Reform UK backs plan to put swift bricks in every new home in England
Reform UK has joined MPs from across the political spectrum in supporting an amendment to provide every new home in England with at least one swift brick to help endangered cavity-nesting birds, after a similar amendment was blocked by Labour in the committee stage,Richard Tice, a former housing developer and the Reform deputy leader, said his party’s MPs would support a revised amendment tabled by Labour’s Barry Gardiner to incorporate the measure in the government’s increasingly controversial planning bill,Tice, who is one of five Reform MPs in the Commons, said: “The Conservatives rejected swift bricks in government, and now Labour is backtracking despite supporting them in opposition,Swifts – one of Britain’s most iconic birds – are in steep decline, along with other cavity-nesting species,All they need is a brick with a hole.
It’s simple, low-cost, and essential.”The amendment, which is supported by Labour backbench rebels, the Green party, the Liberal Democrats and some Tory MPs, is to be debated in the Commons again during the report stage of the planning and infrastructure bill.The £35 hollow bricks would provide homes for declining species including swifts, house martins, sparrows and starlings.The amendment by Gardiner was revised to incorporate the bricks into building regulations, which supporters say is the only reliable way to ensure developers comply with the law and fit the bricks to new dwellings.Hannah Bourne-Taylor, the environmentalist who persuaded 109,896 voters to sign a government petition to back the measure, said: “Building regulations is the most feasible route for incorporating swift bricks into legislation.
The swift and the swift bricks have always united everyone in the country and that’s now represented in parliament – what other measure reaches across the political spectrum and unites people in parliament and across the country?”If Labour votes down the amendment in the Commons, it could be revived in the House of Lords where the Conservatives have a majority.Bourne-Taylor said: “If the battle moves to the House of Lords, it’s in the Conservatives’ hands.If they are the nature leaders they claim to be, they can ensure swift bricks become law.”Tice added: “As a former housebuilder, I know how easy it is to include swift bricks in new developments.Without them, our towns risk becoming sterile, devoid of this accessible and vital part of nature.
Over half a million people and leading experts support mandating swift bricks – so why won’t the government act? [The housing minister] Matthew Pennycook claims it’s inappropriate to include in building regulations, yet we already mandate air bricks.The government is completely out of touch with public and expert opinion.”Labour supported the swift brick amendment when it was tabled in Conservative government legislation in 2023, but reversed its position this year.Although some housebuilders are incorporating swift bricks in new builds, a recent University of Sheffield study found that 75% of bird and bat boxes demanded as a condition of planning permission for new housing developments had failed to materialise when they were complete.A Reform UK spokesperson said: “We support the amendment and should there be a division we plan on voting for it.
”It comes after the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) announced on Monday that the government may have failed to protect critical wild bird populations by neglecting to implement environmental law properly.When Britain was an EU member, certain parts of the landscape were designated specially protected conservation zones.They include estuaries, coastal areas and peatland, as well as wetland areas where wading birds live and places birds of prey prefer to nest.Sign up to Down to EarthThe planet's most important stories.Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essentialafter newsletter promotionBut the OEP, which was set up after Brexit to hold the government to account on environmental law, said the government had failed to ensure adequate protections were in place for these areas and as a result wild bird populations were declining.
It has sent information notices to the government laying out the issues and giving it two months to respond,Helen Venn, the chief regulatory officer for the OEP, said the government appeared not to be meeting its legally binding plans and targets to halt and reverse the decline of species abundance,Recent government data showed that overall, bird species declined in number UK-wide by 2% and in England by 7% in the five years since 2018,Faring the worst are farmland birds, which have declined in number severely – by about 61% since 1970 and 9% between 2018 and 2023 – and woodland birds, whose numbers have fallen by about 35% over the long term and 10% in the short term,A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs spokesperson said: “Britain is a proud nation of nature lovers, and we are taking bold action to reverse decades of decline.
This includes £13m to improve our protected sites and better strategic approaches to restore native species and habitats,We will continue to work constructively with the OEP as they take forward this investigation,”
WPP chief Mark Read to step down as ad agency battles AI
The boss of WPP, Mark Read, has announced he will step down, as the advertising agency, which was once the largest in the world, struggles against the rise of artificial intelligence and with its shares at their lowest level in about five years.Read will leave WPP after more than 30 years, with just under seven spent in the top job. He will stay on as chief executive until the end of the year while the board starts to look for his successor.WPP’s share price has shed about half of its value under his leadership, as the company has struggled against the rise of AI tech that helps companies to automate the creation of adverts.The chair of WPP, the former BT boss Philip Jansen, said Read “played a central role in transforming the company into a world leader in marketing services”
Farage is like a tribune for the working class, says former Bank of England economist
Nigel Farage is the closest to a “tribune for the working class”, the former Bank of England chief economist has said, in a stark warning for Keir Starmer’s Labour party.Andy Haldane said the surge in support for Reform UK in the opinion polls suggested there had been “something of a moral rupture” between the government and many voters, which he said should spur Starmer to take action with a “radical reset” of its growth plans.Haldane said Labour’s misfiring growth strategy and decisions on winter fuel payments and the two-child benefit limit had opened the door to Farage by fuelling a sense that mainstream politicians promise change but fail to deliver.Asked whether Reform was the new party of the working class, Haldane said: “I do not know. [But] as things stand today, and doing no more than echoing what is in the polls … that is what the larger part of the working classes think – which matters rather more than what I think
Bidders demand Thames Water granted immunity over environmental crimes
Lenders vying to take over Thames Water have demanded that the struggling company and its management be granted immunity from prosecution for serious environmental crimes as a condition of acquiring it, the Guardian can reveal.Creditors want the environment secretary, Steve Reed, to grant the water company extraordinary clemency from a series of strict rules covering everything from sewage spills to failure to upgrade its water treatment works.The demands, if successful, would render the Environment Agency (EA) largely powerless to take enforcement action against Britain’s biggest water company for some of the most serious criminal breaches of its licences and permits.Thames Water has been a serial offender in recent years, paying tens of millions of pounds in fines and penalties, with multiple convictions for dumping raw sewage into rivers and streams and dozens more investigations under way.The fate of the heavily indebted utility was thrown into further doubt this week when the US private equity firm KKR quit an auction to buy it, citing concerns about politicisation and the poor state of its assets
Trump bill set to add trillions to US debt pile – can America stop it climbing?
Economists are concerned, politicians are angry – but the national debt keeps growing, no matter who’s in chargeIn this febrile political era, few issues command stronger bipartisan support than the need for fiscal responsibility. Barack Obama and Donald Trump committed to curtail the US national debt on their respective roads to the White House.And yet, no matter the party, Americans have been able to count on one thing above most: the national debt will keep climbing.And here we are again. With Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” threatening to add once more to the US’s huge debts, several Republican senators are threatening to block his current spending plans, with Rand Paul of Kentucky among those highly critical
UK banks to experiment with Nvidia AI in ‘supercharged sandbox’ scheme
The UK’s financial regulator is to allow banks and other City firms to experiment with the US chipmaker Nvidia’s leading AI products to “speed up innovation” and fulfil government orders to boost UK growth.The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it was launching a “supercharged sandbox” that would give successful applicants the chance to experiment safely with cutting-edge AI under the watchdog’s supervision, allowing them to use Nvidia’s accelerated computing products.The regulator is not dictating what those experiments might be, but some firms have previously suggested that AI could be used to identify and intercept authorised push payment fraud, in which victims are tricked into sending money to criminals’ bank accounts, or help identify stock market manipulation.The FCA’s chief data, intelligence and information officer, Jessica Rusu, said: “This collaboration will help those that want to test AI ideas but who lack the capabilities to do so. We’ll help firms harness AI to benefit our markets and consumers, while supporting economic growth
Tariff-hit firms should review bonuses or risk backlash, US lawyers warn
Businesses hit by tariffs should start reviewing their bonus policies and how deeply they may need to cut executive payouts if they hope to avoid a public backlash, lawyers have said.Partners at the Silicon Valley law firm Cooley said that while pay was probably the last thing on bosses’ minds as they scramble to adapt to Donald Trump’s unpredictable tariff policies, pay committees should start assessing their options soon.“Many will encounter rising material costs and reduced profit margins, particularly given the significant pressure on the supply chain,” a memo by its top lawyers said.“Taken together with the recent stock market volatility, companies (both public and private) will need to address the impact of these challenges on their business and, importantly, consider the effects on director and executive compensation programs.”Cooley – whose clients have included Netflix, Apple, Meta, and Twitter before its takeover by Elon Musk and rebrand as X – said that without a proper review of pay policies, companies may end up handing big bonuses to bosses while the rest of the workforce suffers from cost cuts and job losses
The joy of Sussex: how English wine came of age
Georgina Hayden’s recipe for spring meatballs with pasta and peas
Sweet, seedless citrus: Australia’s best-value fruit and veg for June
How to make clam chowder – recipe | Felicity Cloake's Masterclass
‘Burgundy eat your heart out!’: Devon producer is toast of wine world
Dozens ill from salmonella outbreak linked to eggs from California