LABOUR have denied reports that Keir Starmer could U-turn on the party’s pledge to spend £28 billion a year on green initiatives.
Both the BBC and The Telegraph reported that the plan could be scaled back as Labour instead focuses on meeting the party’s fiscal rules.
Labour originally promised in 2021 to invest £28bn a year until 2030 in green projects if they came to power.
However, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves (below) said the figure would instead be a target to work towards in the second half of a first parliament.
The BBC reported that a senior source in Starmer’s office suggested that figure may not be reached at all due to the current state of public finances.
Meanwhile, another source told The Telegraph that fulfilling Labour’s fiscal rules was more important than meeting that pledge, with the paper reporting aides to Starmer have asked Reeves to scale back the fund.
However, a Labour Party spokesperson said it was “categorically untrue” that Starmer had asked for the plans to be “watered down”.
The spokesperson said all policies would be subject to Labour’s fiscal rules but the position on the green prosperity plan remained “unchanged”.
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The party’s rules include paying for day-to-day expenditure through tax receipts and getting debt down as a share of the economy.
“Labour will ramp up investment in jobs and energy independence through our green prosperity plan to a total of £28 billion a year as planned in the second half of the parliament,” the spokesperson said.
The reports had prompted concerns with SNP MSP Jackie Dunbar saying Keir Starmer “must have given himself vertigo from the amount of time he spends U-turning on his party’s promises”.
“Whether it be investing in our green future or protecting our NHS, there is nothing Keir Starmer’s (above) lacklustre Labour Party isn’t willing to turn its back on in order to win over Tory voters in England. Scotland deserves better.”
Hannah Martin, co-director of the Green New Deal Rising campaign group warned any such moves from Starmer would be a “disaster”.
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