Andrew Humphrey
Live reporter

Thanks for joining us, we're bringing this to a close now but we'll be back next week for more live coverage of Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.

Just a reminder that if you missed this morning's programme, or indeed want to catch up on other episodes, you can watch back on BBC iPlayer and read more on Grant Shapps' interview here.

Today's page was brought to by Joshua Nevitt, Alexandra Binley and me.

See you next time!

Shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds told Laura Kuenssberg that no final policy has been decided with regard to Labour's reported plan to give millions of EU citizens the right to vote if the party returns to power.

"We believe if people make a contribution to this country, if they live here, there’s an argument for having them involved in that process," he said.

Reality Check

Laura Kuenssberg said to Energy Secretary Grant Shapps that “in the last six months only one wind turbine has been started, in 2022 only two onshore wind turbines were started in England”.

Shapps replied: “I think that’ll be wind farms rather than individual turbines."

But that correction wasn’t needed – it was wind turbines.

According to the energy trade association Renewable UK, external, just two “small turbines” went operational onshore in England in 2022.

There has been an effective moratorium on onshore wind development in England since 2016 but in December the government promised to relax this.

In February 2023, another wind turbine was under construction in Bristol, external. It was expected to be operational by May.

Across the whole UK, in 2022 there was 10 times as much offshore wind capacity installed than onshore.

Grant Shapps was asked by Laura about reports of discontent in the Conservative Party over Rishi Sunak's leadership and the recent election results, and increasing support for former PM Boris Johnson.

Shapps rejected the suggestion that his party was in decline, insisting the Tories were "buzzing with ideas".

Laura Kuenssberg
Presenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

It's been a tricky few days for the prime minister – not just because he had to watch his football team, Southampton, be relegated when they lost to Fulham at St Marys yesterday.

But because some of the Conservatives jitters have been making it into the public realm of late – conferences and get togethers by some Boris Johnson superfans are the most obvious signs of the rumblings of discontent, but they are not the only ones.

No surprise that Energy Secretary Grant Shapps said this morning that Rishi Sunak was still committed to the five promises he made at the beginning of the year. But it was notable that he admitted it would be difficult for him to keep the promises.

Progress on the now famous five pledges is not stellar:

• NHS waiting lists are the highest since records began
• Inflation is not falling as fast as the Bank of England expected
• Economic growth is measly, although recession has probably been avoided
• Last week 564 people crossed the Channel in small boats

Mr Sunak's credibility is based on keeping those promises. That is far from straightforward.

The government is also under pressure to put the foot on the accelerator on its plans for energy. Yes, it is true that the UK has made huge strides in renewable energy. But it is also true that there is massive frustration in the industry about how difficult it is now to get things built, as we heard this morning from the boss of Octopus Energy, Greg Jackson.

As ministers often discover, making promises is easy, sticking to them significantly harder.

Reality Check

Earlier on the show, Energy Secretary Grant Shapps was asked about the government’s pledge to reduce NHS waiting lists in England.

Mr Shapps said that “we’ve seen an end of 18 month waits, for example, I believe”.

In February 2022 the government announced a target to eliminate waits of over 18 months, external in NHS England by April 2023.

But in May 2023, NHS statistics, external showed that the government had not achieved this aim.

It said the NHS had reduced 18-month waits by more than 91% - but there were still 10,737 patients waiting for treatment.

As we reported earlier, Grant Shapps defended the government's performance against the five pledges that Rishi Sunak made last year, saing they were "absolutely committed" to them, but they were "difficult".

Shapps said we should wait until the end of the parliament to judge whether Sunak had been successful.

As the show draws to a close, let's take a look back at what today's guests have said:

• First up was Energy Secretary Grant Shapps. He played down the "disappointing" local election results across England and reports of disatisfaction with Rishi Sunak within the party. Instead he insisted the Tories are "buzzing with ideas" and remain committed to the government’s five promises on inflation, NHS waiting lists, stopping small boats, growing the economy and getting debt down.
• Next was tech entrepreneur Emad Mostaque who warned about artificial intelligence (AI) and the danger of it outsmarting humans. “If we have agents more capable than us that we cannot control… in the worst case scenario it proliferates and controls humanity," he says.
• Cindy McCain, the head of the World Food Programme said the internationally brokered deal which has allowed Ukraine to export shipments of grain from its Black Sea ports which is due to expire on 18 May must be renewed. If it isn't "we can't possibly be able to feed the region let alone the world", she said.
• And bringing the show to a close was Labour's shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, who insisted that his party is not moving towards a Conservative agenda, as some have suggested. He also said no final decision has been made on whether EU citizens living in the UK would be given the right to vote under a Labour government, as reported in The Sunday Telegraph.

The programme may have finished, but stay with us as we bring you more highlights and reaction to this morning's show.

Image source, .

Next, Reynolds is asked about Labour's reported plan to give millions of EU citizens the right to vote if the party returns to power at the next general election.

Laura asks Reynolds if he can confirm the plans, reported by the Telegraph, external.

Reynolds says there’s speculation on this.

"This is not our final policy position. That is part of our manifesto process. We do want to strengthen our democracy.

"We believe if people make a contribution to this country, if they live here, there’s an argument for having them involved in that process.

"We will set that out in detail."

He does not put a timeline on setting out the policy. But with a general election expected next year, we may not have to wait too long.

Sir Keir Starmer is "absolutely the same" as when he was elected to lead the Labour Party in 2020 and pledged "moral socialism", says Jonathan Reynolds.

Questioned about comments made by Sir Keir on Saturday, in which he said "I don't care if I sound like a Conservative", Reynolds said his party's leader was questioning what it is the Tories "conserve".

Saying "it's not the NHS, it's not the BBC, it's not our waterways full of filthy sewage, it's not the nation, it's not family life".

Reynolds says that Starmer is "pointing out that to celebrate, to defend the things that make this country great, it's the Labour agenda that will do that".

Following Labour's defeat in the last general election, the party has had to take a look at itself and is trying to attract voters back to it, he says.

He adds that Starmer "embodies" public service.

Laura asks Labour’s shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds how his party’s leader, Sir Keir Starmer, intends to reform the party to get it in a position to win the next general election.

Reynolds says the scale of the challenge is massive for Labour.

“It’s bigger than any other point in British history.” He says public services aren’t working and that Labour needs courage to change the party and the country.

He said the party is determined to meet challenges on the economy and improving public services.

Image source, .

Labour's Jonathan Reynolds is next to face Laura, let's see what he's got to say.

If Russia pulls out of the Ukraine grain deal, it will be very difficult to feed the world, Cindy McCain is now telling Laura.

The internationally brokered deal between the two countries is due to end on Thursday and if it's not renewed the WFP would not"possibly be able to feed the region let alone the world", Cindy McCain says.

It was agreed to help tackle a global food crisis after access to Ukraine's ports in the Black Sea was blocked by Russian warships following the invasion in February 2022. At the time, Russia was accused of "weaponising hunger".

Ukraine is a major global exporter of sunflower, maize, wheat and barley, and more than half of the wheat grain procured by the WFP last year came from there.

McCain is urging"every world leader" to help facilitate the renewal of the deal and end the conflict so that "we can go back to being able to feed people and people making sure they're secure... and they're able to not only feed their families but themselves".

• You can read the full story here

Now its the time for Laura’s interview with Cindy McCain, who is the head of the World Food Programme (WFP).

She tells Laura that the world has become a "very dangerous place with regards to food security".

Climate change, conflict, rising food prices and the "possibility of the Black Sea grain initiative not continuing, this compounds everything", McCain says.

Ukraine is one of the world's top producers of grain, and the war has increased food prices globally. Countries that suffer with food insecurity, such as Yemen, are feeling the biggest impact as they rely the most heavily on WFP supplies.

Aside from the ending of the war in Ukraine, to ensure food security in the years to come, regions around the world need to "produce differently and produce more", "work together to make sure people are fed" and reduce food waste, she says.

When asked whether people should be more open to eating differently - such as replacing meat with insects as is done in some parts of the world - McCain suggests we should all be more"open to everything".

So, if as tech entrepreneur Emad Mostaque says, AI has the potential to be a threat to humanity, what should we do and how should it be controlled?

He says international standards need to be brought in, and the data fed into the super computers needs to be better controled and not just focusing on the "Western internet". More diversity, Mostaque says will mean AI models "are more likely to be stable, they're more likely to be aligned with humans".

He predicts that governments could soon be shocked into taking action by an event that makes the risks suddenly real. He points to the moment Tom Hanks got coronavirus and says millions then sat up and paid attention - "this is like Covid before Tom Hanks, then Tom Hanks just changed it to, we need policy now".

"Something will come in the coming months," he says.

"I'm not sure what that will be but I know by next year this technology is everywhere, it's in our phones, it's in our workplaces and it's moving the nature of society."

Next up we’re going to hear from tech entrepreneur Emad Mostaque.

He says he believes AI "will be a bigger economic impact than the pandemic", but that "it's up to us to decide which direction" this all goes in,“it could be for the positive as well as the negative”.

Mostaque agrees with analysis that says that 100s of millions of jobs could be lost to AI, but he hopes that better jobs could be created because productivity and GDP will be increased.

Apart from the economic dangers of AI, Mostaque warns that there is a potential existential threat to humanity: “If we have agents more capable than us that we cannot control… in the worst case scenario it proliferates and controls humanity.”

On the subject of energy, Laura suggests progress on renewables has gone backwards on Shapps's watch.

She brings in Greg Jackson, CEO of Octopus Energy, to evaluate the UK's record on renewables.

The UK has done well, he says, but adds "we need to unleash tens of billions of dollars in investment to build new generation facilities.

"We need the grid connections and we need the planning permission."

He says Germany has treated the energy crunch since the Ukraine war started as "a national emergency" and says "we need to do the same with renewables".

Shapps says the UK is in a better position than Germany on renewables and has not been reliant on Russian gas.

"We do well with our renewables and we're world-leading on wind farms", he says.

Image source, .

Next, Kuenssberg ask Shapps about energy bills, which have risen to record highs in recent months.

Shapps says energy bills would have gone up even further for consumers had the government not provided them with financial support.

He says energy prices are due to fall in the coming months.

"In the next six weeks, in the summer, people will see that feed into their bills," Shapps says.

Kuenssberg asks if we will have to accept energy bills will be higher in the long term.

Shapps says, again, that energy prices will fall and his objective as energy secretary is to create energy security.

He blames Russia President Vladimir Putin for using energy as a weapon of blackmail and says the UK needs to invest more in renewables.

The local election results across much of England were "disappointing", concedes Grant Shapps.

The Tories lost 48 councils and more than 1,000 councillors as millions across England went to the polls, and for the first time in 20 years they no longer have a majority in local authorities.

He suggests that after the "shenanigans of the summer" (think three PMs in the space of a few months) the results were in fact better than if the vote had been held "five or six months ago".

When questioned about claims by former home secretary Priti Patel that PM Rishi Sunak is overseeing a "managed decline" of the party, Shapps says that's not true and his party is actually "buzzing with ideas".

"We're still the party coming up with new ideas, with a vision for the country," he says.

When asked about the Conservative Democratic Organisation, a new grassroots pro-Boris Johnson group, holding meetings over the weekend, Shapps said it would be wrong to dismiss the ex-PM's influence on the party, and played down the revolt, saying its good that sections of the party are keen to come up with their own ideas.