‘Climate solutions will bring down bills and restore nature’: green issues and May elections

The defining issue of Thursday’s local elections, feedback from doorsteps suggests, will be the UK’s soaring cost of living. But voters should be told about the links between inflation and the effects of fossil fuels and the climate crisis – or the remedies they choose – may make the situation worse, green campaigners have warned.Ami McCarthy, the head of politics at Greenpeace UK, said: “With people’s bills and prices soaring from yet another fossil fuel crisis, these local elections have a global context – driven by the Iran war.“Getting the UK out of the fossil fuel doom loop and on to renewables would secure a stable and affordable supply of energy. Voters face a choice between parties that want to keep us hooked on expensive, imported oil and gas, and those that offer a way out of this cycle of insecurity

Burnham sparks Labour anger with plan to appear at event alongside Greens

Andy Burnham’s decision to appear at a progressive rally alongside prominent Green and Liberal Democrat figures has sparked anger among some Labour MPs, who have accused him of undermining their local election message.The Greater Manchester mayor, who is seen as one of the most likely challengers to Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership, will be speaking at the Change:Now event this month organised by the leftwing group Compass.Compass’s founder, Neal Lawson, has long campaigned for a cross-party progressive alliance but is also a prominent supporter of Burnham.Two other Labour MPs, Clive Lewis, who has offered to give up his seat for Burnham, and Miatta Fahnbulleh, the communities minister, are also due to speak at the event. Other speakers include Caroline Lucas, the former Green party leader; James Meadway, the head of the Green-aligned thinktank Verdant; Vince Cable, the former Liberal Democrat cabinet minister; and the Lib Dem MP Roz Savage

Scottish mum stuck abroad after baby falls foul of UK dual nationality rules

A British woman from Aberdeen has been stranded abroad after her 11-month-old baby was prevented from boarding a flight because of new rules regarding dual nationals.Sarah Schloegl was unable to board a Ryanair flight from Alicante last week after she went to Spain for a short break with her Austrian husband, Philipp, their three-year-old daughter and 11-month-old baby.Since February, British dual nationals have had to show a British passport or a certificate of entitlement of abode, costing £589, when they board flights, trains or ferries to the UK.Schloegl said she followed the news but was unaware of this change and argued it should have been displayed on posters in airports and on airline websites months before it happened so that passengers did not fall foul of the rule on return journeys.The first she knew of the rule change was when she got to the departure gate in Alicante

How to ensure donors can’t buy political influence | Letters

George Monbiot is surely right that large private donations poison democratic trust, whether or not corruption can ever be shown (Political donations are poison to our democracy – but there’s an easy antidote to that, 30 April). The damage lies not only in any favour bought but in the suspicion created. When one billionaire can appear to sustain a political party, politics begins to look less like representation and more like private ownership.Monbiot’s membership-based model has moral weight. It would force parties to organise among citizens rather than flatter wealth and it would make politicians seek members, not patrons

Lib Dems accuse Badenoch of being willing to ‘put Farage in No 10’ after she hints she would approve council pacts – as it happened

Kemi Badenoch has suggested she would be happy for Conservatives councillors to govern in cooperation with Reform UK councillors.In an interview with Sky News, asked about the possibility of Tory/Reform pacts at local level, she at first said that in the councils where Reform won last year, there were no coalitions with the Conservatives.But she went on:double quotation markWe are willing to work with people who will help deliver Conservative policies.Commenting on this answer, Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader, said:double quotation markLifelong Conservative voters across the country will be appalled that Kemi Badenoch is opening the door to coalitions with Reform.This is a dress rehearsal for the next general election when the Conservatives are preparing to put Nigel Farage into Number 10

One of the last true believers, Pat McFadden is sent out to defend kryptonite Keir | John Crace

‘Twas the night before the elections, when all through No 10, not a creature was stirring, not even a hen. Mainly because Downing Street had come to the conclusion that letting Keir Starmer loose on the campaign trail was a surefire way to lose votes.Canvassers from all over the country had confirmed what the polls were saying. That the prime minister was kryptonite to Labour’s chances. Mention his name to voters and people would turn their heads away