Key eventsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureClosing summaryWe’re closing this live blog down now. Thanks for reading and commenting. Here’s a summary of the day’s events:
Rules governing contracts awarded by the NHS are to be relaxed and private sector involvement expanded, the health minister Maria Caulfield said. She told Sky News: “We are using the independent sector because they have got capacity. We’re spending about £19bn a year, which sounds like a huge amount, it’s actually only 8% of the NHS budget.”
NHS waiting lists will rise further in the coming months, Caulfield said. She told LBC she could not promise lists would fall from 7.47 million, admitting the number is likely to continue to climb.
Greenpeace defended its anti-oil protest following criticism of a “major security breach” at Rishi Sunak’s constituency manor house. Areeba Hamid, the group’s co-executive director, said the protest had been planned carefully and would not have gone ahead if the prime minister was there.
The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, said he would stick to his decision to expand the ultra-low emission zone to the capital’s outer boroughs. He said: “It wasn’t a decision I took lightly, but it’s the right one. I’m simply unwilling to delay, water down, or step back from this vital policy.”
Khan suggested drivers start looking for alternative cars now. He was asked if there is enough time to buy a Ulez-compliant vehicle with the £2,000 scrappage grant before the expansion comes in on 29 August.
Updated at 17.12 BSTEddie Izzard has launched a campaign to be elected as the Labour MP for a Brighton constituency.The comedian announced her intention to join the race to become the party’s candidate for Brighton Pavilion on Friday. The seat has been held since 2010 by the only Green party MP, Caroline Lucas, who is standing down at the next general election.It is Izzard’s latest attempt to enter Westminster politics after she tried unsuccessfully to become Labour’s candidate for Sheffield Central last year. In a video on her campaign website, Izzard said:
Brighton is a city at the forefront of change and I want to help it to continue to make that change.
She also said she was proud of her roots in the county in which she grew up, adding:
I’m just the latest in over 200 years of Izzards in East Sussex. Whilst the Tories stoke fear and encourage culture wars, Brighton has shown the country another way.
Updated at 17.10 BSTPlaygrounds around England are falling to pieces, missing large pieces of play equipment, or simply being locked up, as councils facing huge budget cuts struggle to maintain them, my colleagues Harriet Grant and Pamela Duncan write.In some of the poorest parts of the country, family groups are warning that children face a summer spent indoors because of a lack of safe and free spaces to play.The head of Play England has said that children’s mental health will suffer as a result, and has called for radical change from what he called a “shameful” lack of protection for children and play in planning.Helena HortonThe government is ignoring the advice of its post-Brexit environmental watchdog over the removal of air quality regulations, in a move that has been described by experts as “a clear example of deregulation”.The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) was set up in 2020 to replace the role the EU had played in regulating and enforcing environmental law in the UK. Campaigners raised concerns at the time that it might not have the same teeth as the EU and that it would not be able to stop the government riding roughshod over environmental protections.Last week the OEP wrote to the environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, arguing that core parts of the national emissions ceiling regulations (NECR) should not be deleted under the Retained EU Law Act (REUL). However, Coffey has made it clear that her department will ignore the advice of the OEP.Updated at 16.36 BSTThe Foreign Office “failed to notice signs of torture” when officials visited a British academic imprisoned in the United Arab Emirates, the UK’s parliamentary ombudsman has found.Matthew Hedges was convicted on spying charges by the UAE in 2018 after travelling to Dubai to conduct research for his PhD at Durham University. He spent six months in prison, where he has said he was handcuffed, drugged and questioned for hours, before being pardoned from a life sentence for spying.My colleagues Rachel Hall and Patrick Wintour write that the ombudsman found:
It’s hard to imagine the experience Mr Hedges has endured and quite how terrifying his detention must have been. The nightmare was made even worse by being failed by the British government. He trusted them to help him and they let him down. Officials failed to notice signs of torture, failed to intervene and failed to help.
Updated at 16.13 BSTMeasures to raise more public revenue in Northern Ireland are being considered, the secretary of state has said.Decisions in the region have effectively been left to Chris Heaton-Harris in the absence of the Stormont executive, which is in limbo because of DUP protests over post-Brexit trading arrangements. Speaking to the media in Belfast on Friday, he said:
I asked for a lot of information from the Northern Ireland civil service, who have done a tonne of work on this revenue-raising piece and answered the questions. I’m minded to go ahead with the public consultations but I want to actually read what’s been presented to me to make sure I am making the right decisions.
Heaton-Harris said he plans to meet political leaders in the coming weeks to review progress on restoring power sharing in Northern Ireland. Earlier this week the DUP said the onus was on the UK government to create the conditions to allow for its restoration. The party’s deputy leader, Gavin Robinson, pressed the prime minister to deliver on “commitments made”.On Friday, Heaton-Harris described being “halfway there”, in terms of where talks were between the UK government and the DUP on issues relating to Brexit.
It’s taken the time that it needs because I need to make sure that we get it right, that we get an executive that gets up and running, that is sustainable.
Asked if finding a legislative fix for the DUP was proving more difficult than anticipated, the secretary of state said: “Identifying exactly what the ask was, was very difficult.”Updated at 16.15 BSTAubrey AllegrettiThe number of outsourced government services that are failing to meet standards has risen sharply, with concerns raised about schemes to support asylum seekers and educate young offenders.A register compiled by Whitehall officials keeps track of each contract tendered, along with its “key performance indicators” (KPIs) to judge whether it is being delivered well and a rating: “good”, “approaching target”, “requires improvement” and “inadequate”.In what critics said was evidence of ministers failing to deliver high-quality public services, the number of contractors providing work judged to be “inadequate” or “requires improvement” jumped from 119 to 207 in a year – a 73% rise. That means 6.5% of all the targets set for government contracts were being missed, though service providers often blamed external factors.Helena HortonMayors from cities around the globe have urged Sadiq Khan to stay strong in the face of harsh criticism of his clean air policies.The Conservative party narrowly held the constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip in a recent byelection, with its victory attributed partly to opposition to the London mayor’s upcoming extension of the capital’s ultra-low emissions zone (Ulez). A culture war over the role of cars in cities has erupted which has included arch comments from Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, who suggested his party was doing something “very wrong”.But other city leaders have told Khan to keep going, arguing that clean air is important for everyone, and saying that they, too, have had to overcome strong opposition to green policies.Raymond Johansen, the mayor of Oslo, Norway, since 2015, has implemented some radical proposals. As the city tends to have worse air pollution in the winter, there are total diesel bans in place seasonally, and on days with bad pollution the toll for vehicles entering the city increases.Like Khan, Johansen has faced criticism, including from a single-issue political party set up opposing the toll ring. But he said he had found ways to counter the attacks on his clean air policies. “In general, we try to reduce traffic and congestion and we have a toll ring for all vehicles entering the city. In a city like Oslo, air quality is worst in the winter and on the coldest days. We lower speed limits on main roads and impose a fee on using studded tyres during winter to reduce the production of particle matter.“On days with very high air pollution the city can ban diesel private cars and diesel vans that have older technology than Euro IV. We can also increase the fees at the toll ring on days with high pollution.”Oslo has an ‘extensive public transport system’, said the city’s mayor, Raymond Johansen, ‘improved with the revenues from the [road] toll ring.’ Photograph: Zoonar/AlamyAs part of the bargain with the population, the local government does its bit to keep the air clean: “We clean the roads more and we increase the cleaning on days when we expect high levels of particulate matter.” Johansen said he was also looking at making public transport free on days with high pollution.Although the tolls have had some opposition, Johansen said criticism had been mitigated because the funding was ringfenced for public transport.“The toll ring revenue in Oslo is almost entirely used for public transport infrastructure investments,” he explained. “In 2019, Oslo introduced more toll booths. This happened in several cities, and led to the birth of a new single-issue political party, the People’s Party Against Road Tolls. In the 2019 local elections, the party won three seats in the city parliament. In reality, most inhabitants experienced that their expenses were reduced, and in the polls for the upcoming elections in September, the party has very little support.”As in London, opponents of charges for polluting vehicles have tried to claim that it hurts the poorest in society. However, this was not true, Johansen said. “Common criticism against the toll ring, for example, is that low-income families will be much more affected than wealthy families. What we see in Oslo, however, is that those with the lowest incomes are those that are the most frequent users of the extensive public transportation system that Oslo has, and this service is improved with the revenues from the toll ring.”Johansen praised London’s Ulez scheme:
I see the establishment of the Ulez and its expansion as a sign of bold leadership from Mayor Khan, with the clear aim to protect the health of children and vulnerable citizens. If you really want to tackle poor air quality in a large city like London, you need to introduce measures that are substantial enough to make a real difference, even if it meets resistance from parts of the city. This serves as an inspiration to other cities.
You can read the rest of Helena’s piece here:Updated at 14.54 BSTGreenpeace has doubled down on its defence of an anti-oil protest targeting Rishi Sunak’s constituency mansion in response to Thérèse Coffey asking her department to disengage with the organisation (here’s our exclusive story on that):The group’s UK co-executive director, Will McCallum, said it was not about “the government engaging with Greenpeace” but drawing attention to the climate crisis.
Most people are looking on with horror at the news of wildfires, extreme flooding and searing heat waves, but Sunak and his government are doubling down on the fossil fuels which have got us into this mess. This isn’t about the government engaging with Greenpeace, it’s about them engaging with the world around them. The planet is on fire and Rishi Sunak is acting like nothing’s happening.
If the Conservatives want to avoid tanking votes at the next election, they need to listen to the public who want bold action on climate, nature, sewage and pollution. The action we took yesterday was entirely peaceful.
We were diligent in our approach to safety and ensured that no one was home. The truth is, Rishi Sunak’s government is ignoring public concerns and the repeated warnings from experts and civil society groups. Sunak might disagree with our approach, but it’ll cost us all if he ignores the devastating realities of the climate crisis.
Updated at 13.43 BSTExpanding Ulez was 'difficult decision' but he is 'unwilling to delay, water down, or step back', says KhanThe London mayor, Sadiq Khan, has told Sky News his decision to expand Ulez to outer boroughs was a difficult one but he is not willing to backtrack on the policy. The scheme charges owners of older, more polluting vehicles £12.50 a day to drive them within the zone.
It wasn’t a decision I took lightly but it’s the right one. I’m simply unwilling to delay, water down, or step back from this vital policy.
If you need a refresh, here is my colleague Peter Walker’s piece on Khan’s response to the backlash, expanding the scrappage scheme – which offers £2,000 grants to owners of non-compliant vehicles – to all Londoners:PA asked Khan if he was now on the same page as Keir Starmer after the Labour leader asked him to “reflect” following the byelection defeat in Boris Johnson’s old Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat last month.
I’m quite clear in relation to this policy, which is to clean up the city, but also tackle climate emergencies. I’ve been listening throughout my years as mayor – when I first announced the policy in November as a consequence of me listening; in January when I first announced financial support, the focus was targeting that support on lowest income families, micro businesses; in June when I expanded the support, that was because we still had lots of money left in the kitty, and I was keen to make sure every family in London receiving child benefit, more than 860,000 families, received support.
We now have the good news, still have £60m left in the kitty, I’m topping that up with £50m of more money, the most generous scrappage scheme in the country without a penny of support from the government to make sure every Londoner who may have a non-compliant car or motorbike receives support.
But there’s some good news: as of last week, 97% of cars in inner London are compliant, in outer London on an average day, nine out of 10 cars seen driving are now compliant, it’s actually, the vast, vast, vast majority of Londoners have a compliant vehicle they won’t pay a penny more, they’ll see the benefits of clean air, for those that may have a non-compliant car what I’ve announced today is support for them.
When asked if the Ulez expansion could affect the next general election, Khan said when he re-stood to be mayor in 2021 he received “more votes than any sitting mayor” and he added that when he stands again next year he wants to stand to “build on the record of tackling the twin emergencies of climate urgency and air pollution”.
These policies are policies that are popular when they’re properly explained.
Updated at 13.37 BSTAction needs to be taken to bring Northern Ireland’s finances under control, the secretary of state Chris Heaton-Harris says.Earlier, Heaton-Harris met the head of the Northern Ireland civil service, Jayne Brady, to hear what progress had been made in talks with the political parties around challenges to the region’s finances and public services. He said he was “acutely aware” that the ongoing absence of a Stormont executive was “exasperating the challenges facing all public services across Northern Ireland”. He told media in Belfast:
Action needs to be taken to bring Northern Ireland’s public finances under control and make them sustainable for future years, and the necessary decisions have not been taken by local leaders to ensure affordable public service transformation can take place, and now that is being felt in the most undesirable of ways by people across Northern Ireland.
Updated at 13.26 BST