NEW: President Biden confirms Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has agreed to open the Rafah border crossing to allow 20 trucks carrying humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.
1/3
I don't cover Middle East events in detail, but what happened yesterday warrants a comment.
Jumping to conclusions on something that has potential to become very significant, with real escalation risks, is dangerous.
Something I wrote after the Przewodów incident last year:
Serious questions around the truth of the hospital bombing in Gaza, including whether it was a hospital at all. News outlets need to do better at verifying sources and careful in how they report, quickly rectifying any mistakes with the same volume/reach as the original claims.
The scenes of hundreds killed at the Al-Ahli Arabi Baptist hospital in Gaza are absolutely devastating and cannot be justified.
International law must be upheld.
Hospitals and civilian lives must be protected.
A week ago we awoke to the unimaginable and heartbreaking news of terrorist attacks on Israel from Gaza by Hamas.
We repeat our call for Hamas to release all hostages immediately, and for the protection of innocent civilian lives in Israel and Gaza.
My statement:
Labour fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself, rescue hostages and protect civilians, in line with international law.
We must distinguish Hamas terrorists from the Palestinian people. There must be humanitarian access to Gaza, for food, water, medicines and electricity.
What has happened in Israel at the hands of terrorists is abhorrent and barbaric. The international community must stand with the innocent people of Israel and Palestine. We must find a way to stop Hamas, protect civilians from both sides, and end the cycle of suffering.
Sadness and grief after a week of unspeakable terrorist murders by Hamas of innocent civilians. My heart goes out to all families who are grieving today. It is our duty to seek a pathway to prevent an endless cycle of slaughter and suffering.
Lot of nonsense spouted about “trial by media” re Russell Brand.
The media has no power to try and/or convict. Rightly. But it has a responsibility to research, reveal and expose wrongdoing. Which it has in the Brand investigation by @Channel4@thetimes — responsibly and thoroughly in this case. It is proper journalism which so-called alternative media (like Brand himself these days) has neither the patience nor resource nor expertise to carry it. It just bloviates and spreads conspiracies based on fake news while the much-despised mainstream media still does the necessary heavy lifting.
No - it’s an attack on an unfair playing field, where those already with more money and privilege get to maintain and grow it at the expense of those that don’t.
Any progressive party who seeks to govern long term must be pro aspiration but also pro equality of opportunity. 🤝
Labour is considering plans to close tax loopholes that allow second homeowners to avoid paying council tax. @TheSpurrShow asks: is Labour's crackdown on second homes an attack on aspiration?
Worth listening. Couple of standouts:
1. Implying that halving inflation will make things cheaper than today. No - it will just make things half as more expensive than they might have been
2. Arguing with Dr that they are to blame for him missing his goal on halving wait lists
This morning I answered questions from the public about my top priorities as Prime Minister.
From driving down inflation to backing our NHS with record resources, it was great to chat about what this @Conservatives government is delivering.
Watch the highlights bellow 👇🧵
A mileage tax / road pricing on EVs as P/DVs taper down feels like the most progressive answer. But, as with the general problem of increasing EV uptake the government needs to use that and existing fuel duty revenue to subsidise EV purchase prices and expand the charging network
Rather massive elephant in room on politics of the car… is how coming Parliament will legislate to replace £28bn a year in fuel duty (given electric cars don’t use petrol/diesel, and new ones banned from 2030) with some other tax on motoring…
Much bigger than LTNs and Ulez…
These exploration licences don’t guarantee a rich supply of fuel, and even if they do it be sold by the oil and gas majors at the open market price. The same as any supply.
Yes, it would create more jobs for the UK but those same jobs could be in green energy sources instead.
It’s really simple.
Labour and Just Stop Oil would make us more reliant on foreign energy.
This only benefits Putin and those who wish to harm our country.
@RishiSunak and @Conservatives want British energy to come from Britain 🇬🇧
It’s important for government and tech to work together to harness AI to benefit everyone.
Great to speak to @Google CEO @sundarpichai about the possibilities of AI.
There is nothing to fear and much to be excited about - ambition and sound finances, progressive policies that reward good practices, a focus on growth and high quality jobs.
If, and it’s a big IF, this Superconductor research is found to be legit then it could be transformational across so many areas - breakthroughs in quantum computing, batteries, maglev transportation, energy grids, nuclear reactors, would all be in reach! ⚡️https://t.co/AEq1t3V6oo
- increase low emission zones and proper scrappage schemes and EV subsidies
- global effort on sustainable battery supply
- build out H2 network for fuel cell points
- investment in new carbon capture/scraping tech
- incentives to de-industrialise most polluting practices
…
We need to act quicker and more decisively as a global community:
- Accelerate move to ⚡️ cars
- H2 fuel cells for haulage and public transport network
- Modular nuclear power for major cities
- Localisation & sustainable food supply
- Global supply of wind and solar
…