Asda ditches 'mental patient' outfit

26 September 2013 Last updated at 02:21 ET

Supermarket chain Asda has apologised and withdrawn a Halloween outfit it was selling online as a "mental patient fancy dress costume", after criticism.

The £20 item included clothing, fake blood, a mask and a fake meat cleaver.

Following criticism, including from one "stunned" mental health charity, the store offered "sincere apologies for the offence it has caused".

It would be making a "very sizeable donation" to mental health charity Mind, Asda added.

In a statement on Wednesday evening, Asda, which is owned by US retail giant Walmart, said the sale had been a "completely unacceptable error".

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Dear @asda, how on earth did you come to the conclusion that this is an appropriate fancy dress costume? Disgraceful"

End Quote Katie Dalton Mental health charity Gofal

"[The costume] should never have been sold and it was withdrawn as soon as it was brought to our attention."

Asda added: "We're deeply sorry one of our fancy dress costumes has upset people."

It is understood the costume had been on sale through Asda's clothing outlet George for two days, before being withdrawn from sale on Wednesday morning after being spotted internally.

Asda said the product had been removed from the website in the afternoon but the relevant page remained visible for a few hours.

It disappeared after the criticism on Twitter started to emerge.

'Frightened of stigma'

Katie Dalton, of Welsh mental health charity Gofal, wrote on Twitter: "Dear @asda, how on earth did you come to the conclusion that this is an appropriate fancy dress costume? Disgraceful."

And former Downing Street director of communications, Alastair Campbell, who has written about his experiences with mental health issues, tweeted: "Look what Asda's selling... what possesses these people?"

Former footballer Stan Collymore, who has had a well-documented battle with depression, also criticised Asda for using a "stereotype".

"Do you actually realise how many people are hanging themselves because of being frightened of the stigma?" he tweeted.

The charity Rethink Mental Illness also took to Twitter to say it was "stunned" by the costume's description, but later thanked Asda "for responding" to the "concerns".

'Terrifying Halloween option'

Sue Baker from Mind told BBC Radio 5 live breakfast that the worst thing about the costume was it reinforced outdated stigmas about people with mental health illness.

"Some of the worst myths that fuel this stigma is the assumption that we're going to be dangerous, knife-wielding maniacs and that is simply not the case."

She added: "The stigma can be life limiting and life threatening because people don't think they can talk to anybody and sadly for some people they take the option of not being with us anymore."

The internet link to the website page where the costume was being sold used the words "zombie fancy dress costume".

But the product was titled "mental patient fancy dress costume" on the page itself.

The product details read: "Everyone will be running away from you in fear in this mental patient fancy dress costume.... it's a terrifying Halloween option."

Ms Baker also called for retail giants Tesco and Amazon to withdraw from their websites a Halloween outfit of an orange boiler suit with "Psycho Ward" written across the front and back, along with a "committed" stamp below. It also has a plastic low jaw restraint.

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Peru drugs women pleas 'not enough'

26 September 2013 Last updated at 02:59 ET

Prosecutors in Peru are objecting to the guilty pleas by two UK women caught trying to smuggle cocaine out of Peru.

Michaella McCollum, of Dungannon, County Tyrone, and Melissa Reid, of Lenzie, near Glasgow, admitted on Tuesday to smuggling drugs.

Prosecutor Juan Rosas told the AFP news agency they needed to provide more information to get reduced sentences.

He said he would ask for another hearing to allow them to make a more complete confession.

The women, who face up to 15 years in prison, hope their admission of guilt will bring their sentences down to six years and eight months.

But Mr Rosas said the two women needed to explain why they initially claimed they were coerced by a gang of armed men.

He described their initial version of events as "unbelievable" and added that it had "not yet been examined".

'Kidnapped at gunpoint'

A spokesman for the prosecutors' office in Callao, where Tuesday's plea hearing took place, said: "The two drug mules' guilty pleas have not been fully accepted, as far as the prosecutor is concerned, until they give more details.

"They will be asked to give another statement before the judge explaining where the drugs came from, who supplied them and why they said they had been forced to carry them by an armed gang."

The spokesman said a date was still to be set for a new hearing.

McCollum and Reid, both 20, were stopped at Lima airport in August on their way to Spain carrying cocaine, said to be worth £1.5m, hidden inside food packets.

The women had reportedly told the Peruvian authorities they were working in Ibiza and did not meet before they were both kidnapped at gunpoint and forced to travel to Majorca.

They claimed they were then sent to Peru and forced to carry the drugs in their luggage.

But on Tuesday, at a closed hearing in Lima, they admitted the offences, and were told they would be sentenced on 1 October.

By pleading guilty they sought to reduce the minimum sentence of eight years by a sixth, down to six years and eight months without the possibility of parole.

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MPs attack rural broadband rollout

26 September 2013 Last updated at 03:11 ET By Jane Wakefield Technology reporter

The way broadband has been rolled out to rural UK areas has been criticised in a damning report by MPs.

The Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said the government had failed to ensure proper competition by awarding all 26 rural broadband contracts to BT.

It accused the Department for Culture, Media and Sport of giving away public money without proper checks.

The government defended the process as fair and BT said it was "disturbed" by a report that was "simply wrong".

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said in a statement: "We put in place a fair commercial process and encouraged different suppliers to bid.

"We are disappointed that the PAC fails to recognise that thousands of rural premises who have never had a decent broadband supply are now getting one, something that is vital for farmers, rural businesses and all those who live outside major cities."

Subsidy pot

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Culture Minister Ed Vaizey said the broadband programme is ''very good value for money''

Making sure that those living in the countryside get broadband speeds comparable to those living in towns and cities has long been something the government has grappled with.

Commercial firms such as Virgin Media and BT see little profit in rolling out services to areas with few people living in them.

So, as an incentive, the government provided a subsidy pot of £230m, with an extra £250m available after 2015, and awarded contracts on a county-by-county basis. Each county also contributed funds to bring superfast broadband to their areas.

But only Fujitsu and BT entered the bidding competition, with Fujitsu later withdrawing.

BT has so far been chosen in 26 counties and is expected to win the 18 remaining contracts.

The company has said it will commit £2.5bn to the project.

Continue reading the main story

• Denmark plans to have 100 megabits per second to all by 2020
• Estonia wants 100Mbps for everyone by 2015
• France plans almost universal coverage at 100Mbps by 2020
• Germany expects to have around 70% coverage at 50Mbps by 2014
• Greece wants 100% of citizens to have access to 30Mbps by 2020
• Ireland plans 100Mbps for all by 2020
• Italy wants to see half of its citizens have access to 100Mbps by 2020
• The UK's target is 90% coverage by 2017 but at the lower speed of 24Mbps

"The Department for Culture, Media and Sport's design of the rural broadband programme has failed to deliver the intended competition for contracts, with the result that BT has strengthened its already strong position in the market," summarised the PAC report.

It said that its contract terms were "overly generous" to BT and did not "promote value for money".

It also accused the department of failing to check that BT's bids were reasonably priced and said there had been "wildly inaccurate" estimates of costs.

"Local authorities are contributing over £230m more to the programme than the department assumed in its 2011 business case and BT over £200m less, yet BT will ultimately benefit from £1.2bn of public funding," the report said.

'Transparent from start'

BT was also criticised in the report for failing to provide local authorities with full information about where exactly it would roll out superfast broadband services, which in turn hampered rivals from drawing up alternatives.

It was also criticised for including a clause in its contract that prevented the local authority it was dealing with from disclosing the costs involved to other authorities negotiating contracts.

Such a lack of transparency meant that the company "exploited its quasi-monopoly position" to limit access to both the wholesale and retail market "to the detriment of the consumer", concluded the report.

In response BT said it was disturbed by the report, "which we believe is simply wrong and fails to take on board a point-by-point correction we sent to the committee several weeks ago".

It added: "We have been transparent from the start and willing to invest when others have not.

"It is therefore mystifying that we are being criticised for accepting onerous terms in exchange for public subsidy - terms which drove others away."

It denied that it had failed to deliver value for money for the taxpayer and said that, even with the public subsidies, it would take it 15 years to pay back its investment in rural broadband.

"Rolling out fibre is an expensive and complex business," it said.

The report recommended that the government should, as a matter of urgency, publish BT's detailed roll-out plans so that other suppliers could offer services to the final 10% of the population that would not be covered under current plans.

'EU failures'

It also said that the DCMS should not spend any more money until "it has developed approaches to secure proper competition and value for money".

In 2011, then Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced that 90% of premises in every local authority area of the UK should have access to internet speeds above 24 megabits per second by May 2015, with a minimum of 2Mbps for others.

The process has suffered from huge delays and is now due to be completed in 2017, nearly two years later than originally planned.

But, according to Ovum analyst Matthew Howett, the delays were more down to the EU's failure to approve the scheme rather than to the UK government.

"The challenges of deploying to the most rural and remote areas of the UK shouldn't be underestimated and you have to wonder whether there are many providers other than BT who would've been able to overcome some of the engineering challenges," he said."

He added that it was "almost impossible" to point to a public funded broadband delivery model from elsewhere that had done a better job.

"If we could roll out rural broadband using reports, inquiries and investigations, the UK would probably have the fastest broadband in the world," he said.

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Mandelson queries Labour energy plan

26 September 2013 Last updated at 03:20 ET

Lord Mandelson has raised doubts about Labour's plan to freeze energy bills, suggesting people may think it is going "backwards" in its industrial policy.

The former business secretary said he believed the party had moved on from the days of having to choose "between state control and laissez-faire".

Ex-Downing Street communications chief Alastair Campbell later said the Labour peer was "wrong" in his assessment.

Ed Miliband has argued that the public supports action to make markets fairer.

The Labour leader spent Wednesday defending his plan to intervene in the energy market if he wins the next election, in the face of attacks from energy firms, business groups and the Conservatives.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

Ed Miliband insists that he is standing up for ordinary people in the face of abuses. He believes that after the banking crisis that is where the new centre ground is. "

End Quote

'Power cuts'

Lord Mandelson - whose Global Counsel business consultancy firm lists energy as one of its specialist areas of expertise - is the most senior Labour figure to publicly raise concerns about the policy and its implications for the party's business credentials.

"At the business department I tried to move on from the conventional choice in industrial policy between state control and laissez-faire," he is reported as saying by the Guardian and the Independent newspapers.

"The industrial activism I developed showed that intervention in the economy - government doing some of the pump-priming of important markets, sectors and technologies - was a sensible approach."

As a result of Mr Miliband's pledge, Lord Mandelson added he believed that "perceptions of Labour policy are in danger of being taken backwards".

But Mr Campbell later tweeted: "Peter M wrong re energy policy being shift to left. It is putting consumer first v anti competitive force. More New Deal than old Labour."

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Labour leader Ed Miliband: "I'm standing up for the British people."

Mr Miliband got a rousing reception when he made the price freeze commitment during his Labour Party conference speech on Tuesday as activists welcomed plans to tackle recent price rises.

But shares in the leading energy firms fell sharply on Wednesday after they said that such a move might make their businesses unviable and could lead to power cuts.

Former Labour minister Lord Digby Jones has suggested the last Labour government was to blame for current failings in the market because it piled on to business environmental and social obligations as part of its targets to decarbonise the economy.

Continue reading the main story

Energy profits

The "big six" - British Gas, EDF, E.On, npower, Scottish Power, SSE - made total net profits of:

2009: £2.15bn

2010: £2.22bn

2011: £3.87bn

2012: £3.74bn

"It's a return to ideological tribal socialism... at a time when we need to be globally competitive," he said. "It might appeal to the party faithful but won't create jobs or prosperity.

"He's going to sacrifice Britain's prosperity on the altar of a social tribalism and it's very worrying."

As suppliers stepped up their fightback, Mr Miliband insisted his plan would not lead to the lights going out.

"We will have scare stories from the energy companies, like we had scare stories from the banks - threats, scare stories about regulation," he said.

"I'm not going to tolerate that. The Conservative Party will support them, but I'm in a different place. I'm standing up for the British people."

'Policy unravelling'

The Labour leader said he would not stand for suppliers "colluding" to raise prices ahead of the election to neutralise the effect of the cap.

He insisted that the price cap and other policies announced during this week's conference - including a plan to strip developers of land if they do not use it - did not mean Labour was harking back to the 1970s.

"Small business tax cuts, stopping a race to the bottom in skills so we build up a skilled workforce, dealing with some of the problems of housing which are a problem for business - this is good for business, this is good for Britain what we are talking about."

Labour says the energy price freeze, which would last from June 2015 to January 2017, would save average households £120 a year and businesses £1,800.

But Business Minister Matthew Hancock said Labour's policy was "unravelling" and the government's approach of requiring companies to offer the best tariff to customers was a more "credible" way forward.

One of the country's biggest investors - Neil Woodford of Invesco Perpetual - called Labour's plan "economic vandalism" and warned that "the economy will shut down".

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HS2 chairman seeks all-party backing

26 September 2013 Last updated at 04:08 ET

The newly appointed chairman of the HS2 rail link has said it is essential the £50bn scheme has cross-party support.

Sir David Higgins told the BBC he would be frank with the public about spending on the high-speed line linking London and Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.

The plans have had the backing of all three main political leaders but are strongly opposed by some backbench MPs.

Shadow chancellor Ed Balls this week hinted Labour might ditch the project over its cost if it regained power.

He told his party conference Labour still supported the idea but suggested alternative options, including improvements to existing lines, may need to be considered.

Sir David, who becomes chairman of HS2 Ltd, the company developing the railway line, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he hoped to avoid the scheme becoming a "political football".

He said: "I met with the chancellor last week and I said, 'There's only one thing I really need on this project: this has to be bipartisan.'"

Sir David said his current role as chief executive of Network Rail, which operates Britain's rail infrastructure, had taught him how badly the country needs a new train line.

He said: "I think the case to make is 'what's the alternative?'

"Because if we don't do this, it's patching up for the next 50 years an ageing Victorian railway system, which is operating at a capacity way over what it was designed for."

'High salaries'

Australian Sir David, the former chief executive of the UK's Olympic Delivery Authority, also said he had been encouraged by what he had heard from the government about its commitment to the project.

BBC transport correspondent Richard Westcott said by appointing a high-profile figure such as Sir David to help run HS2, the government was making a point that it was sticking by the scheme.

Sir David said he intended to be honest and blunt with the public about the need for HS2 and its costs.

But he also hinted that he was willing to pay high salaries - to "the right people" at "the going rate" - to recruit the best staff for the project.

Under the plans, HS2's first phase would see 225mph trains running on a new line between London and the West Midlands by 2026. A second phase would see the line extended further north, with branches to Leeds and Manchester by 2033.

The estimated cost of the plan has risen in the past few months from £34.2bn to £42.6bn - plus £7.5bn for rolling stock - and some senior Labour figures such as Lord Mandelson and Alistair Darling now oppose the project.

Supporters of HS2 argue that apart from shorter journey times, the main argument in favour of the project is the need to greatly increase passenger capacity.

Opponents are fighting the plans on a number of fronts, including the cost of the scheme and the effect on countryside areas that the line will cut through.

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UK women admit Peru drug smuggling

24 September 2013 Last updated at 22:37 ET

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The pair were arrested in August after cocaine was seized at Lima airport

Two women from the UK have pleaded guilty to attempting to smuggle 11kg (24lb) of cocaine out of Peru.

Michaella McCollum, of Dungannon, County Tyrone, and Melissa Reid, of Lenzie, near Glasgow, appeared before a judge at a closed hearing in Lima.

The women, both 20, were caught with the drugs - said to be worth £1.5m - at Lima airport in August, and had said they were forced into carrying them.

They will be jailed for six years and eight months, the court said.

On Tuesday, the pair were transported by van under armed guard from the prison where they are being held to Callao prison where the hearing took place.

They were then returned to the women's prison where they are being held to await their sentencing hearing on 1 October.

A spokesman for the Peruvian court confirmed they had admitted the offences.

It is understood the pleas were made in exchange for a shorter sentence.

A court spokesman said: "They will automatically have a sixth off the minimum jail sentence of eight years and will be sentenced to six years and eight months in prison."

Kidnapping claim

Continue reading the main story

How much success Peru and other Andean nations are having against the cartels and the drugs barons is questionable.

As long as there is demand in Europe and North America, not to forget the growing "markets" of Brazil and Argentina, there's little realistic hope of stemming the flow of narcotics.

Yes, Peru can boast another successful, high-profile drugs bust and the warnings it sends out to other would-be mules.

But as two young women await their sentences, Peru's newly acquired status as the world's number one producer of the raw material for producing cocaine is a statistic that betrays the truth of where the "war on drugs" is really at.

McCollum and Reid had been stopped at Lima airport as they attempted to board a flight to Spain.

They were found to be carrying cocaine hidden in food packets.

The women had reportedly told the Peruvian authorities they were working in Ibiza and did not meet before they were both kidnapped at gunpoint and forced to travel to Majorca.

They claimed they were then sent to Peru and forced to carry the drugs in their luggage.

It has been suggested that the women may be able to serve part of their sentence in a UK prison.

The UK Foreign Office has confirmed there is a prisoner transfer agreement between the UK and Peru.

The Ministry of Justice added that the country receiving the prisoner would pay the cost of them serving their sentence.

Prisoners who want to serve their sentence in either Northern Ireland or Scotland have to apply to the prison service for their part of the UK.

A spokesman for the Northern Ireland Prison Service said McCollum would need to make representation initially to the Peruvian authorities.

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Briton detained in Kenyan capital

25 September 2013 Last updated at 02:55 ET

A British national has been detained in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, the UK Foreign Office has confirmed.

A spokeswoman said the FCO was "making contact to offer standard consular assistance".

It comes after reports in the Daily Mail that a man was stopped at Jomo Kenyatta Airport on Monday.

The paper said the man, who was stopped by passport officials, had bruising to his face.

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Firefighters strike in pensions row

25 September 2013 Last updated at 03:26 ET

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Ian Hayton of Cleveland Fire Brigade says there is ''safety net cover'' in place

Firefighters in England and Wales are due to strike for four hours from midday in a dispute over pensions.

Unions say it is a "warning shot to the government" over members' anger about making them work until they are 60.

Ministers say the action is unnecessary and the pension offer is one of the most generous in the public sector.

Each of the 46 local fire services in England and three in Wales have contingency plans to provide cover and 999 calls will be answered.

Firefighters in Scotland will not be joining the strike but could take action at a later date.

The contingency arrangements vary: in some areas non-unionised fire crews will step in and greater use will be made of part-time and volunteer firefighters.

Private contractors will be used by a handful of services, including in London and Surrey.

Continue reading the main story

Mike Sergeant Local government correspondent, BBC News

---

Union officials see this strike as their opening shot in a dispute that could intensify. They are certainly not ruling out further industrial action in the weeks ahead.

As ever, public opinion will play a crucial role. Firefighters have traditionally enjoyed widespread public support. But the government is highlighting what it regards as the very "generous" terms of this pension offer.

Ministers say the arguments over fitness are a distraction - as the normal retirement age of 60 has actually been in place since 2006. But the FBU says those unable to do the job in their late 50s will be left without a "proper pension".

The strike will test the arrangements brought in since the last national dispute 10 years ago. Then the Army provided cover in 1950s "Green Goddesses".

But the Goddesses have all been sold and it is now up to each local authority to find part-timers, volunteers or private contractors to keep a basic service going.

The armed forces have a back-up role and in the event of a major incident union members can return to work.

Ian Hayton, chief fire officer from Cleveland Fire Brigade, said he had extra resources available in the case of a major incident.

"We've got the opportunity to call in our neighbouring brigades, to call in their resources," he told the BBC. "On the back of that, there is a reserve military reserve I can call upon in relation to major incidents as well."

Paul Fuller, head of the Bedfordshire Fire Service, warned it would not be "business as usual".

"Whilst we will be able to respond to emergency incidents, the response we would expect to be rather slower than the public would normally expect," he said.

BBC local government correspondent Mike Sergeant said many full-time firefighters were likely to strike.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) claims many firefighters will not be fit enough to work to the retirement age of 60, and says they could lose thousands of pounds a year if they retire early.

FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said: "This initial strike is a warning shot to government.

"Firefighters could not be more serious about protecting public safety and ensuring fair pensions. Governments in Westminster and Cardiff have simply refused to see sense on these issues.

"It is ludicrous to expect firefighters to fight fires, and rescue families, in their late-50s; the lives of the general public and firefighters themselves will be endangered.

"None of us want a strike but we cannot compromise on public and firefighter safety."

The government says the offer to firefighters is one of the "most generous in the public sector" and brings their pension age into line with the police and armed forces.

Fire minister Brandon Lewis said: "Now that the Fire Brigades Union is pressing ahead with this unnecessary and avoidable strike, maintaining public safety is our first priority.

"I can reassure the public that all fire and rescue authorities in England and Wales have robust contingency plans in place.

"Incidents and call-outs are at an historical low - but in the event of a fire, the advice to people remains the same: 'Get out, stay out and call 999'; you will get an emergency response."

A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government: "The government will be closely monitoring the situation throughout and has a strategic back-up it can deploy if needed."

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Miliband hits back at energy firms

25 September 2013 Last updated at 04:00 ET

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Ed Miliband says energy firms will "not like" the move but it is necessary

Ed Miliband would "take action" against energy companies if they defied a Labour government by raising prices ahead of his promised freeze.

The Labour leader has pledged gas and electricity bills would not go up for 20 months if he wins the 2015 election.

It has been welcomed by consumer groups angry at price hikes over recent years, but the "big six" suppliers warned it could have serious consequences.

Mr Miliband told the BBC the UK had "a market that isn't working".

And, as the row between Labour and the energy firms escalates, he dismissed them as "unreliable witnesses" after they claimed his plan to freeze prices could lead to blackouts.

He has written to the big six suppliers warning that without changes, taxpayer-funded guarantees to energy firms might not be sustainable.

The plan for a freeze on household and business energy bills between June 2015 and the start of 2017 was the stand-out announcement of Mr Miliband's party conference speech on Tuesday.

'Overcharging'

The Labour leader argued firms had been "overcharging" customers for many years and millions of households would benefit from the temporary cap on prices at a time when finances were under acute pressure and many were struggling to heat their homes.

Labour says the move will save average households £120 a year and businesses £1,800.

Mr Miliband insisted he wanted energy suppliers to be successful and to continue to invest in new capacity to supply the UK's long-term energy needs.

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Centrica's boss warns that the plan could lead to firms' "economic ruin"

But he said "public consent" for these arrangements depended on consumers getting a fair deal and that could happen only if the energy market was totally restructured to separate firms' generating and retail operations.

Speaking to BBC News he said: "I've written a letter to [the energy companies] this morning saying there's a crisis of confidence in the system.

"It's time we fixed it and they can either choose to be part of the problem or part of the solution. I hope they choose to be part of the solution."

Labour has rejected suggestions the cap, which could cost energy firms £4.5bn, will endanger much-needed investment in new plants, saying suppliers should be able to absorb the cost of the freeze out of recent profits.

It also dismissed as "absurd" suggestions the policy could lead to energy blackouts.

Since 2007, gas bills have risen by an average of 41% in real terms, while electricity has gone up by 20%, according to the Office for National Statistics.

This has contributed to overall industry profits of £2.15bn in 2009, £2.22bn in 2010, £3.87bn in 2011 and £3.74bn in 2012.

'Energy security risk'

But suppliers say prices have gone up to cover their rising environmental and social obligations and in response to commodity price rises - sums paid on wholesale markets.

Speaking at a fringe meeting on Tuesday evening, a senior British Gas executive suggested such a direct price intervention could "threaten energy security in the UK".

"If we have no ability to control what we did with the retail prices, and that (wholesale price volatility) was to happen again, it would mean we are selling products at significant amounts of a loss and that would threaten energy security in the UK," said Ian Peters.

Asked whether it could mean "the lights could go off" he replied: "I think that is a risk."

Energy UK, the trade body representing the six largest energy firms, has described the price freeze as "superficially attractive" but suggested it could bring a halt to future infrastructure projects.

Chief executive Angela Knight said: "It will also freeze the money to build and renew power stations, freeze the jobs and livelihoods of the 600,000-plus people dependent on the energy industry and make the prospect of energy shortages a reality, pushing up the prices for everyone."

And the chairman of Centrica - British Gas's holding company - said a firm unable to control either its costs or its prices was potentially in danger of "economic ruin".

"We are all concerned about rising prices and the impact on consumers, but we also have a very real responsibility that we find supplies to make sure the lights stay on," Sir Roger Carr said.

Labour's business spokesman Chuka Umunna told the BBC's Newsnight claims that the policy could see the lights go out was "patently absurd" and "nonsense" put about by the large energy companies.

He suggested they had under-invested in the past.

Energy regulator Ofgem, which Labour plans to replace after 2015, has suggested legislation would need to be passed to change pricing arrangements.

In his speech, Mr Miliband also promised Labour would build 200,000 new homes a year by 2020 and enfranchise 16 and 17 year olds.

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McBride publisher quizzed on scuffle

25 September 2013 Last updated at 04:25 ET

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Iain Dale grapples with the anti-nuclear protester

The publisher of the former Labour spin doctor Damian McBride has been questioned by police following a scuffle on Brighton seafront.

Iain Dale and anti-nuclear campaigner Stuart Holmes tussled as Mr Dale tried to get Mr Holmes's banner out of shot during a live television interview.

Mr Dale went to Brighton police station on Tuesday where he was questioned about a possible offence of assault.

Mr Holmes has also been interviewed on suspicion of common assault.

'Bitten on the bum'

Mr Dale, of Biteback Publishers, who is due to return to Brighton police station on Thursday, wrote on his blog: "In some ways I have committed the cardinal sin of becoming the story myself, rather than my author.

"Anyone who has seen the pictures and video can see that there was no real violence," said Mr Dale, who is better known as a political blogger.

"I certainly didn't hurt the guy. He threw a punch at me but missed, and the only injury was when the man's dog bit him on the bum."

Sussex Police said Mr Dale had been questioned about his version of events.

Det Sgt Stephen French said: "A man was exercising his right to protest in a public place when this incident took place.

"A man has been interviewed in relation to an offence of common assault and is due to attend Brighton police station again on Thursday."

The Labour Party is currently in Brighton for its annual conference.

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