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Best-Reviewed Laundry Products To Make Life Easier
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Laundry day (or days, as the case may be) can be a real pain, especially in the wintertime.
Between the mud from the eternally-soggy weather, and that gross mildew smell, it’s such a faff making sure your clothes are properly clean.
Some will suggest drying your washing outside to help keep things fresh and avoid making any condensation problems in your house worse.
But I, for one, do not trust British winters (or springs, or even most summers) with my washing – the rain is just far too unpredictable.
Yes, you can crack some windows open for a bit (and we do!), but in my experience, that can only do so much.
So, if you want to level up your laundry day, whatever the weather, here are some of the best buys on the internet, according to the customers who’ve fallen in love with them.
Backlash to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown is putting vulnerable Republicans in a tough spot, forcing them to shift their tone to appease frustrated Hispanic voters — or risk losing key battleground seats.
It’s a delicate pivot for Republicans in South Texas, who spent years taking a hardline approach on immigration and flipped historically blue districts in the process.
Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz, representing a majority-Hispanic district, has gone from calling for mass deportations to focusing on the “worst of the worst.” In lieu of expediting removals, she wants to create new visa categories for undocumented workers to fill jobs in construction and agriculture. And instead of slamming the Biden White House for its “border failure,” she’s setting up private meetings at the Trump White House to plead for temperance in immigration enforcement.
Rep. Tony Gonzales, whose district shares hundreds of miles with Mexico, wants his party to talk more about the border, and said he plans to “continue to advocate that the Republican Party needs to focus on convicted criminal illegal aliens” amid broad outrage over deportations of undocumented people with no proven risk to public safety.
Like other Republicans, they are trying to slowly distance themselves from the massive immigration crackdown that has quickly become political kryptonite for the GOP — but without being seen as disloyal to the president or undercutting their previous positions.
“President Trump made a promise, and he’s kept that promise by securing the border. That was stage one,” De La Cruz said in an interview. “Now we’re at stage two, which is having a conversation of true immigration reform.”
Republicans’ efforts to change the conversation will test their ability to maintain, or even extend, Trump’s 2024 gains with Hispanic voters — and play a pivotal role in the fight for control of Congress in November. A slew of polls in recent weeks has shown many Hispanic voters across the country, repulsed by the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation campaign, are souring on the Republican president they supported to a historic degree in 2024.
It’s a warning the White House appears to be taking seriously. In recent weeks, after the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by an immigration enforcement officer in Minneapolis, the White House has signaled openness to paring back its deportation operation. On Thursday, border czar Tom Homan announced the administration’s massive immigration surge in Minneapolis would come to a close.
Latino voters’ embrace of Trump was a political earthquake, and South Texas was the epicenter.
De La Cruz’s district — which sprawls from the Rio Grande Valley on the U.S.-Mexico border up to the San Antonio suburbs — was represented by a Democrat in Congress for 120 years before De La Cruz won her seat in 2022. In 2024, Trump romped to an 18-point victory.
The 15th Congressional District was among those redrawn by the Texas legislature’s redistricting gambit last year, offering De La Cruz an even more favorable electorate. But that bet relies heavily on Hispanic voters sticking with the GOP: Nearly 80 percent of the district identifies as Hispanic or Latino, and if those voters flip back to the Democratic Party or stay home, it could erase much of the new map’s intended friendliness to Republicans.
“With the border secure and Latinos responding to ICE raids and government overreach, the districts that Republicans thought were their future a year ago are likely to be their undoing,” said Mike Madrid, a Republican strategist who is a frequent critic of Trump. “Hard to find another situation in the past 50 years where a political party has squandered a generational opportunity like this.”
Flipping De La Cruz’s district is a top objective for House Democrats this cycle, who are salivating at the prospect of winning back Latino voters. She’ll face either Bobby Pulido, a Tejano music star with widespread name ID recruited by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or Ana Cuellar, an ER doctor who has an impressive penchant for fundraising.
Local Republicans have begun sounding the alarm.
Daniel Garza, president of the LIBRE Initiative, a grassroots conservative group based in South Texas, said “Biden’s border chaos” was directly responsible for Texas Republicans’ victories in recent election cycles, including De La Cruz’s, but that moving toward the other extreme — a harsh crackdown — could again dissuade Hispanic voters who might otherwise support the GOP.
“We don’t have to be a nation that has to decide between an ‘everybody-in’ or an ‘everybody-out’ approach,” Garza said. “I honestly feel that the counties across the entire Texan border shifted to the right because of the border chaos. … But this sort of everybody-out approach, I think, is also causing some reflection.”
The immigration crackdown has wreaked havoc for the area’s business community. Greg LaMantia, who runs a major beer wholesaler in the region, said his company’s sales are down as a result of the raids. “You have people that are legal that are scared to death to get caught up in this fiasco and deported,” said LaMantia, who voted for Trump and has donated recently to both Republican and Democratic lawmakers. “It’s caused sales to go down, no doubt about it. It’s chaos.”
Daniel Guerrero, CEO of the McAllen-based South Texas Builders Association, said rampant ICE activity has sent a shiver through the construction industry, leading to massive delays. He said ICE is notorious for following concrete trucks to job sites, then apprehending workers as they begin pouring a foundation, leaving half-poured concrete slabs.
“The sentiment is pretty clear across the table, that nobody really expected this magnitude of enforcement,” said Guerrero, who voted for Trump and De La Cruz in 2024.
He said the Hispanic Trump supporters he knows are souring on this administration, an observation supported by recent polling. In the latest warning sign, Latino voters helped a Democrat flip a reliably red seat in Fort Worth last month. Taylor Rehmet, who picked up a state Senate seat in a special election, won about 4 out of 5 Hispanic votes across the district, a massive 26-point improvement over Kamala Harris in 2024.
Many Republicans are trying to steer the discussion around immigration to focus on how border crossings have dropped to historic lows under Trump — which they hope will remind Hispanic voters why they should stick with the GOP.
“The Hispanic population gives President Trump and Republicans a lot of leeway with just how bad things were before and where they’re at now,” said Gonzales, whose sprawling border district is majority Hispanic. “They have a lot of leeway to get a lot of runway, if you will.”
De La Cruz successfully ran in 2024 on deportations and the “worst border security crisis in our nation’s history.” Now she’s proposing a new visa category, H-2C, allowing employers like those in construction and hospitality to hire foreign workers. She also introduced legislation which would expand the H-2A visa category for seasonal agricultural workers.
In recent weeks, De La Cruz said she has taken constituents to meet with the Labor Department, the White House and House Speaker Mike Johnson, pitching them on her bills and encouraging the administration to change its tact on immigration enforcement.
“There’s limited resources, period. And we want those limited resources to be focused on the worst of the worst, the criminal immigrants that have come in,” De La Cruz said. “We have legal immigrants in our district who have work visas that they don’t want to go out to work because some may have fear about the process that is currently being administered.”
But De La Cruz’s shift in messaging has simultaneously earned skepticism from some industry leaders and frustration with the base, underscoring the political tightrope she must walk until November.
Guerrero, the construction nonprofit leader, said he sensed political opportunism in De La Cruz’s newfound interest in helping his industry.
“People feel abandoned because you never showed face, and now that there’s an actual crisis, you want to show face?” Guerrero said. “It’s like, dude, it’s a little too late, man.”
The MAGA base, meanwhile, doesn’t love the shift, either. Patricio County GOP Chair Rex Warner thinks De La Cruz has become too soft on deportations. “I align with some of it, but very little,” he said.
Nigel Farage was fact-checked four times in a toe-curling interview over Jim Ratcliffe’s controversial claim that the UK is being “colonised” by migrants.
Ratcliffe, the billionaire co-owner of Manchester United, triggered major backlash last week when he said: “You can’t have an economy with nine million people on benefits, and huge levels of immigrants coming in.
“The UK is being colonised by immigrants.”
He claimed: “The population of the UK was 58 million in 2020. Now it’s 70 million. That’s 12 million.”
Ratcliffe offered a limited apology on Friday, saying he was “sorry that my choice of language has offended some people in the UK an Europe”.
But, he insisted it was still “important to raise the issue of controlled and well-managed immigration that supports economic growth”.
Speaking to Sky News, Farage defended Ratcliffe – who has previously described the Reform party leader as “intelligent” – saying he had only pointed out a “fact” that 12 million people have come into the country.
But presenter Matt Barbet corrected Farage: “Well, he got the dates wrong didn’t he?”
Farage admitted: “He said 2020 but he meant 2000. Since 2000, 12 million people is the population increase in Britain. Over 85% of that is the direct impact of immigration. That’s a fact.
“There are nine million living in Britain on benefits of some kind, although some of them in work benefits.”
Barbet cut in with a second correction: “Most of them are in work benefits, actually.”
Farage also alleged that Ratcliffe had only withdrawn the use of the word “colonised”, not the overall sentiment.
Asked about his use of that loaded term, Farage said: “I think it’s probably in the dictionary definition correct – but perhaps people aren’t quite ready for that.”
“It has historical overtones though doesn’t it?” Barbet said. “I want to ask you about the language, the rhetoric. People using words like that, people referring to Enoch Powell’s speeches, is that overshadowing having a considered debate on immigration?”
Farage said: “It’s just one word. Everything he said was right. One word can be used in a different context.”
The MP for Clacton claimed the Office for National Statistics (ONS) census also shows a million people can’t speak any English.
But Barbet pointed out: “It says they aren’t speaking good English. That doesn’t mean there’s a million who aren’t speaking any English at all.”
“Five million don’t speak good English,” Farage insisted. “A million don’t speak English at all. Those are the census facts we got a couple of years ago.”
Barbet then pointed out that Ratcliffe himself is an economic migrant as he lives in Monaco.
“He’s a tax migrant,” Farage replied.
“He’s an economic migrant then, isn’t he?” Barbet replied, but Farage dodged the comment by claiming Ratcliffe is not claiming social security.
“He’s spending lots of money in Monaco employing people and spending money on the high street,” the Reform Party leader said.
“Actually, Nigel Farage, he’s cut hundreds of jobs here in the UK, in Grangemouth,” Barbet said, with a cutting fifth correction. “He wanted to build Ineos Grenadier car in Wales, you know where it’s built now? It’s built in France.”
Farage just blamed the “moronic energy policy” put in place by Labour and the Tories.
‘Labour Together’ — the sabotage outfit that brought down Jeremy Corbyn and conned Labour members into choosing Keir Starmer — paid investigators to spy on, and smear two Times journalists. Unsurprisingly, the pair — Harry Yorke and Gabriel Pogrund — have publicised their experience as unique.
@Gabriel_Pogrund and I were the subject of a disgraceful smear campaign — just for doing our jobs
I’m proud that The Sunday Times is calling it out on the front page tomorrow
Labour activists paid for smear campaign against journalists https://t.co/Uw9UjNJtzm
— Harry Yorke (@HarryYorke1) February 14, 2026
Labour Together pursues journalists
The Sunday Times, which covered the story, reported that:
The group that helped to get Sir Keir Starmer elected as Labour leader hired lobbyists to investigate the personal, political and religious background of a Sunday Times journalist behind an article about secret donations that funded its work.
Labour Together paid £36,000 to Apco, a US public affairs firm, to examine the “backgrounds and motivations” of reporters behind a story before the general election.
The aim was to discredit The Sunday Times’s reporting by falsely suggesting its journalists might be part of a Russian conspiracy or had relied on emails hacked by the Kremlin.
Apco produced a 58-page report including almost ten pages of deeply personal and false claims about Gabriel Pogrund, the Sunday Times Whitehall editor. He and Harry Yorke, the newspaper’s deputy political editor, were named as “persons of significant interest”.
Old news
But Pogrund and Yorke only stand out for being the only ‘mainstream’ hacks known to have been targeted by Labour Together. The pressure group was formerly run by disgraced Starmer adviser Morgan McSweeney and other ‘red Tories’ in Starmer’s faction. But these latest revelations and labour Together’S spying activities is not new — not in any real sense. Their not-so-covert operations have been in the public domain for months.
In fact, news of the spying broke on the Canary in September 2025. McSweeney’s outfit set investigators on Paul Holden, the author of The Fraud. This exposes Labour Together’s dark tactics and Starmer’s dishonesty. Furthermore, the book has been serialised by the Canary.
Labour Together did the same to Andrew Feinstein, the author and former Mandela government minister. He stood against Starmer in the 2024 general election and decimated his majority. Moreover, it did the same to journalists John McEvoy, Khadija Sharife and Peter Geoghegan.
Labour Together’s spies targeted Pogrund for being Jewish — ironic given their weaponisation of supposed ‘Labour antisemitism’ against Corbyn and the left. But they did the same to the Jewish Feinstein. They smeared Pogrund and Yorke as being linked to Russia — they’d done the same to Feinstein and Holden.
In fact, not even the ‘news’ about Yorke and Pogrund is new. The Canary reported it last week. No wonder McSweeney and his cadre are scared of the Canary. They have tried and failed to destroy it while Corbyn was still leading Labour.
Featured image via the Canary
During the winter months, it takes a lot more time and effort to go outside and clean the car. However, if you don’t clean your car regularly, it can cause damage to the whole car and can even decrease the value of it over time.
Car Care Expert Katie Newman from Carfume, shares just how often you should be cleaning your car and five reasons why it’s essential.
How often should you clean your car?
Washing your car regularly is really important for preventing all sorts of cosmetic and structural damage. Generally speaking, you should try to wash your car at least every two weeks. However, if you live in rural areas where your car is more likely to be exposed to dirt on the roads, then it might be better to wash your car weekly. Here are five reasons why it’s essential to clean your car regularly:
Dirt, salt, bird droppings and leaves can damage your car’s paintwork if not cleaned. Washing your car regularly will help to maintain the finish of the paint and prevent paying for any costly repairs.
Reduces the risk of mould
Fortnightly cleaning, such as hoovering or wiping down surfaces, will eliminate any potential mould and help to dry out moisture. Once the interior is clean and dry and you’ve addressed any moisture, then using an air freshener can keep the car smelling fresh and cleaner for longer.
Not only does a messy car look unsightly, but leaving belongings to build up in your car isn’t cost-effective. Extra weight from clutter can actually make your car work harder, reducing mileage over time, so not cleaning your car out regularly might just be costing you!
Cars often see lots of food and drink throughout the week. Whether it’s drink spillages or crumbs, this can leave a lingering unpleasant smell inside the car. Fortnightly cleaning of the interiors and regular air freshener usage can help to reduce any of those odours.
It’s really easy, especially in the winter, for mirrors, lights and windows to become dirty and reduce visibility. This can be extremely dangerous through the winter. Making sure you clean your windows, lights and mirrors will improve overall safety during the cold winter months.
The Green Party has slammed Reform UK for letting the “cat out of the bag” after Zia Yusuf suggested poverty rates in Britain are misleading.
Reform’s head of policy got into a spat with Sky News’ Trevor Phillips on Sunday over his party’s plans to keep the two-child benefit cap while cutting business rates for pubs.
“Reform’s policy is to let children go hungry so their parents can get in an extra round?” Phillips asked.
Yusuf replied: “Nigel’s position always has been and still is that he would lift the two-child benefit cap only for British families who are in work.”
He then added: “When the term poverty is used, primarily by left-wing politicians, it’s a relative term which means you could literally – this is a mathematical fact – increase everyone’s incomes tenfold and the statistics would stay the same.”
Phillips asked if Yusuf was trying to say poverty levels are an “illusion”.
The Reform politician replied: “No, it’s worse than that because real poverty does exist in this country, Trevor.
“Absolute poverty does exist in small pockets, if you want to do the right thing in this country, you need to create social mobility.
“There will always be a percentage of the public who are ‘in poverty’, and what that does nothing for is to help the middle classes or indeed the people who live in absolute poverty.”
Yusuf then claimed there are “very, very small pockets” of poverty in Wales.
He said: “The measure of poverty which has been used for years in this country is an unhelpful thing because it is relative to the mean and the median, it means you are always going to have a percentage of people who are there and that is not in the interest of people who need it.”
More than 3.8 million people experienced destitution in 2022 including a million children, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
A Green Party spokesperson tore into Yusuf’s comments, telling HuffPost UK: “Reform have totally let the cat out of the bag this morning about what they really stand for.
“Zia Yusuf, a multi-millionaire, lecturing that poverty and people’s everyday struggles with rising bills and rent is exaggerated, shows what frauds Reform are.
“They are just another party of the failed status quo, funded by and representing big corporate interests.
“The Gorton and Denton by election is between the Greens and Reform.
“We are campaigning for lower bills and protecting public services by taxing millionaires and billionaires. Reform stand for the wealthy few.”
Reform, the Greens and Labour are all battling it out to win the crunch contest in Greater Manchester later this month, in the hope of securing another MP in the Commons.
The by-election in Gorton & Denton is looking like a two-way race between the Green Party and Reform UK, but Labour are still fighting to win.
According to a new report in the Telegraph, Labour are throwing the kitchen sink at the race. Or, to be more specific, they’re using the sink — and everything else in the kitchen — to prepare delectably illegal meals for potential voters (allegedly):
Labour referred to police over freebie gala dinner for 600 Gorton & Denton voters – attended by senior Labour figures including deputy leader Lucy Powell
Electoral law bans using food and drink to corruptly influence voters
Paywall-free link in replies👇 https://t.co/8X3kGppkUh— The Prole Star (@TheProleStar) February 14, 2026
Will anything happen as a result of this?
As we’ll get to, probably not — not if Reform’s own by-election scandal is anything to go by.
Labour hosts “freebie gala dinner”
As reported by the Telegraph, the dinner took place at a South Asian restaurant, and fed 600 people. The venue had posters up showing images of Labour candidate Angeliki Stogia.
Speaking at the dinner, Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell said Gorton & Denton should vote for Stogia or:
we’re going to end up with Reform in Manchester and we’re not having that
Presumably eluding to the multiple paedophile-related scandals engulfing the Starmer government, Powell also said:
We have not got everything right. We have tried our best and we have done some really good things … but I understand we haven’t got everything right.
That’s certainly one way of putting it.
For reference, Labour’s recent paedophile-related scandals include:
So yeah, they haven’t “got everything right”; that’s true.
Will anything come of this?
As the Telegraph also reported, the police investigated Reform UK for a buffet last October, but dropped the investigation. The Telegraph added:
The party had provided a buffet to supporters before a council by-election in Northamptonshire.
According to guidance from the Electoral Commission, the law “does not apply to ordinary hospitality”.
As you can imagine, then, Labour are confident they’ll get off with this. One of their spokespeople said the report is a “desperate, politically motivated move”.
It’s also the case that the police have dropped a case into Reform related to the Gorton & Denton by-election:
For the third time.
But who’s counting, eh?
What’s a little electoral fraud between friends. https://t.co/A5mJqd3Kwp
— Don McGowan (@donmcgowan) February 14, 2026
For more on that story, read:
Featured image via the Canary
The post Keir Starmer’s stay of execution appeared first on spiked.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper assures @TrevorPTweets that Labour has strengthened its vetting processes following the scandal surrounding Lord Doyle’s friendship with Sean Morton.
— Sky News (@SkyNews) February 15, 2026
In a message posted to his Truth Social account, president Donald Trump has announced a plan which will surely repress the vote in the Midterm Elections:
“there will be Voter I.D. for the Midterm Elections, whether approved by Congress or not!”
Trump’s authoritarian takeover and interference in the midterm elections under the guise of “election integrity” has begun. pic.twitter.com/FHYYKQ3u3h
— Melanie D’Arrigo (@DarrigoMelanie) February 13, 2026
Given Trump’s dire polling, however, simply repressing the vote may not be enough.
Trump thanks you for your “attention”
The president’s post reads in full:
The Democrats refuse to vote for Voter I.D., or Citizenship. The reason is very simple — They want to continue to cheat in Elections. This was not what our Founders desired.
I have searched the depths of Legal Arguments not yet articulated or vetted on this subject, and will be presenting an irrefutable one in the very near future. There will be Voter I.D. for the Midterm Elections, whether approved by Congress or not! Also, the People of our Country are insisting on Citizenship, and No Mail-In Ballots, with exceptions for Military, Disability, Illness, or Travel.
Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
He has, in his own words:
searched the depths of Legal Arguments not yet articulated or vetted on this subject.
We’ll be honest…we’re not sure what this means. At the same time, we’re confident he hasn’t done it.
Can you really imagine the tycoon-turned-politician searching the depths of anything? The man has all the depth of a contact lens.
Recently, Trump claimed the US is the only country which allows mail in ballots. This may shock you, but the truth is actually somewhat different to what president Trump suggests:
“We’re the only country with Mail In Ballots”
– Donald Trump
✅ Fact Check: 70–80 countries worldwide
Roughly one-third of the world’s countries allow some form of postal voting. pic.twitter.com/f69uDu5BlJ— Bricktop_NAFO (@Bricktop_NAFO) February 13, 2026
He has also threatened to deploy his masked ICE goons to disrupt voting:
There are 39 other countries with mail-in voting.
Trump’s plan is simple. If you block mail-in ballots, all ICE has to do is disrupt, intimidate and assault at polling places in blue areas to insure Trump remains King forever.
➡️ It’s really that simple ⬅️pic.twitter.com/3DdF782K8T— BigBlueWaveUSA2026® 🇺🇸🌊🇺🇦 (@BigBlueWaveUSA) February 13, 2026
If we were worried about upcoming elections, we’d probably focus on appearing electable. Trump, meanwhile, is spending all day, every day, ranting about how unfair everything is.
Voters aren’t stupid, though, which is why his polling looks like this (as per the Economist):
Cataclysmic
In addition to the above, we also have Trump’s (potentially criminal) handling of the Epstein Files. All in all, his party could see a real reckoning in the Midterm Elections. In fact, we’ve already seen what that could look like:
Democrats didn’t just see a 30-point shift in Texas and flip a State Senate seat red to blue: they did it while being outspent 20-to-1. This will send shockwaves through the Republican Party. pic.twitter.com/2UQI4v8Bls
— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) February 1, 2026
If the Democrats win big in the Midterms, Donald, and his cronies may begin to face accountability. The big question is whether the Democrats have the backbone to investigate Trump’s obvious wrongdoing, or whether they’ll let him wriggle out of it like president Joe Biden did.
Featured image via the Canary
Greg Jackson (Alamy)
7 min read
Charming and well-connected, Octopus founder Greg Jackson is one of the most influential businesspeople in this Labour government’s orbit. Ben Gartside explores his politics and reach
“A very senior mandarin in the energy space said to me that the traditional model of the energy companies was to keep quiet and hope nobody understood what they were doing, and not to wake the sleeping dog,” Greg Jackson recalls, over a video call in a black hoodie, having just returned to the UK. “And I said, ‘Well, my job is to come in and poke the sleeping dog with a stick relentlessly’.”
Jackson has just returned from China, where he was part of the Prime Minister’s delegation. The Octopus founder is in as boisterous a mood as ever.
“Companies are often extremely entitled, or they behave in an entitled way. I’ve seen energy bosses demanding that the Energy Secretary actually make them more trusted,” a disapproving Jackson reports. “Trust is earned, not bestowed,” he adds.
Despite Jackson’s Octopus being only 10 years old, it has achieved continued astronomic growth after breaking ‘double unicorn’ status in 2022, reaching a valuation of $2bn, and has become one of the most recognisable in the UK, levering its outsider status for success.
In Whitehall, Jackson has seen similar achievements. The founder is a regular at political events, sitting on boards across Westminster while also recently securing a £25m investment from the government in his Octopus Energy spin-off, Kraken. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has described him as a “friend”, and insiders see him as the corporate figure who has the closest ties to the government.
In spite of this, Jackson recoils at the idea of being politically influential.
“I’ve got literally no view of politics,” he says unconvincingly, before launching into a 10-minute explanation of UK-China policy and the benefits of free trade. Jackson’s ideology, if he has one, is neoliberal. He believes in low subsidies, high competition and transparency, making him an odd bedfellow of the Labour Party.
“I don’t believe in party politics, but I do believe in the power of competition and the power of free enterprise.”
A close adviser of a previous Conservative chancellor described Jackson as “very good at identifying power, getting close to it and using those relationships to build credibility. He’s always coming to the government with solutions rather than just problems. A lot of companies can learn from that”.
After the change of government in 2024, Jackson was appointed to the government’s Industrial Strategy Advisory Council, before becoming a Cabinet Office board member in July last year. In January, he was appointed as co-chair of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s attempts to use AI to improve customer service experiences.
He has been vocally supportive of a number of government policies: in the last year alone, he endorsed the Workers’ Rights Bill, supported plans to build a ‘clean-power army’, and co-signed the government’s “international investment summit”.
I’ve seen energy bosses demanding that the Energy Secretary actually make them more trusted
Rumours have swirled that Jackson was on Labour’s longlist for a potential investment minister, before it was offered to his former colleague Benjamin Wegg-Prosser and ultimately Baroness Gustafsson, who accepted (before later resigning). Jackson says he doesn’t know whether he was considered but would not have accepted the job anyway.
He has also faced sustained criticism from some in the labour movement. Energy tycoon and Labour mega donor Dale Vince has engaged in a war of words with Jackson over green energy, both accusing the other of doing climate deniers’ bidding.
Miliband has remained a supportive ally of Jackson, however, launching numerous major policies from his sites, meeting regularly with him in Whitehall and name-checking Octopus’ successes. Their friendship has caused controversy for them both.
In some ways, the two are unlikely allies. Despite his links to the Labour Party, Jackson is not and has never been a party donor, and labels himself a free marketeer. He prompted criticism in 2021 when he admitted that his companies do not have human resources departments.
One of Jackson’s biggest squabbles is with the GMB union, which represents Jackson’s workforce in Octopus.
A GMB spokesperson describes Octopus as having a “frat-boy culture”, describing it as “beyond baffling” that Miliband and other ministers “persist in indulging this divisive figure”.
“GMB members in Octopus are increasingly outraged by the government’s embrace of a man who refuses to recognise unions. Mr Jackson runs his firm in a way more attuned to a frat-boy culture than a professional business environment,” they say.
“Despite not having basics like a HR department and failing to meet the simplest balance sheet requirements designed to protect consumers, he is given key access. This completely undermines Labour’s pro-worker and pro-consumer position.”
Jackson maintains that he is not anti-union – rather, he simply believes they are not needed in Octopus.
In a statement, Jackson also refuted the GMB allegations around the company’s culture. He said: “Octopus is repeatedly named one of the best places to work in the UK, has a negative gender pay gap (women earn more), and every employee is a shareholder. Hardly a frat-bro culture – rather a model modern employer.”
Despite Jackson’s clear influence on policy and political discourse, he has rarely faced accusations of sleaze, which has dogged Westminster’s lobbyists in recent years. Unlike many other businesses, Jackson is very open about the issues he is pressing on the government privately, whether that be onshore wind, energy pricing models or the futility of some forms of clean energy such as hydrogen.
“I think one reason we have cut-through is, ultimately, I’d rather share with people the uncomfortable secret truths and then discuss it than hide behind closed doors, just making it worse.”
Jackson’s ability partially comes from knowing his sector inside out, and from focusing on changes benefiting the consumer.
“He is left-field. He’s always wearing a fleece and jeans. He’s very down to earth and easy to get on with,” says one observer. “Octopus are doing some quite unusual stuff, and it’s compelling. He can walk into any room in Whitehall and say, ‘If you get rid of X, Y and Z random pieces of regulation, I can do this for consumers.’ It’s very persuasive – and he’s always in the room.”
Yet Jackson has not managed to convince the new government on his most controversial ask: zonal energy pricing. He argues that Octopus would be able to cut energy bills by £100 a year if the switch were made to a system whereby prices varied across regional zones in the country, depending on their supply and demand. The proposal was shot down by other major operators on the grounds that it would create a “postcode lottery” for energy.
Miliband considered the policy before ultimately dropping it over fears it could put off investors. The defeat marked a victory for Centrica, the owner of British Gas and chief rival of Octopus.
With success came critics, who are capitalising on recent problems – including Ofgem’s anonymised rebuke of companies for failing financial resilience targets. Jackson, who admits Octopus was one of the firms that failed the test, argues the requirements are too stringent. Centrica’s CEO Chris O’Shea described it as “criminal” that Ofgem had not punished firms like Octopus further.
Jackson’s portrayal of rival energy companies is compelling – he paints them as a cartel, cautiously protecting margins at the expense of consumers. “One of them texted us to say they had 150 lobbyists up against us,” Jackson says of the zonal pricing spat. “We have two on our side.”
While he only has two lobbyists, Jackson in himself has the executive lobbyists are scared to represent. One tells The House: “You never want to represent someone who knows all the decision-makers better than you.”
Financial Education must be in School curriculum. #financialeducation #motivation #iqsir
Sleet and snow predicted tomorrow and Tuesday in York
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