No 10 insists RAF Fairford is safe after US withdraws its bombers – UK politics live

Andrew Griffith makes speech today as Reform UK accuses party of copying policies they ‘announced weeks and months ago’

No 10 insists RAF Fairford is safe after US withdraws its bombers

Downing Street has insisted RAF Fairford is safe after the US withdrew its bombers from the base over new security concerns, the Press Association reports. PA says:

The Pentagon confirmed yesterday that aircraft which were being stationed at the Gloucestershire base had been “redeployed to their home stations in the United States”.

The move follows the arrest of six individuals over the past week in connection with a suspected terror plot targeting the base.

US officials told the New York Times the redeployment of the bombers, which have been involved in carrying out strikes on Iran, had been ordered after more specific details about threats to the base emerged over the weekend.

Asked at at lobby briefing this morning whether RAF Fairford was safe, the PM’s spokesperson said: “Yes.”

He pointed to comments by defence secretary Wes Streeting saying there were “tried and tested approaches to defend our bases around the country and throughout the world”, but he declined to comment further on “foreign nations’ military operations”.

He added: “I would just point you to the president’s words last week, where he praised our police, defence and security services in relation to RAF Fairford.”

The five British nationals, all in their mid-20s, arrested near the base on September 27 have since been released on bail.

A sixth man, a 25-year-old dual UK-Iranian national, arrested on October 1, has also been released on bail.

Getting rid of low-carbon rules for new homes 'makes no sense', says trade body

Solar Energy UK, the trade body for the solar energy industry, has criticised the Conservatives’ proposal to get rid of the Future Homes Standard. (See 8.51am.)

In a statement, Chris Hewitt, its chief executive, said:

Everyone can see that solar and batteries are the quickest and most effective way for families to take back control of their energy bills. I would urge the Conservatives to reconsider abandoning a policy that they were instrumental in developing. It is far cheaper to design and build a new home with solar panels than having families pay to retrofit afterwards.

Like having carpets, a fridge or indoor plumbing, generating your own power from your own roof is part of modern living. I am glad to say that more than half of new homes are already designed this way due to the regulatory standards that are in force already. Reversing course now makes no sense.

The Future Homes Standards, which fully comes into force in 2028, requires new homes to have low-carbon heating.

Here is some more criticism of Andrew Griffith’s plans to slash regulations for builders. (See 8.08am.)

These are fromSir Jonathan Jones, a former head of the government’s legal department.

I’ve lost track of the number of “red tape challenges” I’ve lived through - commitments to “slash regulations”, “roll back the frontiers of the state”, blah blah. Sure have a go. Repealing obscure, already obsolete rules doesn’t count

It turns out that much “red tape” is not imposed by bureaucrats or lawyers but the result of conscious political choices which can only be reversed at a political and practical cost

These are fromJames Murray, editor-in-chief of BusinessGreen.

The pitch here seems to be, ‘we’ll build the houses and infrastructure we failed to build during the 14 years we were in government, but we’ll do it in the most damaging and lowest quality way possible’.

Also worth noting planning is just one part of what the Environment Agency and Natural England do. This would be an enormous change and even if you don’t care about the environmental impact of development there’d be huge disruption to work on flood resilience, waste crime, nature recovery, etc.

Is there anyone who seriously thinks there’s a quick and easy way to cut the price of a new home by £50k, which has just been being ignored by policymakers?

Scrapping the Future Homes Standard will deliver cost reductions for developers, but it’s hugely unlikely they’d be passed on to buyers and those buyers would be left with homes that cost thousands of pounds a year more to run.

Meanwhile, the alternative plan to tackle climate change Badenoch promised when she announced the Tories would scrap net zero targets is still yet to materialise. Instead we have yet another plan to lock in fossil fuel reliance for decades.

In Badenoch’s new The Right Way document climate change is mentioned once outside references to the CCC and Climate Change Act. It says it is real, but then proposes a plan that would lock in higher emissions for decades. It pledges to replace the Climate Change Act, but won’t say what with.

Climate resilience, climate adaptation, and nature are simply not mentioned.

And this is from Jill Rutter from the Institute for Government thinktank.

You might hate the Environment Agency and Natural England - but am not sure how good your evidence base is that there is a latent majority for poorer air quality, more pollution and (even more) destruction of nature #CPC2026 - and homes that are going to require big retrofits

Former Green co-leader Adrian Ramsay suggests party should change its conference voting rules

Adrian Ramsay, the Green party’s former co-leader, has suggested that the party should change the way it makes policy at its conference. He was speaking after the “Zionism is racism” motion was passed yesterday under a system criticised on the grounds that it favours a well-organised by unrepresentative minority of members.

In an interview with the New Statesman, Ramsay said he was “deeply upset” by what happened. He said he would continue to argue for a two-state solution in the Middle East. He said that was “a long-held Green principle and it really matters because that’s the only way we will be able to get a durable peace in the Middle East.”

The motion passed yesterday called for a single, Palestinian, democratic state between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean sea, with equal rights for all.

Referring to how the motion was passed, Ramsay said:

If you look at the votes that happened today, even the vote with the highest interest in conference today, there were fewer than 1% of party members voting on those motions.

The Greens make conference at policy on a one-member, one-vote system. Any member can attend and cast a vote, and members can also vote online. Other parties use a delegate system, where local branches are allowed to send a certain number of delegates to conference, depending on how many members they have.

In her write-up of the interview, Megan Kenyon said Ramsay was in favour of this.

Ramsay told her:

That wasn’t 1% that was representing members across the country, that was a self-selecting 1%.

We don’t know what the other 228,000 members think on the issues that were discussed today.

Clarkson told the Tory conference that it had been a “terrible” year on his Oxfordshire farm due to the hot summer. He said:

We worked really hard all year and we ended up with, I think I’m right in saying, three ounces of hen food.

It was an absolute disaster on the farming side but, I mean, luckily we’ve got other projects going on now. But the farming is very, very difficult, very, very difficult at the moment.

He also mentioned rising costs for the pub he runs, near his farm in the Cotswolds. He went on:

I’m very fortunate that I do have other income streams and newspaper columns, but if you’re an ordinary farmer, it’s not just the weather.

Remember, it’s as Charlie was saying, the attacks come from everywhere – whether it’s Iran or Ukraine or taxes or energy costs – whatever it might be, it’s just relentless.

Clarkson says he is thinking of thinking of opening another pub. But it won’t be in the UK, he says, because of all the obstacles to opening a new business. He goes on:

Why would anybody set up a business in this country right now?

That goes down well with the audience.

Clarkson says he probably won’t do this.

Then he jokes about opening the pub at Piddington. “That’s abroad, isn’t it?” he says, referring to its anti-migrant ‘independence’ vote.

Jeremy Clarkson speaks at Tory conference to highlight difficulties facing farmers

At the Tory conference the afternoon session is now getting underway. They are in the symphony hall, the big venue in the complex. The session will feature Andrew Griffith’s speech, but Victoria Atkins, the shadow environment secretary, is the first shadow minister up.

Atkins praises farmers and she introduces two guests to back up her case – Jeremy Clarkson and his sidekick, Charlie Ireland.

Clarkson says the bad news for farmers is “relentless”.

And running a pub is difficult too, he says. He says he lives in Oxfordshire. But getting power and water to his pub is unbelievably difficult, he says.

Charlie Ireland (left), Jeremy Clarkson and Victoria Atkins Photograph: YouTube

Jeremy Clarkson and Victoria Atkins on stage Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

What impact will Green's party's 'Zionism is racism' vote have on Zack Polanski's byelection prospects?

Earlier I said that yesterday’s Green party vote for the “Zionism is racism” motion would not help Zack Polanski’s chances of winning the Holborn and St Pancras byelection. (See 12.26pm.) A reader has been in touch with a counter view. He says:

I think it’s worth noting that the displeasure of the commentariat/politicians doesn’t necessarily translate to voters - the last few elections have shown that with regard to Gaza/Palestine - and given that this electorate ‘has exceptionally high shares of twentysomethings, single person households, full time students, graduates, middle class professionals, social renters, private renters, residents born abroad’, it’s not unreasonable to assume that those people might be more disposed to vote Green than less.

It is hard to be sure, and I don’t live in the constituency, but I think there are three reasons I think why my assessment is more likely to be right than this one.

While there are many voters in the UK outraged by what has been happening to Palestinians in Gaza, and disappointed by what the UK government has been doing in response, the number of people in this group who feel exercised about defining Zionism as racism is far smaller. And while the Greens may have increased their appeal to committed anti-Zionists, they are likely to have alienated progressive pro-Palestinians averse to aligning with antisemitism. There are probably more people in the latter group than in the former – even in Holborn and St Pancras.
Zack Polanski did not want to be talking about Zionism in the final days of his campaign. Yesterday, as the Green party debate was taking place, he was tweeting about “rent controls, Thames water nationalisation and keeping oil and gas in the ground” (some of his best issues). Having to answer questions about the Zionism vote is a distraction.
The row has made Polanski look weak. He can’t take credit for the motion, because he did not vote for it and backed an an amendment to weaken it slightly. And he can’t take credit for opposing it either, because he hasn’t. People probably like having a party leader as their local MP. But this week Polanski has not looked like a leader.

Readers probably have other views. If you do, please let me know by emailing politics.live@theguardian.com.

Investors criticise Tories for proposing to get rid of regulations making new homes environmentally resilient

The UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF), which represents fund managers committed to sustainable investment, has issued a statement criticising the Conservatives for proprosing to get rid of regulations that make new buildings environmentally resilient. (See 8.08am.)

In a statement, James Alexander, the UKSIF CEO, said:

The UK’s ageing, inefficient housing stock poses a risk to families’ well-being and the long-term financial stability of the property market.

That’s why investors have backed both strong standards for new homes and plans to upgrade existing properties, which can help to tackle this looming crisis.

Rolling out technologies like solar panels and efficient heating systems can cut energy bills while creating high-quality jobs in supply chains across the country.

Suddenly ripping up regulation designed to enhance property resilience could weaken the financing environment for housebuilding and the industries that support it.