The government will remain neutral on the passage of a potential new law enabling assisted dying.

Cabinet secretary Simon Case confirmed the position in a letter to ministers this evening, meaning it'll be a free vote for MPs.

A proposal to change the law to allow terminally ill people the choice to end their own life is set to be introduced to parliament this month.

It will be tabled by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater on 16 October.

Ms Leadbeater said she hoped there would be "an open, robust, compassionate debate" - as she warned Britain's current law on assisted dying was "not fit for purpose".

'Suffering, Switzerland, or suicide'

Speaking to our health correspondent Ashish Joshi, Ms Leadbeater said terminally ill people currently have three options: "We've got suffering, we've got Switzerland, and we've got suicide."

"You can either suffer what is often a long, very painful death, which is horrible for you, and it's horrible for the people around you," she said.

"You can go to Switzerland, to Dignitas, but you can only do that if you have lots of money, if you are fit enough and well enough to travel.

"And the third option is you can take your own life."

Any change to the law would have "proper safeguards" and Ms Leadbeater denied it would end up being a "slippery slope" towards something broader, potentially taking into account mental health conditions.

"This is about people who are terminally ill  - it's not about people who are mentally unwell," she said.

The government has pledged nearly £22bn over 25 years to fund projects that capture greenhouse gases from polluting plants and store them underground, as it races to reach strict climate targets.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told Sky News that jobs that used to support things like coal-fired power stations will now "come back" under Labour.

"Today a new era begins," he declared. "A new era of a new industry, carbon capture and storage, as you describe, capturing the carbon and burying it underground rather than going up into the atmosphere.

"It's about good jobs across the country, and it's about a sign of where this government stands, which is we are going to invest in the future of this country."

Asked where these billions of pounds will come from, he replied: "Public investment. We believe in borrowing to invest. It's absolutely the right thing to do for Britain."

He hit out at "dither and delay" under previous governments that have "not taken advantage of these kinds of industrial opportunities".

Mr Miliband rejected that today's announcement is about turning around the "doom and gloom" narrative that it has been suggested has damaged business confidence.

"I'm in politics for change and hope, not doom and gloom. And that's what this is all about. And that's what the prime minister is about."

This is "the first part of what you'll be seeing from the government in the coming months", he said.

We asked Energy Secretary Ed Miliband about the situation in the Middle East as the world is braced for Israel's retaliation against Iran following its ballistic missile attack this week.

The minister told us that the situation is "deeply worrying", and reiterated the government's call for an "immediate ceasefire" between Israel and Hezbollah.

"Obviously the destabilisation of the Middle East in this way is a deeply, deeply worrying situation," he said.

"As far as Iran is concerned, we absolutely respect and support Israel's right to self-defence. It was an outrageous attack on Israel.

"We obviously want to see restraint, but, but Israel's right to defend itself is something where we stand absolutely full square with them."

Watch "Netanyahu", a Sky News documentary which will air tonight at 9pm

A Labour MP has announced that she will be introducing a bill to legalise assisted dying, which would allow terminally ill, mentally competent people to end their own life.

The government has said that MPs will have a free vote on the matter, and the prime minister has extended that to ministers as the government will remain neutral.

To that end, we asked Energy Secretary Ed Miliband what his view is, and he revealed that he will be voting in favour of legalising assisted dying.

"These are very difficult issues on which people [have] very respectable differences of view," he said.

"My personal view, and this is how I voted in the past, is to be in favour of the bill on assisted dying.

"I think we have lots and lots of people with the most difficult terminal illnesses. I think they need dignity and they need to be able to have control over their own life and their own death, frankly."

Mr Miliband went on to say that there needs to be "proper safeguards in place", and that he understands people who have "concerns" about it.

With the Tory leadership race down to the final four, Beth's been at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham to watch the 'beauty parade' for herself, while Ruth and Harriet predict who will make it to the final two.   

Back in Westminster, it looks like Sir Keir Starmer may have taken Harriet's advice when he said he would pay back £6,000 of gifts he's received since getting into government, but Harriet thinks Labour needs to go further to put this scandal to bed.  

Plus, Beth has been investigating a question from a listener, about the best smelling politician, and she finally has an answer.

👉 Click here to follow Electoral Dysfunction wherever you get your podcasts 👈

Email us at [email protected], post on X to @BethRigby, or send a WhatsApp voice note on 07934 200 444.   

The government has pledged nearly £22bn to fund projects that capture greenhouse gases from polluting plants and store them underground, as it races to reach strict climate targets.

Ministers are committing to up to £21.7bn over 25 years, to be given in subsidies to sites in the Teesside and Merseyside "clusters" - from 2028.

The plans are designed to generate private investment and jobs in Merseyside and Teesside, two industry-heavy areas that will be home to the new "carbon capture clusters".

The government hopes it will attract £8bn in private investment, create 4,000 direct jobs and support a further 50,000.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the move was "reigniting our industrial heartlands by investing in the industry of the future".

"For the past 14 years, business has been second-guessing a dysfunctional government - which has set us back and caused an economic slump," the PM said.

"Today's announcement will give industry the certainty it needs," he added.

Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) has been developed to combat climate change.

It captures the planet-warming carbon dioxide released from burning fossil fuels or from heavy industry, and puts it to use or stores it underground.

It is expensive and difficult, but the UK's climate advisers, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), and United Nations scientists say it is essential to get the world to net zero, which the UK is targeting for 2050.

Read more from our climate reporter Victoria Seabrook here:

Good morning!

Welcome back to the Politics Hub on this Friday, 4 October.

The government is announcing that it is signing deals for two carbon capture and storage projects on Merseyside and Teesside as ministers race to reach strict climate targets.

These projects will create 4,000 jobs directly and support 50,000 jobs in the long-term.

The government has committed up to £21.7bn over 25 years, to be given in subsidies to sites in the Teesside and Merseyside "clusters" - from 2028.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, are visiting the North West today to confirm the funding.

We are expecting to hear from the PM on that visit, and we'll bring you full details here in the Politics Hub.

And tune in to Sky News to hear from Energy Secretary Ed Miliband at 7.05am,

Meanwhile, Sir Ed Davey is out and about today calling for the government to provide more support for unpaid carers - a policy area he is deeply passionate about.

Specifically, the Liberal Democrats want ministers to provide a £20 boost in the Carer's Allowance, raising it from £81.90 to £101.90 per week, which would give family carers an additional £1,040 annually.

Follow along for the very latest political news.

The Politics Hub is signing off for the evening, but we leave you with one final round-up of the main things you need to know:

• The UK will hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius following two years of negotiations;
• Mauritius had long argued it was illegally forced to give up the islands to secure its own independence in 1968, and the UK had been facing years of diplomatic pressure to give them up;
• It's not gone down well with Tory leadership candidates, but Joe Biden has hailed the move as "historic" and the UK's negotiator Jonathan Powell told Sky News concerns China could take advantage are "nonsense".

• Labour's Diane Abbott has told Sky News the PM's decision to pay back £6,000 worth of freebies is "an admission he was doing wrong";
• She said donors didn't give gifts or money to politicians "out of altruism", warning they may eventually want something in return.

• The government will stay neutral on a vote on a new assisted dying law which would let terminally ill people make the choice to end their life, with a bill set to be introduced later this month;
• And finally, the government is also teasing a "major" infrastructure announcement - we'll bring you news of that in the Politics Hub tomorrow.
  

For a fuller catch-up, tap through the key points above or scroll through the posts below.

Have a good evening, and we'll be back in the morning.

The government will remain neutral on the passage of a potential new law enabling assisted dying.

Cabinet Secretary Simon Case confirmed the position in a letter to ministers this evening, meaning it'll be a free vote for MPs.

A proposal to change the law to allow terminally ill people the choice to end their own life is set to be introduced to parliament this month.

It will be tabled by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater on 16 October.

Ms Leadbeater said she hoped there would be "an open, robust, compassionate debate" - as she warned Britain's current law on assisted dying was "not fit for purpose".

'Suffering, Switzerland, or suicide'

Speaking to our health correspondent Ashish Joshi, Ms Leadbeater said terminally ill people currently have three options: "We've got suffering, we've got Switzerland, and we've got suicide."

"You can either suffer what is often a long, very painful death, which is horrible for you, and it's horrible for the people around you," she said.

"You can go to Switzerland, to Dignitas, but you can only do that if you have lots of money, if you are fit enough and well enough to travel.

"And the third option is you can take your own life."

Any change to the law would have "proper safeguards" and denied it would end up being a "slippery slope" towards something broader, potentially taking into account mental health conditions.

"This is about people who are terminally ill  - it's not about people who are mentally unwell," she said.

Labour's Diane Abbott has said Sir Keir Starmer's decision to hand back £6,000 worth of gifts is "an admission he was doing a wrong thing".

The veteran backbench MP, who has said she doesn't have much of a relationship with her party's leader, accused him of not understanding "how taking freebies looks to ordinary people".

Speaking to our political correspondent Serena Barker-Singh, she said: "He just spent weeks and weeks claiming everything was in the rules, now he's had to give some of it at least back.

"Well, that's an admission he was doing a wrong thing."

'A very wealthy man'

The money given back by Sir Keir covers the cost of things like loans of luxury clothing for his wife, and Taylor Swift tickets.

They are all from since he became prime minister.

Ms Abbott said despite his previous defence of taking freebies, "he'll see from polling the public take a very dim view of this".

Describing Sir Keir as "a very wealthy man", Ms Abbott said the fact the row had coincided with backlash to the winter fuel allowance cut for most pensioners had "upset the public".

And while she said the freebies row is not a case of "corruption", rich donors don't just give gifts "out of altruism".

"At some point they think that politician is gonna listen to them."

Donations are part of politics, Ms Abbott admitted, but not on this scale.

Watch: PM on decision to pay back gifts