Watch: Labour MP uses child-killing analogy to explain green spending

Will Labour stick to its pledge to spend £28 billion a year on a green industrial revolution if it wins the election? The party’s leader Keir Starmer appeared to row back on doing so last month by describing the green spending spree as an ‘ambition’. Now, Labour MP Tulip Siddiq has further muddied the waters by saying the plans are merely a ‘commitment’.

LBC host Nick Ferrari, who was interviewing Siddiq this morning, was understandably baffled. But having asked the shadow city minister to clarify matters, he was likely to have been left even more confused. Pressed on what the difference is between a ‘commitment and an ambition’, Siddiq used a somewhat bizarre analogy – involving a person finding out that their partner had murdered a child. Here’s what she said:

‘Everything has to depend on external circumstances…it’s like saying to your partner ‘I will marry you’ but if I suddenly find out you murdered a two-year-old last year, you might not want to… I think that’s what we are saying. If there’s a global financial crisis we need to review our commitments that that time‘

'It's like saying to your partner, "I'll marry you but if I find out you murdered a two-year-old, I might not want to."'@NickFerrariLBC presses Labour MP Tulip Siddiq on the difference between a 'commitment and an ambition', regarding Labour's £28bn green pledge. pic.twitter.com/9RdVoITPg6

— LBC (@LBC) January 31, 2024

Labour’s wannabe MP in Rother Valley, in South Yorkshire, Jake Richards, perhaps summed it up best. ‘What on earth?’, he responded to the interview in a now-deleted tweet.