Boris Johnson news today: Cabinet split on energy plans as Shapps attacks new onshore wind farms

Allegations about the conduct of David Warburton should be investigated and the facts established, said transport secretary Grant Shapps.

Mr Shapps made the comments when asked about the backbench MP having the Tory whip withdrawn pending an investigation into claims about his conduct.

The allegations, relating to sexual misconduct and a claim he had taken cocaine, are being examined by Parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS).

In an effort to ease the burden of rising costs on businesses, Labour has proposed a package of “emergency measures” – including an immediate tax cut.

Alongside the tax cut, Labour’s proposals include an energy support fund, a “green steel” fund and the scrapping of the scheduled hike in national insurance

Under the proposed plans, a pub would be £2,600 better off, while for the average cafe or restaurant, it would be £2,700.

Jonathan Reynolds, shadow business secretary, said businesses are facing a “tidal wave of extra costs” and so are being “held back” under the Tory government.

The shadow business secretary told Times Radio: “I really think the Government are really making a mistake if they believe that onshore wind, which is the cheapest form of new electricity generation, isn’t going to be part of the solution to this.

“You need secure supplies that are renewable and that meet our net-zero objectives, but also which are delivered at a cost that means that the burden on consumers and households is as light as it can possibly be.

“Onshore wind and offshore wind are a huge part of that because they’re not just renewable but at the cheapest price.

“I think onshore wind – the public supports the arguments around there and the Government is making a huge mistake if they still can’t make their minds up about that.”

Asked if the Government’s upcoming energy security strategy will see the UK build more wind turbines onshore, the Transport Secretary told Times Radio: “I think that in terms of very large expansion – we already actually do the most offshore wind in the world – but in terms of large expansion I would look to see more of it offshore.

“I think that’s the logical place to do it, both in terms of the amount of wind and where the investment can go and where you can build it at very large scale.

“I’m not saying there can be no more onshore wind. There may be places where that’s appropriate.

“But do I think that we should have… vast fields, as we do offshore, of wind farms? No, I don’t think that’s what you’re going to see in the plan this week, for very good reason. It doesn’t work as well and of course environmentally it also creates all sort of problems.”

Jonathan Reynolds appears to have U-turned on his initial opinion for energy rationing, telling Times Radio it would be a “disaster for households and businesses”.

Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme earlier in the day, he said that the government should be considering plans to ration supplies.

But when asked later on whether the UK should be rationing energy, he told Times Radio: “No, that would be a disaster for households and for businesses. But the fact you’re even asking the question is an indictment of Conservative energy policy for the last decade.

“We still haven’t had a plan from the Government even though they said it was to them a priority and an emergency.

“If they were to follow what we’ve put forward – so a focus on energy efficiency, on expanding and changing the onshore wind in terms of the ban that they’ve got in place, further work on solar, tidal, offshore wind and new nuclear – that would be a comprehensive plan for the future.

“At the same time, if they followed our plans for a windfall tax, that would give households and businesses the real support they need in the short term too.”

As European countries, such as Germany, Austria and the Netherlands consider restricting their supplies due to their heavy dependence on Russian energy, the Labour party is urging the government to consider the same.

Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, however, insists that rationing will not be needed.

Rob Merrick has more here:

Grant Shapps has said energy will not be rationed in the UK, after the shadow business secretary suggested ministers should prepare for the possibility of doing so.

Labour’s Jonathan Reynolds told the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme that the government should be considering plans to ration energy supplies.

But the Transport Secretary said rationing will not happen in the UK. Asked if it is a “good idea” for the UK to look into the idea, he told the same programme: “No, I don’t.”

Pressed on whether he can “completely” rule out energy rationing in the UK, he said: “Yes, I can. It’s not the route that we want to go down.”

When asked specifically whether Ms Johnson should be named if she has been fined due to the “Partygate” scandal, Jonathan Reynolds told Clive Myrie on BBC One: “Yes, I think anyone who’s been in Downing Street should be named if they have been part of this.

Despite the fact that Ms Johnson isn’t a politician and is a private citizen, Mr Reynolds stated: “All people want is some transparency as to what really went on in Downing Street. We were told in Parliament, the Prime Minister told us in Parliament, he was not aware of any parties.

“What we’ve seen so far with the fixed-penalty notices that have come out to relatively junior civil servants – the culture here was set from the top.

“All people want to know is, has the Prime Minister been truthful and has Downing Street as an institution been following the same rules as everyone else?”

When asked whether the UK should be prepared to ration oil and gas, the shadow business secretary told Clive Myrie on BBC One’s Sunday Morning programme: “We should be making those plans and the government should be preparing, not necessarily in public, for that situation.

“There’s a lot of complacency in this country about the relative lower exposure to Russian gas that we have.

“But we should bear in mind that part of the supply that comes to this country from, for instance, Norway or from the liquefied natural gas that goes into the terminals and wells, that is partly because Russian gas is fulfilling the demands of central Europe.

“I think what the Government should announce is a plan which is not simply shopping from one authoritarian regime to the next for fossil fuels, but that long-term plan on renewables or nuclear and energy efficiency that would make the difference.

“But let’s be clear, we’re looking at the images coming out of Ukraine right now, I don’t think we should be talking about going back to business as usual where we just buy large quantities of fossil fuels.”

Speaking on BBC One’s Sunday Morning programme with Clive Myrie, he said: “I sit here this morning and I feel angry at the scale of the crisis people in this country are facing and the lack of response from Government in the spring statement – and promises on things and announcements in the future just won’t cut it.

“We have set out that windfall tax that would give households a huge amount of help, relative to what the Government are doing – up to £600 for households who are most affected by energy prices.

“But we put in that a contingency fund for businesses, a £600 million contingency fund for businesses which is necessary because all businesses are exposed to these higher energy prices, but for energy intensives the situation is so extreme that some of them are even considering – are they competitive, can they continue production?

“Of course when you add that to the national insurance rise that the Government went ahead with in the spring statement, this is a really serious situation.

“The energy statement will deal with long-term issues of supply as…