Starmer pledges huge cut to UK emissions as assisted dying Bill looms – live

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Sir Keir Starmer has distanced himself from comments made by a senior adviser to Tony Blair after he said “we don’t need small farmers” during a discussion about the fury among farmers towards the inheritance tax rises announced in the Budget.

The party grandee was asked about planned protests by farmers over Rachel Reeves’ Budget, which will mean they have to pay 20 per cent of tax on inherited agricultural assets worth more than £1m from April 2026. The change is being dubbed the “tractor tax” and has sparked outrage among farmers, who say it will threaten the UK’s food security and lead to the closure of family farms.

Mr McTernan said: “If the farmers want to go on the streets – we can do to them what Margaret Thatcher did to the miners.”

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Donald Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” approach to oil in the US will not hinder the UK’s net zero ambitions, energy minister Michael Shanks has confirmed.

Conservative former minister Andrew Murrison said: “Offshore wind has been a real positive for our energy security and grid independence, but unfortunately not when the wind doesn’t blow. Given the election of a president who tells us he’s going to ‘drill, baby, drill’, what revision does the minister anticipate to his timetable towards net zero?”

Mr Shanks told the Commons: “We’ll outline later this year our action plan on how we will deliver on 2030 but there’s no change to our timetable in that regard.

“But what it does show – he raises a good point around when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine – about making sure that we have a mix in our energy system. That’s why we remain supportive of nuclear.

“It’s also why we’ve announced recently investment in long-duration energy storage to make sure we can capture that energy and use it when we need it.”

The Government’s clean power by 2030 ambition will lead to lower energy bills, energy minister Michael Shanks has told the Commons.

This came in response to Conservative former minister Tom Tugendhat, who said: “I’m delighted that the minister is setting out the report that promises an extra £40 billion a year of investment in the energy sector, and presumably the taxes to go with it, which is of course going to come off the businesses that are otherwise paying for everything else in the Budget that’s just gone by.

“Is there anything at all in his proposal that’s actually going to bring down the cost of energy and not be replaced by taxpayer funding? Because it appears at the moment there is zero, and already energy prices are going up.”

Mr Shanks replied: “I would encourage (Mr Tugendhat) to read the NESO (National Energy System Operator) report, because it does in great detail set out that not only is clean power 2030 achievable, but that it will lead to lower bills.

“Companies are choosing to invest in this country when they didn’t under the party opposite and the reality that he has to answer is that once upon a time this party opposite recognised that the drive to net zero was important, they’ve abandoned that commitment now.”

Sir Keir Starmer refused to be drawn on the absence of other world leaders at Cop29, saying the UK was there to “show leadership”.

Speaking to reporters, the Prime Minister said: “The central most important thing for me here at Cop is … to continue to show UK leadership on climate at this critical time and we will continue to do so, to make sure that we are the enablers of the leveraging of private capital now towards the targets that need to be set, to set our own target, as I have just done in relation to emissions.

“But, most importantly, to be clear that I see this not just as a global challenge, but a global opportunity.”

Taking questions from reporters at Cop29, Sir Keir Starmer avoided answering how much his new emissions target would cost your average household.

Asked if this could mean food becoming more expensive, he said: “We have set out the target which is an important ambitious target. What we are not going to to is start telling people how ot live their lives.

“We are not going to start dictating to people what they do. But we are going to be clear that that involves hitting the clean power 2030 mission that we have set out, one of five big projects for the Government, that is vital.

“We will hit that. It is an ambitious target, it is a realisable target but it is not going to be one in which we tell people how to live their lives.”

Setting the UK’s greenhouse gas emission target, Sir Keir Starmer said: “The race is on for the clean energy jobs of the future, the economy of tomorrow.

“I don’t want to be in the middle of the pack, I want to get ahead of the game.”

He told reporters at the Cop29 climate summit in Baku: “At this Cop I was pleased to announce that we are building on our reputation as a climate leader with the UK’s 2035 NDC target to reduce all greenhouse gas emissions by at least 81% on 1990 levels.

“But a global problem also requires global partnership, responsible international co-operation, which is why we took the opportunity at this Cop to again urge all parties to come forward with ambitious targets of their own.”