Bradford scam warning over government energy-saving grant
"Over the years, we have found that many people have been stung through grants that have been implied as coming through the council," Hussain said at a meeting.He said work had in fact been carried out by private companies that were not part of government funding, leading to a "very large bill".
Susan Hinchcliffe, leader of the council, said: "If a householder is asked to pay something, it is not a council scheme."She said the council should give out clear information about the programme to ensure residents are not misled.Council officers said the local authority would directly manage the scheme, selecting a single contractor to do the work through official processes.Bradford Council had applied for £27 million from the Government's new Warm Homes scheme but, despite receiving less than requested, it still secured the largest grant awarded to any single council.The authority hopes the project will mirror the success of a previous scheme, which upgraded 635 homes in Bradford with roof and underfloor insulation in 2022 and 2023, and was praised by government officials as a model project.Sarah Ferriby, the council's executive member for healthy people and places, said: "The work will make these homes a lot more comfortable, reduce their fuel bills, and assist in reducing carbon emissions."The scheme will roll out over the next three years, with additional funding potentially available if Bradford exceeds its delivery targets.The funding comes from a £500m national pot for energy performance upgrades and better heating for people living in some of the worst quality privately owned and rented homes. The free work could include new insulation, solar panels or an air source heat pump if suitable.
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South Wales Argus
20 minutes ago
- South Wales Argus
MP likens Government to flat-earthers over refusal to compensate Waspi women
Labour's Rebecca Long Bailey said the arguments against compensation for the 1950s-born women are 'bizarre' and akin to those made by people who believe the Earth is flat. The Government last December ruled out a compensation package for women born in the 1950s, whose state pension age was raised so it would be equal with men. This is despite Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves being among the senior ministers to support the Waspi campaign when Labour was in opposition. A report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) had recommended the UK Government pay compensation to women born in the 1950s whose state pension age was raised so it would be equal with men. The watchdog also said the women should be paid up to £2,950 each, a package with a potential total cost of £10.5 billion to the public purse, as poor communication meant they had lost out on the chance to plan their retirement finances. The Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) group is currently seeking a judicial review to force the Government to reconsider its decision to rule out a compensation package. Work and pensions minister Torsten Bell, who is also a Treasury minister, said the Government does not agree with the Ombudsman's approach 'to injustice or to remedy'. Speaking in the Commons, Ms Long Bailey argued that 'cost does not need to be and should not be a barrier to justice', as she urged the Government to introduce a wealth tax to fund a compensation scheme. The MP for Salford said: 'I don't want (Mr Bell) to go down in history as the man who denied justice for the 1950s women, I honestly don't. I want to see action on this, and I want him to go down as the person who finally, finally managed to award them justice. 'But at the moment, he's got to understand that the arguments being put forward by the Government are absurd, to say the least. In fact, they're akin to somebody arguing that the world is flat, in denying the Ombudsman's report.' Waspi campaigners outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London (Haixin Tan/PA) Earlier in her contribution, the former Labour leadership candidate, who had called the debate, disputed the Government's assertion that the women knew the change was coming. She said: 'Whilst the Government agreed with the finding of maladministration and apologised, no redress would be forthcoming. 'And contrary to the Ombudsman, they actually felt that the majority of women did know about changes to their pension age, based on Department for Work and Pensions research, and that sending the women letters would not have been effective, which I'm sure most people would agree is bizarre. 'It's pretty effective when a bill addressed to you coming through your door comes through, it's pretty effective when it's a hospital appointment, it's pretty effective on the very rare but joyous occasion that HMRC gives you a tax rebate cheque. 'So, I ask, honestly, would 1950s-born women have actively refused to open letters with their name on from the DWP? It makes no sense.' Ms Long Bailey went on to say: 'In terms of options to make sure that schemes could be financially sustainable, Waspi have calculated that HM Treasury have saved a whopping £181 billion alone by increasing the state pension age. 'Well, there's other options, there's the option of applying a 1% to 2% wealth tax on assets over £10 million, raising up to £22 billion a year. Equalise capital gains tax with income tax rates, raising £15.2 billion a year. Apply national insurance to investment income, raising £8.6 billion a year. 'End stealth subsidies on banks, and you get up to £55 billion over the next five years, and even Gordon Brown has advocated for this. So cost does not need to be, and should not be, a barrier to justice.' During the debate, Independent MP for Hayes and Harlington, John McDonnell joked that the Government would soon be proscribing the Waspi group. On Wednesday, MPs supported legislation to proscribe the Palestine Action group as a terrorist organisation. Mr McDonnell said: 'I pay tribute to the campaign. A lot of those ladies have been patronised over the years, it was a terrific campaign. In fact, it was so terrific under this Government at the moment, they would probably be proscribed.' Responding to the debate, Mr Bell said: 'We agree that letters should have been sent sooner. We have apologised, and we will learn the lessons from that. 'However, as honourable members and campaigners on this issue are well aware, we do not agree with the Ombudsman's approach to injustice or to remedy.' He added: 'An important consideration when making this decision was that evidence showed that sending people unsolicited letters is unlikely (to) affect what they knew, which is why letters are sent, but they are sent as part of wider communication campaigns. 'This evidence was not properly considered by the Ombudsman. 'Another consideration was that the great majority of 1950s-born women were aware that the state pension age was changing, if not their specific state pension age.'
The Independent
39 minutes ago
- The Independent
Rachel Reeves insists she's ‘cracking on with the job' as she hugs Starmer after Commons tears
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves hugged each other as they launched their new plan for the NHS and put behind a troubled week which saw the markets panic with the chancellor's future in question. The united front came after the chancellor's tears in the Commons on Wednesday threatened to plunge the Labour government into turmoil following the chaos of the welfare reform vote. In a bid to ease shattered nerves, the chancellor made a surprise appearance at the launch of the NHS 10-year plan in Stratford, east London, after the prime minister had moved overnight to guarantee her future in the Treasury. Bond markets had reacted badly to Sir Keir refusing to say she was safe in her job during PMQs on Wednesday, where Ms Reeves appeared visibly upset while sitting behind the prime minister. But a grinning Ms Reeves was bullish during the event on Thursday morning, in what was intended to be a confirmation of her close partnership with Sir Keir. As a result, UK government bonds rallied and the pound steadied with reassurances from the prime minister about the chancellor's future. Ms Reeves noticeably rolled her eyes at questions from reporters about her wellbeing and future in the job as Sir Keir insisted that she will be chancellor until the next election. In contrast to his failure to stand up for her in the Commons on Wednesday, the prime minister was effusive about his chancellor at the NHS plan launch. He said she was doing an "excellent" job, would remain in place beyond the next general election, and that they were both absolutely committed to the chancellor's "fiscal rules" to maintain discipline over the public finances. Sir Keir said he did not "appreciate" that Ms Reeves was crying behind him at PMQs, as the event is "pretty wired". "It goes from question to question and I am literally up, down, question, looking at who is asking me a question, thinking about my response and getting up and answering it," he said. He added: "It wasn't just yesterday. No prime minister ever has had side conversations in PMQs. It does happen in other debates when there is a bit more time, but in PMQs it is bang, bang, bang, bang. "That is what it was yesterday and therefore I was probably the last to appreciate anything else going on in the chamber." Speaking on Wednesday night to the BBC's podcast Political Thinking with Nick Robinson, Sir Keir provided the markets assurance: 'She will be chancellor by the time this is broadcast, she will be chancellor for a very long time to come, because this project that we've been working on to change the Labour party, to win the election, change the country, that is a project which the chancellor and I've been working on together.' Alongside the pair at the health plan launch was health secretary Wes Streeting, who many are talking up as a potential replacement for Ms Reeves if she had been sacked . Ms Reeves would not be drawn into answering questions about the "personal matter" which had upset her ahead of Wednesday's PMQs. She told broadcasters: "Clearly I was upset yesterday and everyone could see that. It was a personal issue and I'm not going to go into the details of that. "My job as chancellor at 12 o'clock on a Wednesday is to be at PMQs next to the Prime Minister, supporting the Government and that's what I tried to do. "I guess the thing that maybe is a bit different between my job and many of your viewers' is that when I'm having a tough day it's on the telly and most people don't have to deal with that." The chancellor rejected suggestions that her tears were related to a conversation with Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle or another member of government. "People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday. Today's a new day and I'm just cracking on with the job," she added. Meanwhile, Sir Keir wanted to refocus a traumatic week for his government on a positive announcement about fixing the NHS. He hoped to put behind him the problems with welfare where his government was forced to abandon massive parts of its reforms leaving a £5bn black hole in their financial plans by removing personal independence payments (PIPs) for the disabled from the bill. The new 10-year plan for the NHS sets out a series of shifts to bring care much closer to people's homes, reducing the reliance on hospitals and A&E. Under the changes, there will be fewer staff working in the NHS than previous projections said were needed, with far more providing care closer to home and fewer working in hospitals. Key reforms include a greatly enhanced NHS app to give patients more control over their care and more data at their fingertips, new neighbourhood health centres open six days a week and at least 12 hours a day, and new laws on food and alcohol to prevent ill health. Sir Keir said: "It's all down to the foundation we laid this year, all down to the path of renewal that we chose, the decisions made by the Chancellor, by Rachel Reeves, which mean we can invest record amounts in the NHS." With junior doctors threatening to strike again over pay, Mr Streeting told NHS staff gathered at the event that Labour rejected the "pessimism" which says the "NHS is a burden, too expensive, inferior to the market".
The Independent
39 minutes ago
- The Independent
Pound climbs and bond yields ease as PM backs Reeves
The FTSE 100 and sterling rallied while the bond market calmed on Thursday as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer supported his Chancellor, reassuring markets that a change at the Treasury was not on the cards. The FTSE 100 index closed up 48.51 points, 0.6%, at 8,823.20. The FTSE 250 jumped 250.09 points, 1.2%, at 21,702.58, and the AIM All-Share rose 8.49 points, 1.1%, at 776.25. The yield on the 10-year UK government bond, which had sat as high as 4.68% on Wednesday, eased to 4.55% on Thursday. Sir Keir told the BBC that Rachel Reeves would be Chancellor for a 'very long time to come' and insisted the Government would stick to her fiscal rules. The Prime Minister made the pledges after he seemed to fail to back a tearful Ms Reeves in the House of Commons on Wednesday. The Chancellor rejected suggestions that her tears were related to a conversation with Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle or another member of the Government. 'People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday. Today's a new day and I'm just cracking on with the job,' Ms Reeves added at the launch of the Government's 10-year plan for the National Health Service. Kathleen Brooks, at XTB Research, said: 'Rachel Reeves can wipe her tears, as she has the backing of the bond market. Far from weakening her position, the surge in bond yields is a warning to the PM and the Labour Party as a whole. The market does not want to see a more left-leaning chancellor in place, and Reeves is about as 'market-friendly' a chancellor as the Labour Party can hope for.' Thursday saw encouraging news for the Chancellor as the UK service sector grew at its fastest rate for 10 months in June, supported by increased new orders. The S&P Global UK services purchasing managers' business activity index rose to 52.8 points in June from 50.9 in May, topping the flash reading of 51.3 released late last month. 'The latest upturn was the strongest since August 2024,' S&P Global added. 'Huge upward revisions to the services and composite PMIs show that UK growth continues to improve as global policy uncertainty fades, with (US President Donald) Trump avoiding his more ruinous tariffs and oil prices falling after war with Iran was put on hold,' said Rob Wood, at Pantheon Macroeconomics. This 'leaves us with hope that growth will rebound in May', Mr Wood added. The pound was quoted up at 1.3654 dollars late on Thursday afternoon in London, compared with 1.3612 dollars at the equities close on Wednesday. The euro stood lower at 1.1762 dollars, against 1.1781 dollars. Against the yen, the dollar was trading higher at 144.87 yen compared with 143.85 yen. In New York, markets climbed after a strong jobs report, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite hitting all-time highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.7%, the S&P 500 added 0.8% while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.0%. The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.33%, widening from 4.29% a day prior. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury stretched to 4.85%, widening from 4.83%. According to Bureau of Labour Statistics data, total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 147,000 in June from an upwardly revised 144,000 in May. June's figure beat FXStreet-cited consensus for growth of 110,000. May's figure was revised up by 5,000 from 139,000, while April's total was revised up by 11,000, to 158,000 from 147,000. The unemployment rate edged lower to 4.1% in June from 4.2%, confounding FXStreet's consensus, which forecast a rise to 4.3%. In addition, average hourly earnings growth fell short of loftier expectations. Pay growth was 3.7% on-year in June, easing from 3.8% in May. Growth of 3.9% had been expected for June. Economists now think the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates in September or later, with a cut in July viewed as unlikely. 'Payrolls continue to slow gradually, but the softening is insufficient to move the Fed as a low unemployment rate continues to indicate no new slack in the labour market,' said Morgan Stanley. 'We do not think these data point to a cut in July, and we continue to think the combination of rising inflation from tariffs and a low unemployment rate will keep the Fed on the sidelines,' it added. Wells Fargo said the details in the report were 'less encouraging and generally consistent with a cooling labour market'. The broker pointed out the breadth of hiring was 'narrow and the decline in the unemployment rate was partially driven by workers leaving the labour force'. 'Today's data make a rate cut at the July FOMC meeting quite unlikely, in our view. But, we think the ongoing cooling in the labour market should keep the Fed on track to start cutting rates at its September meeting,' it added. JPMorgan retained its call that the next rate cut will be in December. In European equities on Thursday, the CAC 40 in Paris closed up 0.1%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt firmed 0.4%. On the FTSE 100, the calmer bond market supported rate-sensitive housebuilders, with Berkeley up 2.6% and Persimmon up 1.2%. But Rio Tinto fell 1.9% as Berenberg downgraded to 'hold' from 'buy' after taking a lower view on iron ore prices. On the FTSE 250, Currys rose 6.6% as it resumed dividend payments and reported increased earnings for the 2025 financial year. The London-based electronics retailer reported pre-tax profit of £124 million for the financial year that ended May 3, multiplied from £28 million the year before. Revenue grew 2.7% to £8.71 billion from £8.48 billion the prior year. UK & Ireland revenue rose 6%, while revenue in the Nordics declined 2%. Nordic revenue was flat at constant currency rates. 'Every part of the business is heading in the right direction, the balance sheet has not been this strong in a decade, dividends are back and the prospects for buybacks this year are very real. Positive trading catalysts are building and there is a change in emphasis… towards growth,' broker Panmure Liberum said. Elsewhere, Watches of Switzerland said that sales have improved, though a warning on margins sent its stock 7.6% lower. For financial 2026, the company expects constant currency revenue growth of 6% to 10%. It predicts an adjusted earnings before interest and tax margin percentage of flat to down 100 basis points versus 11.6% in the financial year to April 30 2024. 'As we enter financial 2026, we are mindful of the uncertain macroeconomic backdrop, geopolitical developments, potential US tariff changes, and their potential impact on consumer confidence,' the company said. 'The business has done an admirable job in driving margin recovery alongside revenue growth in (financial 2025), but in our view further margin recovery is needed before the market offers a more generous rating on the stock,' Shore Capital analyst David Hughes said. Elsewhere, Crystal Amber Fund saw its shares rise 10% as it said portfolio company Morphic Medical obtained European approval for its obesity and diabetes treatment. The investor of small and mid-cap UK equities said Morphic Medical, in which it holds a 98% stake, has obtained CE certification for its Reset therapy. Brent oil was quoted higher at 68.67 dollars a barrel at the London equities close on Thursday, up from 67.57 dollars at the same time on Wednesday. Gold was quoted down at 3,330.30 dollars an ounce against 3,341.71 dollars. The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Coca-Cola HBC, up 150p at 3,964p, NatWest, up 15.2p at 489p, Lloyds Banking Group, up 2.34p at 75.8p, ConvaTec, up 8p at 265.4p, and Pershing Square Holdings, up 122p at 4,120p. The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Rio Tinto, down 85p at 4,296p, AstraZeneca, down 186p at 10,204p, Melrose Industries, down 6.2p at 524.8p, GSK, down 15.5p at 1,394p, and Anglo American, down 19.5p at 2,244p. Friday's economic calendar has eurozone PPI figures, UK new car sales figures and a UK construction PMI reading.
