Rachel Reeves backtracks over Labour’s £28bn climate plan

Rachel Reeves has just rowed back on a flagship Labour policy. Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, the shadow chancellor watered down her earlier pledge to spend £28 billion a year on climate investment ‘for each and every year of this decade’ – Labour’s version of Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. Explaining her decision to delay the spending, Reeves insisted that a Labour government would still hit the figure eventually. Reeves promised to ‘ramp up’ the investment over time to reach a total of £28 billion a year in the second half of the parliament at the latest.

So, what’s behind the change of approach? It comes after the policy received heavy criticism publicly from the Tories and privately from figures in her own party. Ministers have gone on the offensive over the policy, arguing that this level of borrowing would mean mortgage rates rising even higher.

Sunak has personally criticised Labour for their green agenda, suggesting the party has a ‘completely bizarre policy’ following the news that Starmer plans to put an end to new licences for drilling for gas and oil in the North Sea.