Last year, the Labour Party entered Government talking big and bullish on housing – wanting 1.5 million new homes built by the end of the Parliament.

During the election campaign, it was stated that New Towns would be one of the suite of measures to help conjure these homes. 

In March this year, the House of Lords Built Environment Committee launched its inquiry into the delivery of New Towns. The committee is headed by Conservative Peer, Lord Gascoigne, who spoke to me in Victoria Tower Gardens. 

Assessing the Planning and Infrastructure Bill

We first spoke about the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, currently, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill is making its way through the House of Lords, having been approved by the House of Commons in June.

The Bill aims to simplify and accelerate the delivery of major infrastructure, as well as housing projects. A principal focus of the Bill is unlocking pent up demand for development by reforming ungainly consent processes. 

Discussing the legislation, Lord Gascoigne said: “This is an opportunity to have a big national debate – to say to people that planning, that development and housing of businesses is good, it’s good for you, it’s natural and we should be doing all we can to make it happen.” 

He does, however, remain cautious in expressing his optimism for the Bill: “I think perhaps the government may have, with respect, slightly oversold the upsides to this bill.

There are big issues, I would say, that need to be tackled. There’s certainly clarity that’s needed in parts, not just on Part 3 on the environment bit, but in other parts as well for me.”

Lord Gascoigne stresses democratic consent as a key principle that will underpin the future delivery of New Towns: “The key part is working together to try to find the answers”, he says. 

No silver bullets

New towns, he asserts, will not be a “silver bullet”. He said: “There are multiple issues. There’s skills, there’s funding. All of this we’ll be looking to try and tackle in the coming weeks and months because it is important that we get building the homes we need.” 

There is a multitude of barriers that Lord Gascoigne identifies that are currently weighing on Britain’s builders, and consequently the entire economy – the prioritising of bats and newts over humans, endless bureaucracy, needless paperwork, endless consultations, the list goes on. 

A call to local leaders

Lord Gascoigne’s message to local councillors ahead of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, and (further down the line) new towns – was a simple one.

Don’t shy away from leadership – be the person who brings homes, brings business, and brings growth to your community. 

He said: “You’ll get better growth and development. It’s jobs in your area.”

He continued: “For councillors, I think they will therefore get much more involved.  I want more involvement of councillors, more involvement of people in this process — to front-end as much as you can of the planning process. And so we can then build the homes that we want.”

The funding is in place despite the Government’s longstanding policy of not providing funding for the manufacturing of munitions.

These include £465,307 in Leonardo UK Ltd and £250,000 in Raytheon Systems Ltd, two of the largest defence companies working in the UK.

The funding has been allocated through the Scottish Government’s economic development agency, Scottish Enterprise.

Three people were recently charged under terror laws for driving a van into the Edinburgh based Leonardo factory in protest against the firm’s alleged supply of laser technology to the Israeli military.

Various other protests have been staged at the facility since the escalation of conflict in October 2023 and an activist group, Shut Down Leonardo Edinburgh, has been established.

Responding to Politics UK, a Scottish Enterprise spokesperson said: “Our support for defence companies is consistent with Scottish and UK Government policies and guidance.

“We make it clear to those businesses, through legally binding contracts, that our help can only be used to deliver agreed projects in Scotland. None of the projects we support involve the manufacture of munitions.”

They also stated: “Our systems do not allow us to indicate which companies are directly involved in defence contracts”, but that none of the contracts involved the manufacturing of munitions.

The funding provided to the various companies detailed in the FOI response was based on their Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes, which detail what sector they operate in.

Following a request for comment, Scottish Enterprise said: “Companies choosing to operate under these SIC codes may or may not be directly involved in defence related contracts.

“What we can confirm under FOI is that Scottish Enterprise funding provided to these companies was provided for specific projects at Scottish sites and did not include assistance for any projects related to the manufacture of munitions.”

The manufacturing of munitions are not part of Leonardo’s portfolio of activities in the UK, with electronic systems such as radars and infrared countermeasure devices being developed instead. However, activists argue that some of this technology is being used by Israel’s military in Gaza.

They also allege that components for munitions are manufactured in the UK by Raytheon as part of their global supply chain, supporting the development of weapons such as the Tomahawk long range land attack cruise missile and the Javelin portable anti-tank guided weapons system.

Responding to a request for comment, a Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We recognise the importance of the aerospace, defence and shipbuilding sectors to Scotland’s economy.

“However, the Scottish Government’s long-standing policy position is that neither the government nor its agencies should use public money to support the manufacture of munitions.”

The figures come following a public row between the Scottish and UK governments over the longstanding principle of not providing public money for the manufacturing of munitions in Scotland, which saw UK defence secretary John Healey accuse the SNP of “student union politics”.

Healey was responding to the report that a planned specialist welding training centre in Glasgow operated by Rolls Royce would not be eligible for Scottish Enterprise funding as a result.

The Labour Government has pledged to move to an “always on” capability for the manufacturing of munitions in the Strategic Defence Review, planning to open six new munitions factories, one of which would be in Scotland.

In response to the report that the planned welding skills centre may be under threat, Healey also said the Scottish Government was “not concerned about the skills base of Scotland or indeed the industry and innovation in the future because Scotland does have a big part to play in strengthening the industrial base as we will through more defence investment.”

While recognising the threats to national security posed by global events such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Scottish Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon stressed the importance of maintaining “policy positions that we (the Scottish Government) have had for quite a long time.”

She told the BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show that “the project wasn’t eligible for funding because of the long standing policy position that we have that we do not provide or support the use of public funding for the manufacture of munitions.”

These events take place within the context of controversy following the allocation of £5.1 billion of public spending to the defence sector by the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) report for 2024-25.

This figure is in contrast with the £2.1 billion of defence procurement with Scottish industry by the UK Ministry of Defence. However it has been highlighted that this figure does not include wider defence expenditure such as the salaries of service personnel.

Leonardo and Raytheon have been approached for comment.

The measure aims to have trained 40,000 new workers in the building sector by the end of this parliament in 2029.

The plans are to assist in meeting the government’s housing target to build 1.5 million new homes by 2029.

Labour claims that the funding will enable the construction sector to draw on homegrown talent, remove barriers to work for young people across the country and reduce reliance on overseas workers.

The colleges will be set up across England and will provide students with the skills needed skilled tradesmen working as bricklayers, electricians, roofers, carpenters, plumbers and more.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “We need skilled workers to deliver the homes, schools and hospitals that communities across the country are crying out for, and today’s announcement underlines our commitment to the next generation of homegrown talent.

“Construction Technical Excellence Colleges will enable us to invest in people and give them the skills they need to break down barriers to opportunity in an industry which is essential to delivering growth.”

Data from the Employer Skills Survey shows that the percentage of construction firms funding or offering training has dropped from 57 per cent in 2011 to 49 per cent in 2024.

This investment follows the announcement of £625 million of funding for the construction sector from the Government in their spring statement.

David Hughes CBE, Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges, said: “Today’s announcement is very positive news for people wanting good jobs, for the construction employers looking for skilled people and for the government’s ambitions to build 1.5 million new homes.

“It represents significant investment and trust in the 10 successful colleges, and the college sector, recognising their crucial role in boosting the country’s construction sector by opening up high quality learning opportunities all over the country.

“We look forward to supporting the TECs as leaders in the construction skills arena, partnering with employers, developing new courses and ensuring that innovation in construction techniques and approaches can be supported across all employers with skills training.

“We are also keen to help the TECs build their networks with other colleges in their areas.”

Projections by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) have estimated that 61,000 new workers would have to be recruited each year in order to meet the Government’s targets for house building.

However challenges have been identified including the variety of different training colleges and subcontractors making coordinating the industry difficult.

Other factors that the CITB have highlighted include the visibility of opportunities and the need to retain workers in order to address labour shortages.

As well as the construction of new properties, workers will be needed with the necessary skills to upgrade all existing rental properties to an EPC-C efficiency rating, in accordance with the Government’s Warm Homes plan.

Tim Balcon, Chief Executive of the CITB, said: “It’s wonderful to see the progress being made towards establishing these Technical Excellence Colleges for Construction.

“They represent a transformative opportunity for people to complete local vocational training, helping to drive regional growth and nurture the next generation of skilled construction workers in local communities.

“This builds brilliantly on the wider £600 million construction skills package we’re delivering in partnership with government, helping create a robust pipeline of talent that will break down barriers to opportunity, delivering good jobs and powering economic growth across the UK.”

Featured image via Alice Hodgson / No 10

Ellie Chowns MP for North Herefordshire, and current co-leader and MP for Waveny Valley Adrian Ramsay have argued that while the Greens share many values with Corbyn and Sultana, their policy platform must remain separate.

Specifically, Chowns has pointed to a lack of discussion of any environmental policy in relation to the new party, saying: “Any party that does not have climate and environment front and centre is part of the old politics, not the new.”

The announcement comes as rival candidate and current deputy leader Zack Polanski has hinted that he is open to an alliance with Corbyn and Sultana’s party, saying it would be down to Green Party members to vote on the question.

Ellie Chowns said: “Much of the statement released by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana today – on redistributing wealth, public ownership of utilities, resisting NHS privatisation and calling out the government’s complicity in genocide – could have been taken straight from the Green Party manifesto.

“But there is only a passing glance to the climate crisis. Any party that does not have climate and environment front and centre is part of the old politics, not the new.

“Large numbers have joined the Greens from Labour in the past few years, and our door is very much open for anyone who aligns with core Green values. We’re standing up for these values and challenging Labour every day in Parliament. And our record electoral success under Adrian’s and Carla’s leadership shows that we’re bringing the public with us.”

Adrian Ramsay added: “It remains to be seen what this new party will amount to, but this development underlines how crucial it is for the Green Party to keep its distinctive identity, with our clear focus on both social and environmental justice. Turning the party into a Jeremy Corbyn support act would be a huge mistake.

“Recent YouGov polling shows that the Green Party is a more attractive choice than a Corbyn-led party among people who voted for all the other parties in 2024.

“That’s because our values — fairness, compassion, the courage to speak truth to power — resonate with people from every background and in every community. We’ve heard this on the doorstep and proved it at the ballot box.

“It’s this that has driven our growing success in recent years. Ellie and I are lifelong campaigners with strong track records of building the wide appeal needed to win elections, and our focus is on taking that success to the next level.”

The main tension in the Green leadership contest is between Chowns and Ramsay’s vision of an environmentally-focused party which would aim to win over a broad coalition of voters including ex Tory voters concerned about the environment, and Zack Polanski’s more ‘eco-populist’ vision for the party.

The latest polling from YouGov shows that a larger share of potential Green voters support Polanski’s politics, and that their top priorities include the NHS and the cost of living, priorities they share with most voters in the country.

78% of those people believe that the party must form electoral pacts, and 45% see the new Corbyn-Sultana party as ‘similarly minded’ to the Greens. 44% see the Liberal Democrats as a potential ally.

This is coupled with a greater emphasis on environmental issues and the humanitarian crisis caused by Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Polanski has voiced support for a wealth tax to help fund net zero policies, and has also said that the UK should withdraw from NATO due to Donald Trump’s behaviour towards member states, such as his threats to annex Greenland.

Central to Ramsay and Chowns’ bid is their strategy to build on the Greens’ record electoral sucess at the 2024 general election. However Ramsay has faced criticism for his refusal to definitively answer whether he believes trans women are women, and his vocal opposition to the construction of electricity pylons in his constituency.

Following the announcement of a new left wing party by Corbyn and Sultana, calls have been made for an electoral pact with the Greens in order to avoid splitting the left-wing vote.

The campaign group We Deserve Better, which pushes for electoral alliances on the left, have called for the parties to work together to provide an alternative to Labour.

Online ballots for the Green Party elections open on Aug 1, and run throughout the month. The result will be announced on Sep 2.

Under the proposal, the private sector would be mandated by the government to take on patients affected by strike action, to prevent appointments being rescheduled and waiting lists growing.

Private hospitals would be used to provide ‘elective treatments’, meaning planned procedures such as diagnostic tests, scans, outpatient appointments and non-emergency surgeries.

The Lib Dems are also calling for changes to the Government’s agreements with the BMA that would allow striking doctors to be recalled when patient safety is put at risk.

Liberal Democrat Hospitals and Primary Care Spokesperson Jess Brown Fuller MP said:

“People across the country waiting for the treatment they desperately need will be disappointed to hear there’s yet more strikes, having already faced so much disruption in the last few years.

“The Government cannot afford to dither and delay, there is too much at stake- and patients deserve to get the treatment they need when they need it.

“That is why the Liberal Democrats are calling for an NHS Strike Resilience Plan, to protect patients from suffering.

“The Government needs to pull its finger out and ensure that private hospitals are on standby so that anyone set to receive treatment is not forced to go without and waitlists are not left to soar.”

The call comes as a five-day walk out of resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, gets underway in England after talks between the British Medical Association and the Government over pay broke down.

Nearly 50,000 resident doctors reportedly went on strike at 7am today, with the action planned to continue for five days until 7am on Wednesday.

The Government had made an offer of a 5.4 per cent pay rise which the BMA rejected, arguing instead for a 29 per cent rise and claiming that pay has been eroded 20 per cent in real terms since 2008.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has described the strike action as “completely unjustified” and argued that it “enormously undermines the entire trade union movement.”

NHS London has said that non life-saving care was being “put on the back burner”. Dr Chris Streather, the medical director of NHS London has estimated that around 60,000 appointments could be affected.

Under the measures, public sector bodies, including the NHS – as well as operators of critical national infrastructure (CNI) such as hospitals, schools and councils – would be banned from paying attackers for the return of stolen data.

The aim of this measure is to make public services a less attractive target for criminals. Nearly three-quarters of respondents to a public consultation supported the policy.

The changes also mandate businesses not falling under the umbrella of CNI to inform the government if they intend to pay a ransom.

This would enable the government to provide them with advice and support, and to intervene to stop payments being made to sanctioned cyber crime groups – many of which are based in Russia.

A regime for mandatory reporting is also in development, which would provide law enforcement officers with greater intelligence to disrupt the activities of perpetrators and support victims.

Security Minister Dan Jarvis said: “Ransomware is a predatory crime that puts the public at risk, wrecks livelihoods and threatens the services we depend on.

“That’s why we’re determined to smash the cyber criminal business model and protect the services we all rely on as we deliver our Plan for Change. 

“By working in partnership with industry to advance these measures, we are sending a clear signal that the UK is united in the fight against ransomware.”

Ransomware is malicious software used by cyber-criminals in order to steal or encrypt users’ data and extort money from them.

The government is also urging businesses across the country to bolster their security and have contingency plans in place for ransomware attacks such as offline data backups and protocols for operating without IT services.

Ransomware attacks not only put pressure on the finances of public sector organisations delivering vital services, but have also brought the delivery of those services to a standstill.

The death of a patient at a London Hospital in June was linked to a ransomware attack on Synnovis, an NHS partner organisation that managed labs for the health service.

Patient data was stolen from Synnovis during the attack, which slowed the delivery of care to patients and the administration of other vital services.

A spokesperson for the King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said that a contributing factor to the patient’s death was “a long wait for a blood test result” as a result of the attack.

Another recent cyber attack took place against the Co-op in April, during which the personal details of all 6.5 million of the organisation’s members were stolen.

The BBC reported that the retailer managed to disconnect its systems from the internet before ransomware could be deployed.

Marks and Spencer and Harrods were also hit by similar attacks in the early months of this year.

Cyber security and other technologies such as AI have been highlighted as areas for development in the government’s 2025 National Security Strategy, which aims to develop the UK’s capabilities in these areas alongside its allies.

The Turing Scheme, the post-Brexit replacement for the EU-run Erasmus+ programme, will receive a 29 per cent budget cut for 2025/26. The budget will be £78 million, down from £110 million the previous academic year.

Many universities, colleges and schools rely on the scheme to fund overseas educational and vocational placements.

Scottish institutions have also received a smaller share of Turing Scheme funding each year, with approximately £6.9 million of funding coming their way in 2024/25, down from £8.9 million in 2023/24 and £9 million in 2022/23.

Scottish Government Education Minister Graeme Day said the move would “cause significant concern” and questioned “what it says about the commitment to return to Erasmus+”.

George Adam MSP, who sits on the Scottish Parliament’s Education, Children and Young People Committee said: “This is just another example of Labour letting down our young people. They promised change and a new direction, but it’s clear the only direction Labour is going is backwards.

“Starmer is slashing opportunities for Scottish students and heaping further financial costs on our world-class universities.

“The SNP want our young people to have the same opportunities they had before Brexit. We know how important student exchanges can be for a young person’s confidence, in building lifelong friendships and important life skills. That’s why we have been calling for a return to Erasmus+.

“It’s clear that only an independent Scotland will take us back into the EU and only the SNP will stand up to Labour’s devastating cuts.”

This comes as many Scottish higher and further education institutions face mounting financial pressure due to factors such as a drop-off in international student numbers, and increases in employer National Insurance payments.

Universities such as Edinburgh, Dundee and Robert Gordon in Aberdeen have had to make job cuts while salaries for executive staff have been increased, resulting in industrial action.

Further education institutions are also coming under financial pressure. Fife College is currently reviewing its offerings following a £1.3 million cut due to changes to the Scottish funding model for further education.

The Labour Government has committed to rejoining Erasmus+ as part of the new deal with the EU. However this is only one area that will be covered in the coming months and years of negotiations.

There have so far been few signs of progress on the rejoining of Erasmus+, with some signs that an agreement may not be reached until 2028 when the EU’s next 7 year budget is set out.

The UK Government’s approach to education has also involved investment to encourage young people into key industries such as AI, with a recent announcement of funding for MSc scholarships in the sector.

Featured image via Monkey Business Images / Shutterstock.

Great British Energy, the proposed new national energy company, will receive £8.3 billion in funding over the course of this parliament under the government’s plan, from which this funding will be drawn.

The Government hopes to mobilise further investment in the UK energy sector by de-risking large-scale private projects, and enabling them to apply for grants.

The funding has been fast-tracked ahead of the comprehensive spending review due in June, and is intended to support the development supply chains which manufacture key components for offshore wind.

This strategy aims to revitalise the economy of the UK’s industrial heartlands and support jobs, and alongside private investment, help deliver the transition to clean power by 2030.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “Delivering the Plan for Change means winning the race for the clean energy jobs of the future, which will drive growth and help us reach clean power by 2030.

“That is why I am bringing forward much-needed investment in our domestic offshore wind supply chains, strengthening our security and creating good jobs for our welders, electricians, and engineers.

“Let my message to the world go out: come and build the clean energy future in Britain.”

Another goal of the move is to help the UK become more energy independent, in order to weather tumultuous geopolitical conditions and achieve greater national security.

PM Starmer and other senior ministers are meeting with energy business leaders in London today for the Summit on the Future of Energy Security to discuss strategies for combating global energy supply shocks such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is among the leaders who will assemble to consider how to achieve greater energy independence while also speeding up the transition to clean energy.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: “It is only by taking back control of our energy that we can protect families and businesses from the rollercoaster of global markets we don’t control.

“That is why this Government is doubling down on our clean energy superpower mission – driving economic growth, good jobs and investment across our country.”

Energy companies will be able to apply for grants from the investment if they can show that they will produce long-term investment in UK supply chains.