No 10 climbs down over welfare bill in move to win over Labour rebels
Downing Street has announced major changes to its welfare bill in an attempt to win the support of more than 120 Labour rebels who had threatened to vote against it next week and hand Keir Starmer a damaging first defeat as prime minister.Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, wrote to Labour MPs on Thursday night to lay out the concessions, which were thrashed out over 24 hours of negotiations between senior rebels and government officials.The compromises, revealed by the Guardian on Thursday, include exempting everyone currently receiving disability benefits from the changes, and increasing the health element of universal credit in line with inflation.Kendall said she would bring forward a more fundamental review of the personal independence payment (Pip) system and increase the amount of money to be spent on back-to-work schemes.Ruth Curtice, the head of the Resolution Foundation thinktank, said the changes would cost about £3bn and would probably be paid for by tax rises.
Kendall said in her letter: “We have listened to colleagues who support the principle of reform but are worried about the impact of the pace of change on those already supported by the system,”She said of the changes: “Taken together it is a fair package that will preserve the social security system for those who need it by putting it on a sustainable footing, support people back into work, protect those who cannot work and reduce anxiety for those currently in the system,“Thank you to colleagues for engaging with us on these important reforms to social security,”Meg Hillier, the chair of the Treasury select committee who had led the rebellion, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday: “It is an offer that makes a huge change to disabled people, and that’s what’s really at the core of this,It’s about supporting vulnerable people.
”She added:” I’ve already had a flurry of messages from people saying that they feel this is a good step forward.And if you think about where we were on Monday … this is a major change, and it’s an important change to reassure those people.”Downing Street said full details of the changes would be outlined on Tuesday.Starmer’s deputy spokesperson declined to say how much they would cost, but said it would be fully funded and there would be “no permanent increase in borrowing”.He rejected the idea that the U-turn, which follows similar turnarounds on the winter fuel allowance and a national inquiry into grooming gangs, meant the government could be pushed around by backbenchers: “I wouldn’t accept that.
What I would say is this is a government that listens.It’s not unusual as part of the parliamentary process to introduce a bill, have a debate about the principles and then look at how those are implemented.”More than 120 Labour MPs had signed an amendment to the bill calling for it to be paused indefinitely over concerns about the impact on disabled people.MPs were particularly concerned that the cuts, which were due to save £5bn, would make it too difficult to claim Pip.Many of those rebels indicated on Thursday night they remained opposed to the measures despite the changes.
Some voiced concerns about the creation of a “two-tier” benefits system that distinguished between existing and new claimants,The Labour backbencher Alex Sobel told BBC Two’s Newsnight programme: “Whether you acquire disability at birth, five years ago or tomorrow, it should be the same for everyone,”Sign up to First EditionOur morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it mattersafter newsletter promotionHis colleague Nadia Whittome tweeted: “These concessions aren’t enough and they should worry us all,If you become disabled tomorrow, you risk not having the support you need,”Rachael Maskell, the Labour MP for York Central, said: “I and many more cannot accept this backroom deal.
”However, it is understood all the select committee chairs who signed the rebel amendment are now backing the government, meaning dozens of other moderates are likely to do the same.Some disability charities backed the changes.Jackie O’Sullivan, the director of strategy at the learning disability charity Mencap, said: “It is the right thing to do and sends a clear message – cutting disability benefits is not a fair way to mend the black hole in the public purse.”The MS Society, however, accused the government of “kicking the can down the road and delaying an inevitable disaster”.Government whips have said they believe they now have the votes for the bill to pass on Tuesday, having come perilously close to defeat on one of the government’s big economic policies.
Stephen Kinnock, the health minister, told BBC Breakfast: “I am confident that this bill will come forward on Tuesday and will receive its second reading.”But he added: “We’re also changing the system for people on universal credit, which will give them the biggest uplift since the 1980s and we’re scrapping reassessments for people who are clearly not able to work … None of that will be possible if the bill doesn’t pass on Tuesday.”
Inside a plan to use AI to amplify doubts about the dangers of pollutants
An industry-backed researcher who has forged a career sowing doubt about the dangers of pollutants is attempting to use artificial intelligence (AI) to amplify his perspective.Louis Anthony “Tony” Cox Jr, a Denver-based risk analyst and former Trump adviser who once reportedly claimed there is no proof that cleaning air saves lives, is developing an AI application to scan academic research for what he sees as the false conflation of correlation with causation.Cox has described the project as an attempt to weed “propaganda” out of epidemiological research and perform “critical thinking at scale” in emails to industry researchers, which were obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests by the Energy and Policy Institute, a non-profit advocacy group, and exclusively reviewed by the Guardian.He has long leveled accusations of flimsiness at research linking exposure to chemical compounds with health dangers, including on behalf of polluting interests such as cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris USA and the American Petroleum Institute – a fossil fuel lobbying group he has even allowed to “copy edit” his findings. (Cox says the edit “amounted to suggesting a small change” and noted that he has also obtained public research funding
Trump’s tax bill seeks to prevent AI regulations. Experts fear a heavy toll on the planet
US Republicans are pushing to pass a major spending bill that includes provisions to prevent states from enacting regulations on artificial intelligence. Such untamed growth in AI will take a heavy toll upon the world’s dangerously overheating climate, experts have warned.About 1bn tons of planet-heating carbon dioxide are set to be emitted in the US just from AI over the next decade if no restraints are placed on the industry’s enormous electricity consumption, according to estimates by researchers at Harvard University and provided to the Guardian.This 10-year timeframe, a period of time in which Republicans want a “pause” of state-level regulations upon AI, will see so much electricity use in data centers for AI purposes that the US will add more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere than Japan does annually, or three times the yearly total from the UK.The exact amount of emissions will depend on power plant efficiency and how much clean energy will be used in the coming years, but the blocking of regulations will also be a factor, said Gianluca Guidi, visiting scholar at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health
Denmark to tackle deepfakes by giving people copyright to their own features
The Danish government is to clamp down on the creation and dissemination of AI-generated deepfakes by changing copyright law to ensure that everybody has the right to their own body, facial features and voice.The Danish government said on Thursday it would strengthen protection against digital imitations of people’s identities with what it believes to be the first law of its kind in Europe.Having secured broad cross-party agreement, the department of culture plans to submit a proposal to amend the current law for consultation before the summer recess and then submit the amendment in the autumn.It defines a deepfake as a very realistic digital representation of a person, including their appearance and voice.The Danish culture minister, Jakob Engel-Schmidt, said he hoped the bill before parliament would send an “unequivocal message” that everybody had the right to the way they looked and sounded
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez arrive in Venice for divisive wedding
The billionaire Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, and the former TV journalist Lauren Sánchez have arrived in Venice as they prepare to tie the knot in a lavish three-day celebration that has divided the lagoon city.Scores of celebrities and other members of the world’s super-rich will also join the pair in Italy, arriving on superyachts and private jets.Bezos, the world’s fourth-richest person, and Sánchez were seen stepping off a water taxi on Wednesday as they entered the exclusive Aman Venice hotel on the Grand Canal, where many of the celebrities will stay.More than 90 private jets are expected to land in Venice before the celebrations officially begin on Thursday, bringing in guests for an event that some have called the “wedding of the century” and is rumoured to involve everything from pyjama parties to elegant dinners.Among the first guests to arrive were Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, her husband, Jared Kushner, and their children
Group of high-profile authors sue Microsoft over use of their books in AI training
A group of authors has accused Microsoft of using nearly 200,000 pirated books to create an artificial intelligence model, the latest allegation in the long legal fight over copyrighted works between creative professionals and technology companies.Kai Bird, Jia Tolentino, Daniel Okrent and several others alleged that Microsoft used pirated digital versions of their books to teach its Megatron AI to respond to human prompts. Their lawsuit, filed in New York federal court on Tuesday, is one of several high-stakes cases brought by authors, news outlets and other copyright holders against tech companies including Meta Platforms, Anthropic and Microsoft-backed OpenAI over alleged misuse of their material in AI training.The authors requested a court order blocking Microsoft’s infringement and statutory damages of up to $150,000 for each work that Microsoft allegedly misused.Generative artificial intelligence products like Megatron produce text, music, images and videos in response to users’ prompts
Meta wins AI copyright lawsuit as US judge rules against authors
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has won the backing of a judge in a copyright lawsuit brought by a group of authors, in the second legal victory for the US artificial intelligence industry this week.The writers, who included Sarah Silverman and Ta-Nehisi Coates, had argued that the Facebook owner had breached copyright law by using their books without permission to train its AI system.The ruling comes after a decision on Monday that Anthropic, another major player in the AI field, had not infringed authors’ copyright.The US district judge Vince Chhabria, in San Francisco, said in his decision on the Meta case that the authors had not presented enough evidence that the technology company’s AI would cause “market dilution” by flooding the market with work similar to theirs. As a consequence Meta’s use of their work was judged a “fair use” – a legal doctrine that allows use of copyright protected work without permission – and no copyright liability applied
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