Starmer’s green spending problem is getting bigger

Once again Labour’s internal debate over its £28 billion green spending pledge is playing out publicly. On Friday there was some talk of clarity following a report that the headline figure would be ditched – with the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones then going out on the media where he appeared to confirm it. Jones said Labour would decide how much to spend on environmental programmes once in government, adding that ‘the number will move around just as a matter of fact’. But then Keir Starmer popped up on Monday to declare in an interview with Times Radio that the £28 billion a year on green spending is ‘desperately needed’.

Starmer said:

We’re going to need investment, that’s where the £28 billion comes in. That investment that is desperately needed for that mission… you can only understand the investment argument by understanding that we want to have clean power by 2030 … We need to borrow to invest to do that.