Labour is scaling back its green prosperity plan by ditching its £28bn spending pledge.
But what is the policy, and how has Sir Keir Starmer ended up U-turning on the central investment promise?
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‘First green chancellor’
In 2021, the Labour Party descended on Brighton in its droves for its first in-person conference since the COVID pandemic struck, and for Sir Keir’s first chance to deliver his big leader’s speech in front of a live audience, rather than over Zoom.
But one of the major policy announcements at the event came from his shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, who promised to be “Britain’s first green chancellor” with a green prosperity plan.
She pledged that if her party got into power, it would spend an extra £28bn, through government borrowing, on investment in climate-tackling technologies such as offshore wind farms and battery development, as well as more traditional measures like planting trees and building flood defences.
Ms Reeves said the annual spend would be made every year until 2030 and would create thousands of jobs, as well as encourage more investment from the private sector and help “protect our planet for future generations”.
The ambitious pledge was widely welcomed by green campaigners and even some business leaders, but was quickly seized on by the Conservative Party as Labour being irresponsible with the economy.
‘Foolish’
Fast forward to the summer of 2023, and Ms Reeves announced Labour would be watering down its £28bn pledge.
Rather than providing a guarantee of…
