Benefits reform is like fight for women's equality, says Liz Kendall
The work and pensions secretary has told Labour rebels she will press ahead with contentious benefit cuts, likening her reforms to get the long-term sick back to work to the battle for women's equality.
Liz Kendall said she was 'listening' to concerns raised by backbenchers, hinting she was open to concessions on the implementation of reforms. But she refused to back down on the principle of cost-cutting, saying Britain could not afford a system where one in ten working age adults is on at least one sickness benefits and spending is still rising.
Kendall argued there was 'nothing Labour' about ducking what she described as an economic and social crisis, pointing out that sickness benefit spending has risen by £20 billion a year since the
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The Guardian
26 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Russian strikes ‘drown out' world's efforts for peace in Ukraine, says Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Update: Date: 2025-06-10T07:36:47.000Z Title: Morning opening: Russian attacks 'drown out' peace efforts, Zelenskyy warns Content: Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that 'Russian missile … strikes drown out the efforts of the United States and others around the world to force Russia into peace,' after another difficult night of constant attacks. Russia fired 315 drones and seven missiles at Ukraine, making it one of the biggest aerial attacks of the war, killing two and wounding 13. Zelenskyy said it was 'vital that the response to this and other similar Russian attacks is not silence from the world, but concrete action.' 'Action from America, which has the power to force Russia into peace. Action from Europe, which has no alternative but to be strong. Action from others around the world who called for diplomacy and an end to the war – and whom Russia has ignored. There must be strong pressure for the sake of peace.' I will bring you all updates from Ukraine and across Europe here. It's Tuesday, 10 June 2025, it's Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live. Good morning.
BBC News
34 minutes ago
- BBC News
Sizewell C nuclear plant gets go-ahead with £14.2bn of government funding
Update: Date: 08:29 BST Title: Sizewell C should be generating electricity by mid-2030s, Miliband confirms Content: Miliband is then asked if he can provide a target date for Sizewell C to start providing electricity to the UK's power grid. The energy secretary says that it will take "about a decade", and should start supplying power in the mid-2030s. Update: Date: 08:27 BST Title: China will not be able to invest, Miliband insists Content: Although the government is investing at least £14.2bn in Sizewell C, there will also be other investors. Miliband is asked whether China will be able to invest in the new power station. "No," he tells Justin Webb - but declines to go into the details on who private bidders might be. "It's majority public investment in Sizewell C," he says, adding that there will be "some" private investment but all bidders will go through national security checks. Update: Date: 08:26 BST Title: Why not just invest in 'green' renewables? Content: Miliband continues, saying some people may be wondering why the government doesn't just invest in renewables. We do want renewables, he says, "but we also need nuclear". Electricity demand will double by 2050 as we move away from fossil fuels, he adds, and "most of our nuclear fleet is retiring". "This is absolutely the right thing to do" in terms of value for money and for the taxpayer, he says. Update: Date: 08:23 BST Title: Sizewell is already approved - so what's different this time? Content: After again being pressed on the government's U-turn on winter fuel payments, Miliband is asked by Justin Webb on the Today programme what is different from previous announcements on Sizewell C. (As a reminder, regulators approved Sizewell C during the previous government.) Miliband says the difference is "that we're funding it - we're putting forward the money to make it happen". He says this is the biggest investment in nuclear in half a century. "We are doing this because we want long-term energy security," he adds. Update: Date: 08:12 BST Title: Ed Miliband speaking to Today - watch live Content: The energy secretary is now speaking to our colleagues on BBC Radio 4's Today programme - you can watch live at the top of the page. We'll have all the key lines here. BBC Radio Suffolk's breakfast show with Wayne Bavin is live from the neighbouring Suffolk town of Leiston this morning. Update: Date: 08:09 BST Title: This is state-sponsored ecocide, claims campaign group Content: Alice CunninghamBBC News, Suffolk Campaign group, Together Against Sizewell C, says it is "outraged" by the funding announcement. Chris Wilson from the group says initial works on the power plant have already harmed the local environment. 'Sizewell C's preparatory works have caused the loss of thousands of trees and miles of hedging as well as covering hundreds of acres with concrete and tarmac, much in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths National Landscape," he says. "Together with the hundreds of millions of fish that will be killed annually in its cooling water system during its 60 years of operation, in our eyes, the Sizewell C project is state-sponsored ecocide." Update: Date: 08:02 BST Title: New investment but work has already begun Content: Ben ParkerBBC News, Suffolk Thousands of tonnes of soil are being moved ahead of construction of the power station Despite today's announcement of fresh government investment, work on Sizewell C started some time ago, which includes: Update: Date: 07:57 BST Title: Government determined to 'go big' on nuclear Content: Henry ZeffmanChief political correspondent Sizewell was first formally identified, external as a potential site for a new nuclear power plant in 2009 by the then Labour government and its energy secretary - Ed Miliband. Sixteen years, seven prime ministers, and 10 energy secretaries later, the new energy secretary - Ed Miliband - believes the £14bn extra investment in Sizewell C will end the "years of delay" over the project. Government sources say they are determined to "go big" on nuclear power. While Miliband himself has long believed nuclear power is a key way to combat climate change, the government also views it as a reliable power source in a new age of energy insecurity. Yet even if the government's new commitment is the crucial final piece of the puzzle, it's important to stress that Sizewell C is still likely to take at least a decade to complete. Update: Date: 07:55 BST Title: A huge task that will take at least a decade to complete Content: Simon JackBusiness editor Building a nuclear power station is a colossal engineering and financial undertaking. The government has committed to spending £14bn of public money over the next four years on a project it insists will: But it will take at least a decade to complete and the plant of which it is a copy, Hinkley Point C in Somerset, will switch on in the early 2030s - over a decade late and costing billions more than originally planned. The project has faced opposition at local and national level from those who believe Sizewell C will prove to be a costly mistake. But the government insists that nuclear provides enormous amounts of low carbon, non-intermittent energy that will form a crucial part of the UK's energy future. There is also funding to develop smaller reactors and money for research into fusion. This is not the first government to enthusiastically usher in a new nuclear age and realising it will take ages yet. Update: Date: 07:52 BST Title: The history of Sizewell Content: Nuclear power has been produced from Sizewell since the 1960s Sizewell is no stranger to nuclear energy. In 1955, Sizewell A was first proposed as part of the government's post-war White Paper titled A Programme of Nuclear Power. It wanted to build a number of nuclear power plants across the country and Sizewell A, a Magnox plant, was fully operational by 1966. Sizewell A was eventually decommissioned and shut down in 2006, with work still ongoing to demolish the site. Plans for Sizewell B, a pressurised water reactor, were first announced in 1969. After a lengthy planning process, it started generating electricity in 1995. It is still in operation and produces 3.1% of the UK's energy needs. It is the UK's only pressurised water reactor. Update: Date: 07:48 BST Title: We'll learn from Hinkley C to build Sizewell C, says Miliband Content: BBC Breakfast's Jon Kay further presses Miliband on the timetable for Sizewell C. Kay says he remembers as a young reporter when Hinkley C - a power plant in Somerset - was being talked about, and it still isn't completed. He asks Miliband what lessons can be learned from that plant. Miliband says they are "replicating Hinkley at Sizewell", and says lessons from the Somerset plant will help Sizewell built more easily. The government is "confident it can be built quicker and cheaper" than Hinkley, he adds. Update: Date: 07:46 BST Title: Is this the final go-ahead? Content: Vikki IrwinBBC Suffolk political reporter I do not think you can say definitely just yet, but I think this is a major step forward in terms of getting the money and attracting investors to this project. The final investment decision will be in July and obviously it is a lot of money. That is what some of the detractors say about this project say - that it is way too expensive. Update: Date: 07:45 BST Title: When will the plant actually deliver electricity? Content: The energy secretary is now asked when the plant will actually begin providing energy. As a reminder, the plant is expected to take at least a decade to build. Miliband declines to give a precise timetable, but says the government is making "long-term decisions for the future of the country" - adding that's what they were elected to do "and that's what Sizewell C is about". Update: Date: 07:43 BST Title: We're investing in the future, says Miliband Content: After being pressed on Labour's U-turn on winter fuel payments - which was confirmed yesterday - Miliband stresses that expanded investment in nuclear will deliver "clean energy". Sizewell C "shows what we will see this week from the chancellor - a commitment to invest in the future," Miliband says. As a reminder - Chancellor Rachel Reeves is delivering her Spending Review tomorrow Update: Date: 07:32 BST Title: Ed Miliband about to speak - watch live Content: Our colleagues on BBC Breakfast are about to interview Energy Secretary Ed Miliband - watch live at the top of the page. Update: Date: 07:29 BST Title: Trade unions welcome 'good, skilled, unionised jobs' Content: Trade unions have so far welcomed this morning's news. The GMB union's regional secretary Warren Kenny says that "without new nuclear, there can be no net zero". He also says Sizewell C will provide "thousands of good, skilled, unionised jobs" - a sentiment echoed by Mike Clancy, general secretary of the Prospect union. "New nuclear is essential to achieving net zero, providing a baseload of clean and secure energy, as well as supporting good, unionised jobs," he says. The plant's construction is expected to create 10,000 jobs, according to the Treasury. Thousands more are expected to be created in firms supplying the plant. Once operational, Sizewell C is expected to employ 900 people. Update: Date: 07:19 BST Title: Come clean on the total cost, says pressure group Content: As we reported earlier, the cost of building Sizewell C has been estimated at £20bn - and builders EDF have rejected claims that the true cost could double to £40bn. Alison Downes, of the Stop Sizewell C pressure group, said ministers had not "come clean" about the full cost of the project. "There still appears to be no final investment decision for Sizewell C, but £14.2 billion in taxpayers' funding, a decision we condemn and firmly believe the government will come to regret, " she says. "Where is the benefit for voters in ploughing more money into Sizewell C that could be spent on other priorities, and when the project will add to consumer bills and is guaranteed to be late and overspent just like Hinkley C? "Ministers have still not come clean about Sizewell C's cost and, given negotiations with private investors are incomplete, they have signed away all leverage and will be forced to offer generous deals that undermine value for money. "Starmer and Reeves have just signed up to HS2 mark 2." Alison Downes Update: Date: 07:15 BST Title: What is Sizewell C? Content: Sizewell B's single white dome on the blue building is to the left of the proposed double-reactor plant (on the far right). Sizewell A is the grey building on the far left of the picture, casting a shadow on to the beach French energy company EDF wants to build a new two-reactor nuclear power station that could generate 3.2 gigawatts of electricity. It is estimated it could power the equivalent of six million homes and operate for 60 years. It would sit immediately to the north of Sizewell B, which began generating electricity in 1995. Sizewell A opened in 1967 but it stopped generating power in December 2006 and the lengthy decommissioning process is ongoing. Update: Date: 07:10 BST Title: Investment will deliver 'golden age of clean energy' says Miliband Content: Energy Secretary Ed Miliband says the £14.2bn investment is necessary "to deliver a golden age of clean energy abundance". He says that the plant is "he only way to protect family finances, take back control of our energy, and tackle the climate crisis". In comments to the Guardian newspaper, Miliband adds that it will get the country "off the fossil fuel rollercoaster". As a reminder, Miliband will speak live to the BBC at 07:30 and 08:10 - you'll be able to watch live on this page. Update: Date: 07:07 BST Title: How much has already been invested? Content: Various different funding announcements have been made over the years by different governments. A spokesperson for the Department of Energy Security confirmed that with today's announcement, a total of £17.8bn of taxpayers' money had been put towards the project. This included some funding from a subsidy scheme called Devex. The project is still looking for private investors before building work can get under way. Visitors to the area, and to the RSPB's Minsmere nature reserve will have already seen that some preparatory work has taken place to the north of the existing Sizewell site.
The Independent
40 minutes ago
- The Independent
Reeves says nuclear investment shows UK ‘back where it belongs'
Rachel Reeves has committed £16.7 billion to nuclear power projects as the country shifts away from fossil fuels. The Chancellor has signed off on £14.2 billion of investment to build the new Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk, while Rolls-Royce has been named as the preferred bidder to build small modular reactors (SMRs) in a programme backed by £2.5 billion of taxpayers' cash. Ms Reeves will use Wednesday's spending review to allocate tens of billions of funding for major infrastructure projects over the rest of the decade. Officials hope SMRs will be cheaper and quicker to build than traditional power plants, and projects could be connected to the grid by the mid-2030s. Ms Reeves said: 'The UK is back where it belongs, taking the lead in the technologies of tomorrow with Rolls-Royce SMR as the preferred partner for this journey.' The SMR project could support up to 3,000 new skilled jobs and power the equivalent of around three million homes, with a first site expected to be allocated later this year by state-owned Great British Energy – Nuclear. Tuesday's announcement of Rolls-Royce as the preferred bidder came after the Government confirmed financial support for Sizewell C. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said new nuclear power capacity was needed to deliver a 'golden age of clean energy abundance'. Trade unions welcomed the Sizewell move, which the Treasury said would go towards creating 10,000 jobs, including 1,500 apprenticeships. But the head of a campaign group opposing the plant criticised the decision to commit the funding, saying it is still not clear what the total cost will be. Nuclear plants are seen as increasingly important electricity sources as the Government tries to decarbonise Britain's grid by 2030, replacing fossil fuels with green power. The last time Britain completed one was in 1987, which was the Sizewell B plant. Hinkley Point C, in Somerset, is under construction and is expected to produce enough power for about six million homes when it opens, but that may not be until 2031. The Energy Secretary said: 'We need new nuclear to deliver a golden age of clean energy abundance, because that is the only way to protect family finances, take back control of our energy, and tackle the climate crisis. 'This is the Government's clean energy mission in action – investing in lower bills and good jobs for energy security.' It will get the UK off the 'fossil fuel rollercoaster', he separately told The Guardian. 'We know that we're going to have to see electricity demand at least double by 2050. All the expert advice says nuclear has a really important role to play in the energy system. 'In any sensible reckoning, this is essential to get to our clean power and net zero ambitions.' The joint managing directors of Sizewell C, Julia Pyke and Nigel Cann, said: 'Today marks the start of an exciting new chapter for Sizewell C, the UK's first British-owned nuclear power plant in over 30 years.' At the peak of construction, Sizewell C is expected to provide 10,000 jobs and the company behind the project has already signed £330 million worth of contracts with local businesses. The plant, which will power the equivalent of six million homes, is planned to be operational in the 2030s. The GMB union said giving Sizewell C the go-ahead was 'momentous'. Regional Secretary Warren Kenny said: 'Nuclear power is essential for clean, affordable, and reliable energy – without new nuclear, there can be no net zero. 'Sizewell C will provide thousands of good, skilled, unionised jobs and we look forward to working closely with the Government and Sizewell C to help secure a greener future for this country's energy sector.' Alison Downes, of Stop Sizewell C, said ministers had not 'come clean' about the full cost of the project, which the group have previously estimated could be some £40 billion. She said: 'Where is the benefit for voters in ploughing more money into Sizewell C that could be spent on other priorities, and when the project will add to consumer bills and is guaranteed to be late and overspent just like Hinkley C?' The Government has also promised £2.5 billion over five years for fusion energy research and £6 billion of investment for the industrial base supporting the Royal Navy's nuclear submarine fleet.
