Newslinks for Tuesday 18th March 2025

Conservative leader ditches net zero by 2050 target saying it’s “impossible”

“Kemi Badenoch will accuse her predecessors of setting the emissions target without a plan that does not “bankrupt” Britain or cause a “serious drop in our living standards”. In her biggest policy intervention since being elected as party leader four months ago, Mrs Badenoch will describe the idea of reaching net zero emissions in the next 25 years as a “fiction” and promise to tell the “unvarnished truth” about it to voters. Net zero policies such as limiting the use of gas boilers and petrol cars have proved divisive, and Labour has appeared to wobble on its commitment to the latter as the 2035 deadline approaches.” – Daily Telegraph

• Net-zero ‘fantasy’ could bankrupt Britain, warns Badenoch – The Times
• Kemi Badenoch is set to ditch legal commitment to reach Net Zero by 2050, claiming hitting the target is ‘impossible’ – Daily Mail
• Conservative party to ditch commitment to net zero in UK by 2050 – Guardian
• Badenoch blasts ‘impossible’ 2050 net zero target in swipe at Miliband – Daily Express
• Eco aim ‘crazy’. Britain’s drive to Net Zero by 2050 is impossible fantasy that’ll bankrupt country, Kemi Badenoch warns – The Sun
• Wildlife fears as plastic pellets from North Sea crash pollute beaches – The Times
• Tory backlash as Badenoch says net zero by 2050 is ‘impossible’ – The i

COMMENT

There is a bigger threat to the Tories than Reform – Henry Hill The i

>Today

The collapse in Conservative support among young voters will kill us sooner than we think

Government pushes ahead with benefit cuts despite pressure from Labour MPs to stop

“Sick and disabled benefit claimants face more frequent reassessments in a drive to save £1 billion, as ministers set out plans today to deal with an “ever-spiralling bill” for welfare. People with permanent or degenerative conditions may never have to be ­reassessed, however, as part of promised reforms that would guarantee ­payments to the most severely disabled. Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, will set out long-term ­reforms alongside cuts totalling about £7 billion and promises to spend £1 billion or more to help the long-term sick back to work. Most of the savings will come from making it harder to claim disability benefits, which are not linked to work, and ministers are increasingly frank that cutting costs is a key rationale. Many Labour MPs are deeply uneasy about the cuts, one telling Kendall that she risked pushing disabled people “into destitution”, and another warning of a rise in suicides.” – The Times

• Keir Starmer to unveil watered down benefits reforms amid growing backlash from MPs – Daily Mail
• Starmer faces down Labour rebels to drive through £6bn benefits cuts – Daily Telegraph
• Keir Starmer to unveil drastic disability benefit cuts despite opposition – Guardian
• Disability benefit cuts leave Starmer facing Cabinet mutiny – The i
• Labour dealt huge blow as benefits plan ‘doesn’t have support of whole Cabinet’ – Daily Express
• Labour meltdown over cutting benefits as announcement looms: Rachel Reeves lashes out at ‘not serious’ calls for extra borrowing to protect handouts – as she warns 1,000 more are claiming disability every day – Daily Mail
• Welfare crackdown PM says he has ‘moral’ duty to cut benefits as 1million Brits set to be blocked from health and disability support – The Sun
• Acne to alcoholism – the £10,000 benefits claims driving up Britain’s welfare bill – Daily Telegraph

COMMENT

Keir Starmer, this is why I know for a fact your benefits cuts crusade is all talk – Esther McVey Daily Express

Do Labour know what they want from welfare reform? Isabel Hardman  Spectator

Starmer is squandering your money on idle youths who don’t want to work – it’s time for tough love – Ross Clark The Sun

The Motability scheme was never designed to buy 50-grand Mercs for bedwetting boy racers in balaclavas with made-up mental illnesses. Scrap it now! – Richard Littlejohn Daily Mail

The danger of Starmer’s conservatism – Tom McTeague Unherd

20,000 civil service credit cards are scrapped in bid to save on Government spending

“Government credit cards are set to be cancelled after hundreds of millions of pounds was spent without proper scrutiny. The Cabinet Office will freeze all 20,000 procurement cards used by civil servants on Tuesday, with those who need them having to apply to get them reactivated. It comes after The Times revealed that thousands of pounds had been spent on meals at private members’ clubs, crystal glassware from a company featured in Downton Abbey and premium English sparkling wine. Pat McFadden, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said: “We must ensure taxpayers’ money is spent on improving the lives of working people. It’s not right that hundreds of millions of pounds are spent on government credit cards each year, without high levels of scrutiny or challenge. Only officials for whom it is absolutely essential should have a card.” – The Times

• UK cracks down on civil service credit cards after spending quadruples – FT
• Thousands of Whitehall ‘credit cards’ to be suspended in spending crackdown – Guardian
• Labour launches war on waste – but faces fury over some of its own spending – Daily Express

>Today

From reckless regulation to excessive spending, Labour is living beyond your means

Prisons run out of space again, so Labour turns to police cells

“Ministers have been forced to trigger an emergency measure to use police cells for prisoners after running out of space in jails again, The Times can reveal. An influx of criminals handed prison sentences in January has forced Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, to trigger Operation Safeguard. The emergency measure is an agreement between the prison service and the National Police Chiefs’ Council to hold prisoners overnight in police cells until prison cells become available, but it is only triggered when jails are close to running out of space. It will free about 200 cells for use but costs nearly five times the average daily cost for a prison place at £688, according to the National Audit Office.” – The Times

Israel-Hamas ceasefire collapses as IDF launch airstrikes into Gaza

“Israel has been accused of ending the ceasefire after dozens of people including children were killed in a series of air strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza. A senior Hamas official said Israel unilaterally overturned the ceasefire that began on January 19. Unverified reports from medics say hundreds of people have died as a result of the strikes.  The Israeli army did not provide more details about the ‘extensive strikes’ but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office released a statement saying the military had been instructed to ‘take strong action against the Hamas terrorist organization. This follows Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from US Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators,’ the statement added.” – Daily Mail

• Israel launches Gaza strikes in biggest attack since ceasefire – FT
• Hundreds reported dead in Gaza as Israel launches widespread strikes – Guardian
• Israel unleashes mass air strikes on Gaza with at least 330 killed as ceasefire collapses – Daily Express

News in Brief

• Reform-Tory alliance would be dead on arrival – Peter Franklin Unherd
• Why can’t the SNP attract anyone with any talent? – Stephen Daisley Spectator
• Supremacy in the skies: the Russo-Ukrainian War waged in the clouds – Peter Caddick-Adams The Critic
• There is no more hiding from the chilling truth of 7 October – Jonathan Sacerdoti Spectator