Labour must do no more backsliding on commitments to create a green economy | Andrew

They’ve talked the bold talk. Sir Keir Starmer regularly claims that a government led by him will transform the UK into “a clean energy superpower”. Rachel Reeves declares that she will be “Britain’s first green chancellor”. Ed Miliband, the shadow cabinet’s most ardent champion of the green industrial revolution, proclaims that Britain can be a winner in “the biggest transformation of the global economy in 300 years”.

Talking is a whole lot easier than doing. When the crunch comes, when a Labour cabinet faces the horribly tough choices that are going to confront them in power, will their fine words turn out to be little more than hot air?

That’s a concern since Labour backtracked on its centrepiece green prosperity plan after aggressive attacks by critics from both outside the party and within. The plan, as originally set out, was to borrow £28bn a year from the beginning of a Labour government to invest in wind power, tidal energy, solar, green hydrogen, battery factories, home insulation, carbon-capture and other climate-friendly projects. The plan…