Nigel Farage says Tories ‘not on the right in any measurable way’ and calls Labour government ‘miserable’ – as it happened

Reform UK leader said “our platform is to reindustrialise Britain. Let’s produce all the stuff we need in this country. Let’s become not just energy independent. We could actually become an energy exporter right now.”

There was a lengthy interlude when Peterson spoke about what he called “carbon apocalypse mongering and terrorising” and what Farage called “carbon dioxide hysteria”. Farage said “I’m an environmentalist in the old school sense” and suggested a focus on carbon had “actually blinded us to other environmental disasters that are going on.”

a new “quad” of four senior leaders to bring greater accountability and efficiency. Healey said the UK’s defence structures were full of “exceptional” people, but that UK defence had become preoccupied with process rather than outcomes. He suggested the changes might bring as much as £10bn in savings to the taxpayer by reducing duplication of effort

That is your lot from me today. Thank you for reading and for all your comments. I will be back with you tomorrow. Take care, and have a good evening.

the most senior judge in England and Wales was “deeply troubled” by what Lady Sue Carr said was an “unacceptable” exchange at prime minister’s questions last week.

Hitting out at both the lady chief justice and the prime minister, Badenoch said:

Parliament is sovereign. Politicians must be able to discuss matters of crucial public importance in parliament. This doesn’t compromise the independence of the judiciary.

The decision to allow a family from Gaza to come to the UK was outrageous for many reasons. The prime minister couldn’t even tell me whether the government would appeal the decision.

He pretended he was looking at closing a legal “loophole”. This is not just some legal loophole that can be closed, but requires a fundamental overhaul of our flawed human rights laws.

Badenoch, who was a government minister during both the Rishi Sunak and short-lived Liz Truss administrations, raised the case at PMQs of a Palestinian family granted the right to live in the UK after they applied through a scheme originally meant for Ukrainian refugees. The family of six were seeking to flee Gaza, which has been subjected to over 15 months of devastating Israeli aerial bombardment, leading to the deaths of tens of thousand of Palestinians, and were allowed to join their brother who was already in the UK.

Keir Starmer said in parliament that he did not agree with the decision, and that the Home Office intended to close the loophole.

Lady Carr earlier told reporters:

I think it started from a question from the opposition suggesting that the decision in a certain case was wrong, and obviously the prime minister’s response to that. Both question and the answer were unacceptable. It is for the government visibly to respect and protect the independence of the judiciary. Where parties, including the government, disagree with their findings, they should do so through the appellate process.

Carr said she has also written to the justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, about Starmer’s response.

Other senior Conservative figures have also attacked the judge over her intervention.

Defeated Conservative leadership hopeful and shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick complained of “rule by lawyers” and said:

The rule of law does not prevent politicians – or indeed any other citizen – from publicly disagreeing with a judge’s decision. Particularly when, as here, the judge displayed clear overreach by removing limits elected politicians had imposed on our immigration system – turning a Ukraine only scheme into one for the whole world.

If judges step into the political arena they can expect a political response. You can explain why you think a decision is wrong, and why it should be appealed, while respecting the rule of law by accepting the decision is binding unless successfully appealed.

The principle of the rule of law is being misused. It needs to be reclaimed. It does not, and never has meant, rule by lawyers.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said “Politicians are perfectly entitled to comment on decisions by judges. This is especially the case with human rights based cases, where judges have adopted increasingly bizarre and expansive interpretations of vaguely worded ECHR clauses.”

farmers are being “thrown to the wolves” by the Labour government, and to drive the point home Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has visited a wolf sanctuary a farm where he did some mucking out and handled some newborn calves.

He met North Norfolk MP Steff Aquarone and dairy farmers in North Walsham, and naturally there were photographers there …

Labour have been getting pushback on their policies towards farmers from the Conservatives as well today, with shadow secretary for the environment, food and rural affairs Victoria Atkins also weighing in on social media. The MP for Louth and Horncastle said:

Farmers are right to be furious. Labour’s treatment of them is down right pig-headed and unacceptable. Calling them in for a meeting to patronise and ignore them shows Labour are driven only by metropolitan arrogance.

This is a massive kick in the teeth to rural communities across the UK. Labour has shown its utter disdain for the farming sector and cavalier attitude to our food security.

She added that “Labour refuse to accept they’ve got their figures wrong”, and referring to the government reducing inheritance tax breaks for farmers, said “they refuse to acknowledge the human cost of this vindictive policy.”

She finished by saying “This arrogant city-dwelling government doesn’t care about the countryside – and the sooner they are kicked out of office the better.”

In a statement about its meeting with the government, the National Farmers’ Union described the government’s position as “morally bankrupt”.

NFU president Tom Bradshaw said:

This is a mess, but there is still time for Treasury to review. I urge them to look at the proposal put to them by all the major farming organisations today. It will raise the money needed. It is a way forward which is fair, removes the huge risk to British agriculture, including significant emotional and financial pressures, and delivers for UK food security, something the government continues to insist is a priority.

the full text of the speech, and this is the key section outlining those roles and their responsibilities. Healey said:

We’re introducing clear points of accountability at every level within UK defence, starting at the top with four new senior leaders, four leaders who report to me as defence secretary and my ministerial team at the central point of accountability to the British people and to the British public.

The Chief of the Defence Staff, who, for the first time since this role was created, now commands the service chiefs and will be the head of newly established military strategic headquarters, responsible for force design and war planning across our integrated force.

The Permanent Secretary, our principal accounting officer, who will run a leaner, more agile department of state with more policy muscle to lead arguments across Whitehall and with allies, we’ll revamp senior roles to elevate those into policymakers with broad portfolios and powerful mandates.

Third, our new Armaments Director, who will fix procurement and drive growth.

Fourthly, our Chief of Defence Nuclear, who will continue to lead and deliver the national nuclear enterprise.

This new quad will … shift the approach as an organisation, which too often has been obsessed with process, to one focus on outcomes, in which information flows quickly, accountabilities are clear, and results are demanding. This new quad will be up and running from 31 March.

here:

John Crace’s verdict on the event on social media was rather more succinct. He said:

I’ve heard some batshit stuff in my time. But Douglas Murray, Jordan Peterson, Nigel Farage and Niall Ferguson are excelling themselves at the ARC convention

has reported chancellor Rachel Reeves has called in executives from companies including Abrdn, BlackRock, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Schroders for a meeting on Wednesday morning.

Kleinman said sources had informed him “the meeting was intended to feed ideas into the forthcoming financial services growth and competitiveness strategy” and that the chancellor would be seeking ideas to help drive UK economic growth by “assessing Britain’s international competitiveness.”

Top judge ‘deeply troubled’ by PMQs exchange on Gaza asylum case

Sky News reports that the meeting between officials and NFU president Tom Bradshaw took place after the government refused to change its inheritance tax plans.

Bradshaw said: “The government believes they are correct in the decisions they’ve made. Disappointment doesn’t describe how I feel

“The message was clear to them today – go away.”

He said the NFU is “really cross” about the government’s decision. Now the Liberal Democrats said the “government is throwing farmers to the wolves”.

“Their family farm tax could be the final nail in the coffin for many communities struggling to cope,” said MP Tim Farron.

dismal news on the energy component of the cost of living crisis from my colleague Jillian Ambrose, our energy correspondent:

Millions of households face a greater than expected increase to their energy bills of £85 a year from April after Europe’s gas storage levels slumped, according to analysts.

The average gas and electricity bill for households across England, Scotland and Wales is expected to rise by nearly 5% from April to £1,823 a year for a typical household under the energy regulator’s price cap.

The forecast by the influential consulting firm Cornwall Insight is higher than its earlier prediction that prices would rise to £1,785 a year this spring after colder weather and limited renewables caused gas storage levels to fall across Europe.

The energy industry regulator for Great Britain, Ofgem, will confirm the figure for the energy price cap covering the three months from 1 April on 25 February. The regulator increased the cap in January by 1.2% to a rate equivalent to £1,738.

she said:

The Tories left us with prisons on the edge of collapse. This government has committed to 14,000 new prison cells by 2031 – a record prison-building programme. We must also reform sentencing – and last year, I commissioned David Gauke to lead that review. The sentencing review has published interim findings. Their recommendations for reform will follow later this spring. This government will ensure we never run out of prison places again.

Shortly after coming to power last year the Labour government was forced to initiate an early release programme after it became clear the prison system in England and Wales was out of capacity. In October Mahmood described it as “the greatest disgrace of the last Conservative government.”

You can read Gauke’s report here. It found that successive governments’ overreliance on prison sentences and desire to seem “tough on crime” has driven the justice system in England and Wales to the brink of collapse.

Gauke said politicians needed to “have an honest conversation about who we send to prison, and for how long”, and in an interview this morning on BBC Radio warned the government that prisons were likely to hit capacity in England and Wales again soon.

Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp has also responded, but on a slightly different tack and with no apparent acknowledgment of the crisis in the prison system the Labour government inherited. He posted to social media to say:

We need to be tough on crime. Prison works: it stops people offending while incarcerated and is a deterrent. Overall crime has fallen in recent years, as the prison population has risen. The government seem to want a different approach – soft on crime and soft on the causes of crime.

Philp was minister of state for crime, policing and fire in Rishi Sunak’s government between October 2022 and July 2024. He also held two different positions in the short-lived Liz Truss administration.

In July 2024, just days after the election, Keir Starmer described the prison crisis in England and Wales as “a shocking indictment” and “a total failure of government,” saying the Conservatives had been reckless in letting prisons come within a fortnight of reaching overflow. At that point, prisons were understood to have been operating at 99% capacity for 18 months.

In Scotland, which has its own national justice system, an early release scheme to ease pressure on prisons, where there are about 300 more prisoners than there are places, is beginning this week.

Starmer said in parliament that he did not agree with the decision, and that the Home Office intended to close the loophole.

The Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr said on Tuesday that she was “deeply troubled to learn of the exchanges” and told reporters:

I think it started from a question from the opposition suggesting that the decision in a certain case and was wrong and obviously the prime minister’s response to that.

Both question and the answer were unacceptable.

It is for the government visibly to respect and protect the independence of the judiciary.

Where parties, including the government, disagree with their findings, they should do so through the appellate process.

Source: theguardian.com