Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, has said that, while the party would like to spent £28bn a year on green investment, it will not be bound by an “arbitrary” number. (See 2.58pm.) She spoke as it became increasingly clear that, while the party has not entirely stopped talking about the £28bn figure, it no longer regards this as a binding target for the amount of money it aims to spend every year on its green prosperity plan. Environmental experts have criticised this. Dr Anupama Sen, the head of policy engagement at Oxford University’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, which specialises in research into achieving net zero, said: It is disappointing to see the Labour party water down this flagship policy due to short-term political pressures, at such a crucial time for climate action and leadership, especially with other countries racing to prepare their economies for the imminent green energy transition. It would be better to stand firm and make the case for this level of investment, which is that it would reduce our emissions and shield against increasingly volatile energy prices to give us genuine energy security. With the right mix of policies this could be achieved in a way that is fair for workers and for households. And Mike Childs, Friends of the Earth’s head of policy, said: We urgently need decisive leadership on green growth, not more of the same kind of flip-flopping and rollbacks we’ve seen from the current government, which has squandered the UK’s gains on climate and left us far behind in the global race to a zero-carbon economy. A collective political failure to see the huge economic opportunities of a fair transition would be both short-sighted and deeply damaging. Overcrowded conditions on the controversial Bibby Stockholm barge, where up to six men are sharing a room designed for one person, may be putting the mental health of asylum seekers at risk, MPs have said. A parking charge for sports utility vehicles may be introduced in London, Sadiq Khan has indicated, saying he will monitor the effectiveness of Paris’s plan to triple levies for the vehicles if it comes into effect. A £6.5m recruitment campaign to encourage people to work in the early years sector as the first phase of the government’s childcare expansion plan has been criticised as “too late” and a “drop in the ocean” by sector leaders.