Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 30 March 2023

1. Ministers shelve pension move

The government is set to announce it will not bring forward the date that the state pension age is due to rise to 68. The Daily Express said that the Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride will tell MPs that now is not the time to make the change, and any decision will be pushed back till after the next general election. The state pension age is 66 and is due to rise to 68 from 2046. Campaigners had warned that speeding up the increase would have plunged tens of thousands of older workers into poverty.

2. UK bets on carbon capture

Ministers will “defy scientific doubts” and place a “massive bet” on technology to capture and store carbon dioxide in undersea caverns, to enable an expansion of oil and gas in the North Sea, said The Guardian. The contentious approach is believed to be at the heart of the government’s “powering up Britain” strategy, but Kevin Anderson, professor of energy and climate at Manchester, said it has “little merit” and “delays real cuts in emissions”. Grant Shapps, the energy security and net zero secretary, will unveil the “powering up Britain” strategy today.

How carbon capture and storage works

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3. The Times defies Ofgem threat

Ofgem has threatened The Times with criminal sanctions after they revealed how agents working for British Gas were routinely breaking into customers’ homes. The energy regulator has threatened unlimited fines if the paper does not hand over all the reporter’s relevant materials, including confidential notes and undercover footage but The Times is refusing to comply. Grant Shapps, the energy security and net zero secretary, said: “I expect Ofgem to focus on fixing the problem rather than pursuing journalists doing their jobs.”

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4. Supermarkets rotten meat worry

Supermarkets may have unwittingly sold rotten meat for years, according to an investigation. Farmers Weekly magazine said that “rotting” pork was mixed with fresh meat before it was processed, and that frozen meat was sometimes thawed out on the factory floor. Leading supermarket chains were carrying out urgent checks last night to make sure that products containing meat processed by the unnamed Midlands company were no longer on sale. Former employees claimed the deception had gone on for at least two decades and one said they had feared “we’re going to kill someone”.

5. Mail hits back at Harry claims

The legal team for Associated Newspapers have argued to a High Court judge that Prince Harry and six other celebrities have run out of time to bring privacy claims against the Mail titles. Some of the allegations against Associated date back decades but the law requires that claims are brought within six years. The publisher’s lawyers also claim that Harry’s case against the owner of the Daily Mail depends on an alleged confession from an unreliable private investigator who has retracted his evidence.

Prince Harry’s privacy case against Associated Newspapers

6. Report to urge action on religious issues

The government should be more determined in tackling oppression, violence and radicalisation in religious settings, according to a report due to be unveiled by Michael Gove’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Sources have told The Guardian that the report, by former head of the Conservative Christian Fellowship Colin Bloom, will urge action on issues ranging from unregulated faith schools to forced marriage and religious nationalism.

7. Drought hit butterfly numbers

Last summer’s heatwave and drought caused British butterfly populations to collapse later in the year, according to a new study. Although there were good or average numbers of common species including the brimstone, small tortoiseshell, and small white during the spring and early summer of 2022, numbers in subsequent generations in late summer were significantly reduced because the food plants that the caterpillars of the next generation feed upon died. “The knock-on effect is fewer butterflies in the following generation,” explained Dr Richard Fox, head of science for Butterfly Conservation.

8. Report claims school ‘breach’ on gender

Schools are routinely allowing children to switch gender without telling their parents in a “mass breach” of safeguarding, according to a new report. The research by the right-of-centre thinktank Policy Exchange claimed that 40% of the 150 secondary schools in England let pupils change gender without parental consent. It added that schools were “effectively facilitating medical interventions on site”, by supporting pupils in their desired identity. The Department for Education said it was “working closely with the minister for women and equalities to produce guidance for schools”.

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9. MP suggests litter labelling

Fast food takeaway wrappers should have customers’ licence plates printed on them to deter littering, said an MP. Explaining his inspiration for the suggestion, James Wild, Tory MP for North West Norfolk and a former government adviser, told the Telegraph: “Anyone driving on country roads or who’s joined a litter pick up will be familiar with discarded fast food litter.” However, said the paper, ministers are “currently cool on the plan”.

10. Prayers for hospitalised Pope

The Vatican said Pope Francis has a respiratory infection and will need to spend a few days in hospital in Rome. The 86-year-old had breathing difficulties in recent days and would need “a few days of appropriate hospital medical therapy”, it said. The pontiff has suffered from mobility problems related to his knee in recent months, forcing him to use a wheelchair, noted Inside The Vatican, adding that: “It is time to pray for Pope Francis and for the Church.”