:
Peace talks on Ukraine have progressed but now is not the time for complacency – we must continue to ramp up pressure on Russia to agree a full and immediate ceasefire.
That is why the UK has announced a sweep of stinging new sanctions to turn the screws on Russia’s oil revenues and drive forward an end to the Kremlin’s needless war.
We all now need to harness the momentum on negotiations and find a way forward for our security at home, and the security of our continent.
Burnham arrived in Dublin on Thursday afternoon after flying in from Turkey, where he attended the UN Cop31 climate conference, PA said.
London mayor Sadiq Khan joins Labour figures urging PM not to water down electric vehicle targets
Kiran Stacey
Kiran Stacey is the Guardian’s policy editor.
Sadiq Khan has become the most high-profile Labour figure to weigh into the increasingly fractious debate over what the government should do with its electric vehicle targets.
Ministers are meeting today in Downing Street to decide whether to cut legally binding requirements for carmakers to ensure 80% of the vehicles they sell in 2030 are electric.
Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, is pushing for the target to be reduced to 50%, but Miatta Fahnbulleh, the energy secretary, wants to keep it as close to 80% as possible.
But as ministers wrangle among each other, City Hall officials have made clear that the London mayor is on Fahnbulleh’s side.
Khan’s position was laid out in a letter from his deputy mayor for transport Seb Dance to Oliver Lord, the UK director of Clean Cities, which has been seen by the Guardian.
Dance wrote:
We and Transport for London share your view that the ZEV [zero-emission vehicle] mandate must not change. We outlined in our submission to the government’s consultation that London supports a strong and credible ZEV mandate.
We do not support any weakening of the current trajectories to 2030 or beyond, which risks damaging the case for investment in the ZEV and charging infrastructure industries, slowing down the pace of change, and the associated reduction in harmful emissions.
Department for Transport officials insist that no decision has yet been made but with the government likely to announce a cut to the 2030 target in the next two
weeks, this is likely to leave Khan opposed to official government policy.
How many Neets are not claiming benefits, and who are they?
A reader asks:
Regarding Neets, does the figure of a million just refer to those claiming benefits or does it also include those not claiming benefits? If it doesn’t include those not claiming benefits, what is the true Neet figure?
Is the government only concerned about Neets who claim benefits?
Alan Milburn is definitely interested in both categories of Neet. The Treasury is probably more worried about just the Neets who claim benefits, but they should be worried about the other Neets too because if they don’t get into the labour market, they will end up claiming benefits one day.
The interim Milburn report said there were 957,000 Neets aged 16 to 24 at the end of 2025 and this figure includes people who claim out-of-work benefits and people who don’t.
The report describes the ones who don’t as “hidden Neets” and it says 44% of young Neets are in this category. It uses figures from this Resolution Foundation report exploring the problem.
The RF report includes this chart.
And this is what the RF says about the figures.
What figure 4 also shows is that there are consistently hundreds of thousands of young Neets who are not claiming out-of-work benefits. In 2024, we estimate that 410,000 – 44% of all Neets – were not in receipt of an out-of-work benefit. This is a slightly lower proportion than in 2019, and we estimate that the number of Neets who are claiming out-of-work benefits has risen more quickly since 2019 than the number who are Neet and not claiming (with increases of 24% and 13% respectively).
The fact that welfare spending is lower than it could be if all Neets claimed an out-of-work benefit may seem like good news to some policy makers, but it also highlights a policy dilemma – how can we reach and support Neets who have little incentive or opportunity to engage with the state?
And this chart, from an analytical annex published alongside the interim Milburn report, gives a bit more information about who the hidden Neets are.
