‘Basics’ of life in Britain have been sold for profit, says Polanski
Successive governments have turned the UK from a manufacturing economy to one where the basics of life have been privatised and are rented back to people at a crushing cost, Zack Polanski will say.In a speech billed as the Green leader’s biggest policy intervention since he took over as leader six months ago, Polanski will argue that decades of gradual economic rebalancing in favour of a minority who own assets has left much of the country vulnerable to economic shocks such as the current rise in fuel prices.Polanski will call for the government to offer more support for households amid the uncertainty of the Iran conflict, asking for £8.4bn to be set aside to cover a possible increase in energy prices of £300 a household in the coming year.A “sustained project of privatisation and deregulation has turned Britain from a place which made things people need into a place which made money for people who owned things”, he will say in a speech to the New Economics Foundation thinktank in London.
“We live in rip-off Britain: an economy built to reward the few off the work of the many.A country where people work so hard and try to do the right thing but still struggle to afford the basics, and find themselves constantly cutting back.“The very basics, the things we rely on to build the foundations of a good life, have been taken out of our hands, sold for profit – and then sold or rented back to us at crushing rates.The water that keeps us alive.The energy that warms us.
The home that keeps us safe.“We’ve stopped working to save for a deposit, a summer holiday or even to put a bit away for the future – so many of us are working just to cover the increasing cost of getting by every day.”Polanski has overseen a surge in membership for the Greens in England and Wales, with the party now ahead of Labour and the Conservatives in some polls.The Greens won last month’s Gorton and Denton byelection.While he has been an energetic media presence since becoming leader, Polanski has said relatively little on policy, in part because the Greens’ high decentralised structure means these are decided by members.
The speech will nonetheless include some specifics, including the call for more help on energy prices to be paid for by a proposed tightening of the existing windfall tax on energy companies.More broadly, Polanski will set out a three-point vision for the economy, covering measures such as rent controls, re-nationalising water, and decoupling electricity prices from the cost of gas; changes to the tax system, including an already-announced proposal to equalise the rate of capital gains tax with income tax; and ways to change the wider fiscal framework to make it work more effectively.The speech has been billed as a chance for Polanski to spell out his wider economic philosophy, beginning with a critique of recent decades of government, including the wave of privatisations under Margaret Thatcher and the later policy of austerity.Another part of the speech will lament the economic impact of Brexit, saying it has left the economy between 6% and 8% smaller than it would have otherwise been.“Leaving the EU has been a sledgehammer to an already weak economy,” Polanski will claim.
Calling for a fundamentally changed philosophical approach to economic policy, he will say: “While successive governments have embraced the economics of managed decline, and actively corroded many of the things we hold dear, the human spirit is such that compassion and care will always remain, and it’s our job as politicians to harness that potential,”
Reeves plans to give England’s regional leaders a share of national tax revenues
Rachel Reeves has announced that the Treasury will draw up proposals to hand England’s mayors a share of national tax revenues as part of a radical plan to rebalance the economy.The chancellor promised “a genuine break with the past” that would shift spending power away from Westminster, as she promised to create investment-led growth across the UK.Reeves was delivering the Mais lecture – the second time she has given the high-profile annual address at Bayes Business School in London.It is no coincidence that the UK is “the most politically centralised of advanced democracies, and one of the most geographically unequal”, Reeves said.Treasury officials will bring forward a plan at the autumn budget to allow regional leaders to receive a share of national taxes, starting with income tax, she added
Oil and gas prices rise again after Iran attacks production facilities
Oil and gas prices rose again on Tuesday after Iran carried out attacks on production facilities for the first time since the start of the war with the US and Israel.Brent crude, the international benchmark oil price, climbed 2.3% to almost $103 (£77) a barrel and was up nearly 50% from levels before the war began on 28 February. Wholesale gas prices rose nearly 3% to €52 (£45) a megawatt hour, compared with about €30 before the war.For the first time, Iran successfully targeted oil and gas production facilities rather than just refineries, terminals and storage
UK must learn lessons from AI race and retain its quantum computing talent, says minister
The UK will not let quantum computing talent slip through its fingers and must learn lessons from US dominance of the AI race, the technology secretary has said, as the government announced a £1bn quantum funding pledge.Liz Kendall said the government hoped to retain homegrown quantum startups, engineers and researchers rather than lose them to competing countries, with the US stealing a march on its western rivals in AI.“I do look at what’s happened on AI,” said Kendall. “I do think we need to learn the lessons and make sure we give our brilliant scientists, spinouts and startups the ability to stay here and make it happen. And that requires a government that is bold and ambitious and confident in these technologies of the future
Child abuse material ‘systemic’ on Elon Musk’s X amid Grok scandal, Australian online safety regulator warned
The Australian online safety regulator warned Elon Musk’s X amid the Grok sexualised image generation scandal that it found child abuse material was “particularly systemic” on X and more accessible than on “any other mainstream service”, correspondence obtained by Guardian Australia reveals.The eSafety commissioner wrote to X in January after its chatbot, Grok, was used to generate sexualised images of women and children online, which the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, described as “abhorrent”.In the letter, obtained by Guardian Australia under freedom of information laws, eSafety’s general manager of regulatory operations, Heidi Snell, pointed to Musk’s promise when taking over the platform in 2022 that “removing child exploitation is priority #1”, but said “the availability of CSEM [child sexual exploitation material] continues to appear particularly systemic on X”.“eSafety has not identified CSEM to be as readily accessible on any other mainstream service,” Snell said.eSafety had found that while action by X to tackle bot accounts in October 2025 had reduced use of some previously commonly used hashtags and terms to advertise CSEM, eSafety found hashtags to advertise the material still prevalent
Venezuela win first World Baseball Classic title after taming USA in politically fraught final
Venezuela defeated the United States 3-2 on Tuesday night to win their first World Baseball Classic title, a landmark triumph in a politically charged final that resonated far beyond the diamond.Eugenio Suárez drove in the winning run in the top of the ninth inning to seal a dramatic victory for the South American side at Miami’s LoanDepot Park.After Daniel Palencia struck out Roman Anthony with a 100mph fastball for the final out, Venezuelan players poured onto the field, many draped in their national flag, celebrating a moment years in the making.“Nobody believed in Venezuela, but now we win the championship today,” an elated Suárez said afterwards. “What can I say about this? God is good! Jesus, he was with us the whole time
Sabalenka may avoid championships in Dubai after ‘ridiculous’ comment
Aryna Sabalenka says she may never return to compete at the Dubai Tennis Championships after she and Iga Swiatek were harshly criticised by the tournament director for their withdrawals from the tournament last month.“I think it’s ridiculous,” Sabalenka said during her pre-tournament press conference at the Miami Open. “I don’t think he showed himself in the best way possible. For me it’s actually so sad to see that the tournament directors and the tournaments are not protecting us as a player. They just care about their sellings, about their tournament and that’s it
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