Inside Politics: Carbon footprint labels and Covid face mask row

Unilever says products to be labelled within six months, and regional mayors vow to keep face coverings on public transport, writes Matt Mathers

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Cheers! Two glasses of wine or a can of beer could keep you healthy, experts have said, in another one of those studies that seems to come along on a weekly basis. Boris Johnson might have had a little more than that over the past few days, during a difficult week for the government on race. Elsewhere, there is more Covid rules confusion, plans for a “snack tax” and a de-facto amnesty for Troubles-era prosecutions. Unilever has also made a big announcement on carbon footprint labels.

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Inside the bubble

The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee hears evidence from retailers, farmers and manufacturers on the protocol from 9.30am

Coming up shortly:

-Government food adviser Henry Dimbleby on BBC Radio 4 Today at 8.10am

-Historian David Olusoga on Times Radio Breakfast at 9.05am

Daily Briefing

LABELLING UP: One of the world’s biggest consumer goods companies is set to introduce carbon footprint labels on its products for the first time by the end of the year. Unilever, which has 75,000 products including Magnum ice-cream, Pot Noodle, Marmite and Hellmann’s mayonnaise, said that the carbon footprint of 30,000 of these products would be measured within six months, with carbon footprint labels on a select range by the end of 2021. Campaigners have been for some time calling on the industry to introduce labels similar to the nutritional ones now seen on most products. The thinking is that, if people can see the environmental impact these items have on the planet, they will choose more wisely. Although the move is a step in the right direction, it remains to be seen how effective it could be; afterall, we still have a huge obesity problem in the UK, despite food products displaying how much fat and sugar is in them. It is often policy, such as the plastic bag charge, that drives behaviour change.

LEVELLING UP: Elsewhere, the government is drawing up plans for a “snack tax” to drive a change in the nation’s diet. The story makes the front of several of this morning’s papers, including theThe Times, Mail and Guardian. Johnson will later today give a speech on his levelling-up agenda, which is notably absent from the front pages, apart from theTelegraph.

COVID CHAOS: Another theme in the papers this morning is the growing confusion around new Covid rules. The seemingly never-ending row over face masks continues, with city mayors in the regions vowing to keep coverings on public transport. Transport secretary Grant Shapps backed masks yesterday, claiming the government wanted them to be compulsory on the London network, which was in stark contrast to the rhetoric espoused by his cabinet colleague and health secretary, Sajid Javid, earlier this month. And there is more travel chaos after Spain’s Balearic Islands were kicked to the amber list, in the latest reshuffle of the government’s traffic light lists for travel– a day earlier than planned.

TROUBLES AMNESTY: As had been expected, Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary has announced a de-facto amnesty for Troubles-era prosecutions. The government intends to introduce a statute of limitations for crimes committed pre-1998 — when the Good Friday peace deal was signed — and has promised a new independent body to help families find out what happened to loved ones killed in the violence. In announcing the move, Lewis managed a feat that many politicians before him had failed to do: he united all of NI’s political parties. Alliance, the DUP and Sinn Fein have all denounced the decision. On the nationalist side, victims and survivors are angry that soldiers accused of murdering civilians will not face punishment for their alleged crimes; unionists will point out that IRA terrorists will escape justice for theirs. Both of these arguments are entirely legitimate and serve to highlight the difficulty of the position Lewis found himself in. “We’ve come to the view that this is … the best way to move Northern Ireland further along the road to reconciliation,” he told MPs in the Commons. Politics in Northern Ireland, especially legacy issues, are extremely sensitive and complex. It is doubtful this is the last we will hear on Troubles-era cases.

FROSTY THE NO MAN: David Frost says he understands why businesses are abandoning trade with Northern Ireland because his Brexit agreement has made it “too much trouble” to carry on. The negotiator of the deal – which created a border in the Irish Sea – admitted he had not fully foreseen the “chilling effect” of the punishing new red tape, which has left smaller firms facing higher costs. In other Brexit-related news, Conservative MPs who hyped the potential benefits of Brexit for the fishing industry have been accused of quietly abandoning any mention of the issue after promised gains failed to materialise. The National Federation of Fisherman’s Organisations (NFFO) said on Wednesday that even the“most vociferous supporters” in the Tory parliamentary party had gone “very quiet” since the signing of Boris Johnson’s deal.

RACIST BAN: The PM announced online racists could be banned from attending football matches after the fallout from the abuse of England players rumbled on into its third day. How that will work is anyone’s guess, but after another torrid week for race relations in the UK, the intention is at least a good one. Starmer piled the pressure on at PMQs, but Johnson refused to apologise for previous comments on taking the knee. He also claimed, “I don’t want to engage in a political culture war of any kind.” Critics, however, might argue that the Conservatives have been doing exactly that for some time now. And when you engage in war you create enemies, ship casualties and ultimately lose battles, as the government found out to its cost this week. Labour is not entirely innocent in the culture wars, either, and although it was on the right side in this battle, it should be wary about digging the trenches. Meanwhile, Jadon Sancho, one of the England players who suffered abuse on Sunday, has broken his silence. “Hate will never win,” he wrote in an Instagram statement. Surely that is a simple message, without symbol, that politicians of all hues can get behind.

On the record

“She’s got this wrong, the whole county knows that, his own MPs know it.”

Keir Starmer on Priti Patel’s refusal to condemn England’s boo boys

From the Twitterati

“Worth noting that the long-trailed, much-hyped flagship ‘levelling up’ speech hasn’t made a single newspaper splash.”

The Times’s Matt Chorley on the PM’s levelling up speech.

“Doesn’t matter if it’s a ‘cultural’ issue or an economic one: for your dividing line to work, it has to force your opponent into an uncomfortable position, i.e. it does need to be popular with somebody, somewhere.”

New Statesman political editor Stephen Bush on culture wars.

Essential reading

• Salma Shah, The Independent: Failure is the key to progress – if only Whitehall could see it
• Andrew Grice, The Independent: Foreign aid cuts, racism and austerity – are the Tories the ‘nasty party’ again?
• Martin Kettle, The Guardian: Johnson and Sunak won the battle on foreign aid, but it may cost them the war
• Iain Martin, The Times: Britain isn’t perfect but the racists are losing