Keir Starmer sets out Labour’s carbon capture investment plan in speech – UK politics live | Politics

Prime minister Keir Starmer is speaking. The “my dad was a toolmaker” anecdote is deployed again, but this time Starmer elaborates slightly (and somewhat acknowledges it has become his political cliche), saying:

I’ve said many times my dad was a tool maker. He worked in a factory. But that matters to me, because until I went off to college, I didn’t even know any working environment other than a factory.

He says it is important to visit places around the country because “for me there’s no substitute for coming to places where you and others work, and getting a sense myself of what you do, how skilled it is, and how important it is to our country.”

Starmer says the investment isn’t about “the numbers flying about”, it is “about making sure that there are thousands of people like you with skilled, good, secure jobs that give you the security and the dignity and the pride in the work that you do.”

He says:

What matters to me and to us as a government is what a difference it makes to your lives and the lives of other people who are doing jobs like you, not just now and next year, but into the future. And making sure that we have you and them in our mind’s eye when we make our decisions, because politics is about who are you thinking about when you’re making your decisions.

The chanceller has been speaking. Rachel Reeves said “carbon capture technology is not just about cleaning up our industry and our energy sector. It is a massive opportunity to attract investment and create thousands of skilled jobs paying good wages.”

She said “We’re not just turning the page on old industries. We’re writing a new chapter of innovation and resilience, and we’re doing that together.

She said:

We’re removing the barriers that stop investment so that we can get Britain building again. And our first international investment summit will take place in just ten days time to bring new investment and more opportunities to the UK. That’s the change that this government is offering.

The prime minister is next.

Labour will not blow UK’s chance for industrial success, says Miliband

Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves and Ed Miliband are all at this event at Encirc Glass. Ed Miliband is going to speak first.

You will be able to watch prime minister Keir Starmer make his speech in this video feed …

Starmer to give speech launching government carbon capture investment plans

The Green Party of England and Wales have been celebrating this morning. A byelection victory for Lancaster city council has made them the largest party there.

MP Siân Berry has also been congratulating her parliamentary colleague Carla Denyer, who picked up an award as politician of the year last night.

Reform UK MPs are making noise on social media about the Chagos Islands agreement with Mauritius this morning. Leader Nigel Farage, the MP for Clacton, has demanded “Parliament must have a debate and a vote on the surrender of the Chagos Islands when it returns on Monday,” adding “No government should be able to surrender sovereignty without debate, especially as this was not in the Labour manifesto.”

Rupert Lowe, MP for Great Yarmouth, described it as “capitulation” and said “I have asked the Foreign Office to explain itself – rushing it through during recess was disgraceful.”

There have been 13 rounds of negotiations with Mauritius to reach the deal, with the process started when James Cleverly was foreign secretary under the previous Conservative government.

Kiran Stacey

One of the criticisms from Conservatives over the Chagos Islands deal with Mauritius is that it potentially allows China scope to have access to the strategically important islands.

This morning, for example, Iain Duncan Smith, former Conservative leader and the MP for Chingford and Woodford, said:

The Labour government’s move to relinquish sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius is astonishing. At the heart of this agreement lies the real threat from China and we have a government of Mauritius that is very pro-China.

If China gets involved with Mauritius, I cannot see how you can continue to use that place as it is now, or how the Americans can either.

This is a huge mistake – a fatal mistake. We’re the worst country in the world for understanding our strategic arrangements – make no mistake, the free world will be in danger. The whole thing is a shambolic mess and I’m as much blaming the previous Conservative government for this as Labour.

Jonathon Powell, who played a leading role in concluding the agreement, wasn’t having any of this sort of criticism when he was talking on Times Radio earlier this morning. Powell said:

When you come to see the detailed treaty – which really quite long – along with the exchanges of letters, you’ll see that this idea of a Chinese base, it can’t happen, won’t happen.

And also, the fact that some of these papers have suggested that Mauritius is an ally of China could hardly be further from the truth. Mauritius is very, very close indeed to India, and the Indians also welcomed this agreement because they see it as so important for security in the Indian Ocean.

Mauritius is one of only two countries in Africa that’s not a member of China’s belt and road initiative. So this notion that somehow we’ve given the Chagos Islands to an ally of China is rubbish. And anyway, the negotiations were started by the previous Tory government.

Mauritius does have an agreement in place to join the belt and road initiative at a later date, and has had a free trade agreement with China in place since 2021.