Just a few years ago the Energy Secretary backed a campaign against Rosebank oil field. The tweet archives never lie…
Miatta Fahnbulleh reposted the #StopRosebank campaign, which is still active, back in September 2022. The same month she said she was standing to be the prospective Labour parliamentary candidate in Camberwell and Peckham…
While she was its director, the New Economics Foundation think tank signed an open letter by Green New Deal Rising telling Labour to follow its no-new-licences pledge by “pledging to stop in-progress oil and gas fields, like Rosebank, and to scrap all fossil fuel production and consumption subsidies.” Couldn’t get clearer…
The NEF – with Fahnbulleh at its head – wrote an entire report saying the government “must immediately end support for new fossil fuel extraction projects, both at home and abroad.” Dressed up loonery at its finest…
The Chancellor and to some extent No10 have signalled their support for Rosebank’s approval – which must go ahead with Fahnbulleh’s sign-off – while the Energy Secretary herself briefs against the idea. Oh dear Miatta…
Andrew Bowie, Shadow Energy Secretary, tells Guido:
“Labour has put the fate of Rosebank in the hands of a minister who spent years cheering on the campaign to kill it. Under Andy Burnham’s Labour, an eco-zealot who does not believe in North Sea oil now holds the pen on Britain’s biggest untapped field. All the while we ship in oil and gas from abroad as we watch high-skilled jobs drain away.”
Fahnbulleh herself has tried to execute an about-turn on Net Zero, dropping talk of Clean Power 2030. Her minister mysteriously pulled out of an energy conference today. We all know what you really think, Secretary of State…
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority has told MPs that they will have to pay John Healey’s £100 energy subsidy back if they get it. IPSA said in a statement:
“The Government announced in the Autumn Budget that households living in properties in council tax bands A to D as their main home would receive a Household Energy Payment of £100.
Detailed guidance has not yet been published, but we understand that the rebate will be paid directly to eligible households by councils. IPSA will not have a role in determining whether an MP’s household is eligible to receive the payment.
If an MP in receipt of IPSA funding for council tax and utilities on their parliamentary accommodation does receive the rebate, then in assuring themselves that they have complied with IPSA’s regulatory principle of Integrity, they should repay or reduce the amount of reimbursement requested from IPSA by a corresponding amount.”
Sorry, folks…
The Labour government will consult on banning sachets in the UK under its EU reset. They are relishing these bans…
Tory Shadow Cabinet Office minister Mike Wood asked DEFRA ministers in Parliament whether the EU ban on single-serve sachets of ketchup, mayo, sugar, salt, vinegar and so on will apply in Northern Ireland or indeed Britain more widely under Labour’s ‘reset’ plans. They replied:
“The EU’s ban on the sale or provision of single-serving sachets or containers of ketchup, mayonnaise, sugar, salt, oil and vinegar will apply in Northern Ireland under the Winsor [sic] framework but will not apply in the rest of the UK under EU-reset. A consultation regarding UK alignment is being planned.”
DEFRA has also said that every farm and food firm in Britain will have to comply with EU rules under the new SPS deal. Goodbye to any and all competitive advantage…
A new South Korean study has meanwhile found that plastic straws are better for the environment than ones made of paper. Expect the EU to change course in – oh wait, it will have been dismantled by then…
Lowestoft’s Labour MP Jess Asato, who calls herself the author of the ban on strangulation porn coming into force on Friday, spent the weekend on X explaining her own law. Mostly wrongly…
When one user pointed out that nobody has ever choked to death giving oral sex, Asato replied with a 2023 article on oral sex and throat cancer. The article is about HPV and does not mention choking, gagging, or porn – its answer is vaccinating boys. What is she going to do – ban blowjobs?
Asato then linked a study on choking during sex, only for someone to point out its abstract concludes that young people should get “appropriate education and information”. Asato replied that sex education is already compulsory but will not work. Thanks for the source, Jess…
She also assured users that “face-sitting without obstructing breathing is unlikely to be prohibited”. The MoJ’s guidance, published last month, says suffocation needs no pressure on the neck and could mean covering someone’s mouth and nose. Asato wrong again…
Not to go on about it too much but the BBFC, which she cites, has called face-sitting “life-endangering”. The MoJ also admits neither “strangulation” nor “suffocation” is defined, leaving both to the court in each case. Possession of this innocuous stuff gets you two years…
Asato, says the new law simply brings online porn “into parity” with offline rules, and posted the BBFC’s R18 refusals as proof, including “choking or gagging during oral sex”. BBFC refusal stops a film being sold – owning an unclassified DVD has never been a crime. Possession, though, now carries two years. Some parity…
On LinkedIn, Asato, who said last week that the Online Safety Act is “clearly not strong enough,” boasts that age verification already stops children accessing porn. On X, she defended the additional ban for adults because young people learn a “sexual script” from porn. Which is it?
The main point is that Labour MPs are legislating against consensual sexual acts and campaigning against blowjobs and cunnilingus instead of literally anything else. There’s a ‘good growth and bad growth’ joke in there somewhere…
The dead tree press has already had fun with Rachel Reeves claiming to Harvard students last night that she doesn’t regret her tax rises. Nobody has spotted that in the same Q&A, she also takes credit for childcare policies that were actually introduced by her predecessor, Jeremy Hunt. In fact, apparently she’s really “proud” of them because one of her goals was to do her job through a “gendered” lens. And then cites a policy introduced by a bloke…
“I tried as Chancellor to have a sort of gender lens on my policies… now there’s no reason why a male Chancellor couldn’t prioritise some of the things that I prioritised, but I’m not sure if any ever did… the childcare policies that I funded, 30 hours of free childcare for children between nine months and five years old… so I’m really proud of that.”
She’s “not sure” if any male Chancellors implemented the kind of policies she prioritised. Not to worry, Guido is very sure. Jeremy Hunt announced the policy Reeves is proud to have “funded” (a clever fudge to use that word, well done) in his Spring Budget in March 2023. It was phased in from April 2024 before reaching the full 30 hours in September 2025. She is happy to have “funded” it to the exact phased timetable Hunt had already outlined in 2023…
Downing Street has defended the Home Office’s earned settlement consultation after it emerged that just 18% of individual respondents were British citizens, while 73% were visa holders. The consultation that supposedly informed Mahmood’s decision to water down her reforms…
Asked whether ministers had followed the wishes of migrants over Brits, the PM’s spokesman told Lobby hacks: “It’s fair that those who are most affected by the policy are able to share their views…”
He insisted it was “a genuine consultation” and claimed a majority of respondents backed “quicker settlement for those who contribute” and longer waits for illegal arrivals. One hack pointed out it was like asking prisoners if they’d like to be released earlier…
Krishnan Guru-Murthy asked John Healey: “Just finally, I mean Andy Burnham has been very clear he wants Britain back in the European Union in his lifetime. Do you?”
The Chancellor replied: “I’m older than Andy Burnham. I don’t expect to see that.”