Government lays out housing plans but Burnham backtracks on social renting pledge – UK politics live

A decision by the Parades Commission to impose restrictions on the annual Orange Order parade at Drumcree in Portadown has been quashed in the high court in Belfast.

The Parades Commission, which adjudicates on contentious marches, has blocked the order from marching along the Garvaghy Road in Portadown every year since ۱۹۹۸.

PA Media reports the hearing was attended by a number of unionist elected representatives including DUP Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart and TUV leader Jim Allister. Any future parade along the road would require a new application to the Parades Commission.

The legal challenge had been brought by a Portadown Orangeman. The judge ordered the Parades Commission to pay costs.

Ministers are looking at “a range of support” for vulnerable households struggling with rising bills, the energy secretary has said ahead of tomorrow’s Ofgem announcement on the energy cap level.

PA Media reports forecasts have indicated that households could see their bills rise by another ۴% to the equivalent of £۱,۷۲۹ a year, as the widened conflict in the Middle East sparked by Donald Trump’s war on Iran continues to push up wholesale energy prices.

Writing on Reddit the energy secretary said she understood “why people are worried and frustrated about energy bills”, and that the government is “doing everything we can to make them more affordable”.

Miatta Fahnbulleh also said the government is working with regulator Ofgem to examine possible changes to standing order charges and “how these fixed costs could be recovered in the fairest way.”

The number of rapes and attempted rapes reported in Scotland has risen by almost one-third in four years, PA Media reports new figures show.

Statistics released on Tuesday show an increase from ۲,۴۵۵ for the year ending June ۲۰۲۲ to ۳,۴۲۰ for the year up to June ۲۰۲۶ – a ۳۲% rise.

Justice secretary Neil Gray said “While Scotland remains a safe place to live and recorded crime has fallen by almost half since its peak in ۱۹۹۱, I am extremely concerned by the rise in sexual crimes and domestic abuse offences recorded under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act ۲۰۱۸.

“These are abhorrent crimes and, unfortunately, reflect a broader pattern seen across the UK. Protecting victims and ensuring public safety are at the heart of our justice system. Sexual and domestic abuse crimes are overwhelmingly perpetrated by men against women and, ultimately, men must change their behaviour.”

The chancellor, John Healey, has said government investment in a tungsten mine in Devon will help bolster Britain’s defence and nuclear industries.

The Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine in Devon will receive up to £۷۱m from the National Wealth Fund to help restart operations at the mine on the outskirts of Plymouth.

The government said it will have the right to ringfence ۵۰% of production for use in Britain. The chancellor said it means Britain tapping into one of the world’s largest deposit of the mineral, which is also used in steel, electronics and aerospace industries.

He added:

We are living in a more dangerous world, which is why backing British industry is more important than ever before. That is what this deal does.

We are tapping into one of the largest deposits of tungsten in the world, right here in the UK. This investment will supply vital minerals to British defence, energy and aerospace businesses – and keep good, well-paid jobs in the UK.

[This is] all part of this government’s commitment to drive growth in every postcode, back British business and keep our country safe.

Tory chair Kevin Hollinrake has added to the criticism of the government’s housing plans, warning against building new social housing.

Speaking to Sky News, he said:

Social homes are much more expensive to deliver than affordable homes. So again, we need to see the plans, exactly what that distribution will be and how much it’s going to cost.

He added:

That number has not changed under Labour and on the broader picture on the housing market generally, the numbers of new homes being delivered, net new additions, has dropped by about ۱۵% since they took office.

Earlier shadow housing secretary James Cleverly said the policy “is a sleight of hand under Labour” and claimed it was “yet another unfunded spending commitment”

He said:

The small print shows homes won’t have to be delivered until ۲۰۳۹. And the funding has been backloaded to fall outside the Spending Review and this parliament, meaning Andy Burnham will never have to pay for it.

Instead, it’ll be another cheque written by a Labour PM and left for future generations to cover.

The Greens have accused Andy Burnham of a “massive backtrack” after the government announced that only ۶۰% of the Affordable Homes Programme would be spent on council housing.

Green MP Hannah Spencer said:

This is a massive backtrack by Andy Burnham, who made a clear pledge to dedicate the £۳۹bn Affordable Homes Programme to building desperately needed council housing.

It is another missed opportunity to provide the genuinely affordable housing that is so desperately needed.

I hear from so many people who are stuck on waiting lists, living in temporary accommodation or who are homeless. Andy Burnham is continuing to let these people down.

The climate damage caused by developing the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gasfields under consideration by the UK government would destroy their economic benefits many times over, according to an analysis.

It estimates the economic damage caused by the carbon pollution from the oil and gas produced would be between £۱۱۹bn and £۳۳۶bn in the coming decades, compared with the £۲۸.۷bn in value to the UK estimated by Adura, the fossil fuel company promoting the new fields.

The assessment applies peer-reviewed research on how rising temperatures harm economies to the production estimates for the fields from the company. The figures are likely to be underestimates, as they do not include losses from amplified extreme weather, sea level rise or climate deaths.

The analysis has been submitted to the Rosebank consultation and to an academic journal.

The decision on whether to approve Rosebank and Jackdaw has become highly controversial, with the oil industry, some energy leaders and rightwing political parties pushing for the go-ahead. Most centre and leftwing political parties, climate scientists and environmental campaigners are opposed.

The prime minister, Andy Burnham, also faces a revolt from Labour MPs who oppose the plans, while the former energy secretary Ed Miliband once called the Rosebank proposal “climate vandalism”.

Burnham plans trip to New York as Ukraine pleads for US-made missiles

Peter Walker

Andy Burnham has said he plans to travel to the US next month to join European leaders lobbying Donald Trump to supply Ukraine with Patriot missiles.

The UK prime minister told Bloomberg he was “looking forward to going to New York” in September, which is when the UN general assembly will meet. He said details of the trip were not “fully confirmed” but it was “likely” to go ahead. The trip would be Burnham’s first US visit since becoming prime minister in July.

During Burnham’s first trip to Kyiv as prime minister, on Monday, he reiterated the UK’s “unwavering” support for Ukraine. Ukraine in turn handed over what officials have called a “goldmine” of battlefield data to help bolster British security.

In a meeting with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Burnham reiterated there would be “no change in the UK’s steadfast support” for Kyiv.

He also urged Ukraine’s allies to send more interceptor missiles to Kyiv as it struggles under continued Russian bombardment, and co-chaired his first coalition of the willing meeting, where he said the group was doing “everything we can” to “dig into our own stocks and help others dig into their stocks”.

Kiran Stacey

Social housing tenants will be evicted if they fail to keep their gardens well maintained under a Reform UK government, the party has announced.

Lee Anderson, the party’s chair, said that if Reform came to power it would insist that those in social rented homes would be required to keep their properties decorated and gardens looked after.

The plan is part of a wider policy that would throw out any foreign national from their existing social home, and prioritise young married couples who were born in Britain for new housing.

Anderson told a press conference on Monday: “If you go back in time and look what actually happened … the people that rented council homes had to be married under a Labour, socialist government.

“They had to look after their property. They had to keep it well maintained. The gardens done and decorated, and they were inspected on a regular basis by officers from the council.”

He added: “What is wrong with expecting people who live in subsidised housing, paid for, subsidised, by the hard-working British taxpayer … to keep their house to a reasonable standard?”

The policy is part of a promise by Reform to oversee a boom in social housebuilding, whether through council or housing associations.

A housing minister has rejected suggestions that Andy Burnham has failed to his keep promises on council housing, as the government unveiled a nearly £۱۰bn plan to boost “genuinely affordable homes”.

The prime minister has pledged to carry out the biggest council housebuilding programme since the postwar period, with more than ۷۰,۰۰۰ homes, ۶۰% allocated for social rent, to be delivered across England.

However, Burnham has faced accusation of watering down his ambitions after he previously called for the entire £۳۹bn social and affordable homes programme to be spent on council housing.

Asked whether he accepted that Burnham had failed to keep promises made in the lead-up to the byelection, housing minister Matthew Pennycook told BBC Breakfast:

No, I don’t. I mean, Andy Burnham said in the byelection that he wanted to see more money spent on social rent on council housebuilding.

That’s exactly what we’re doing through this initial wave of funding.

Good morning and welcome to the UK politics live blog.

The government has set out its plans to spend an initial £۱۰bn on a mix of subsidised housing in England, with a target of ۶۰% being social renting.

The funding, which comes from the ۱۰-year Affordable Homes Programme, is in line with the Starmer government’s policy and sees Andy Burnham backtrack on his proposal to rip up housing plans and boost social home building.

Burnham previously called for the programme to be spent entirely on social homes, which are more heavily subsidised and therefore more affordable than other types of government-funded housing.

He said when launching his campaign to become MP for Makerfield:

There’s £۳۹bn allocated over a ۱۰-year period … I’m saying that should be dedicated to council homes. Let’s not be coy any more … I’m saying council homes because control matters.

Under the plans announced on Monday, however, £۱۰bn will be spent helping to build ۷۰,۰۰۰ homes outside London, about ۶۰% of which will be social rented houses. The rest will be other types of accommodation such as shared ownership schemes and sheltered housing.

London will get another £۶bn, which will be allocated at a later date.

Ministers said the investment would help bring the government closer to its promise of building ۳۰۰,۰۰۰ affordable homes over the next ۱۰ years. It will be spent by ۳۳ “strategic partners”, who will be guaranteed funding for the next decade to help deliver their plans.

The Guardian has learned that for the first time in the history of the scheme, three of those partners will be local councils, as the government looks to deliver what Burnham has promised will be “the biggest council housebuilding programme since the postwar period”.

Read the full story here:

In other developments:

• Andy Burnham has said he plans to travel to the US next month to join European leaders lobbying Donald Trump to supply Ukraine with Patriot missiles. The UK prime minister told Bloomberg he was “looking forward to going to New York” in September, which is when the UN general assembly will meet. He said details of the trip were not “fully confirmed” but it was “likely” to go ahead.

• AI models trained on Ukrainian battlefield data will be used to stop protesters and foreign states targeting UK defence sites, railways and energy plants under a deal struck between London and Kyiv. Private companies will also be given access to the vast trove of data from Ukraine’s Avengers AI lab to help build new systems, the first agreement of its kind in the UK.

• Social housing tenants will be evicted if they fail to keep their gardens well maintained under a Reform UK government, the party has announced. Lee Anderson, the party’s chair, said that if Reform came to power it would insist that those in social rented homes would be required to keep their properties decorated and gardens looked after.

• Rupert Lowe, the leader of Restore Britain, is on course to earn as much from the social media platform X as he does from his salary as an MP, after surging income from posts that include demands for mass deportations. Lowe has earned £۹۳۲ an hour for his posts on X, formerly Twitter, since the start of the year, according to his own declarations in the register of MPs’ financial interests, which detail how many hours he has spent on X for each payment he received from the platform.