Friday, February 02, 2024
The long retreat
It is now looking increasingly certain that the only radical policy left in the Labour arsenal, a £28 billion investment in green energy, will be dropped by them before the next election, if not sooner.
The Independent reports that Shadow Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has become the latest senior Labour figure to refuse to confirm whether Labour will stick to this pledge:
The MP for Stalybridge and Hyde, in Greater Manchester, said it was Labour’s “ambition” to carry out the multi-billion pound investment but warned that “sometimes circumstances change”.
The row-back from Rachel Reeves’ 2021 green prosperity plan has been trailed heavily over the last few months, following reported infighting within the shadow cabinet over the funding of the pledge.
Mr Reynolds told Radio 4’s Today programme that the future of the plan depends on the state of the nation’s finances if they win power.
Asked if the party was still committed to the plan, Mr Reynolds said it was merely ‘an ambition.’
Asked directly if Labour was still committed to its pledge, Mr Reynolds, a key ally of Sir Keir Starmer, said: ‘That is our level of ambition but how quickly we get there and if we can get there has to have respect to and heed to the overall position of the economy.’
Pressed by interviewer Nick Robinson, Mr Reynolds declined to commit to a figure in the event of Labour rowing back on the full sum.
His comments follow an equally difficult media performance by his front bench colleague, Tulip Siddiq, who left radio listeners baffled after she compared her party’s economic policies to child murder.
Yesterday, Ms Siddiq said: “It is a commitment depending on the fact it abides by our fiscal rules - 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.”
Labour may be on course to win the next election but if they do, nobody can really say what difference it will make.
The Independent reports that Shadow Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has become the latest senior Labour figure to refuse to confirm whether Labour will stick to this pledge:
The MP for Stalybridge and Hyde, in Greater Manchester, said it was Labour’s “ambition” to carry out the multi-billion pound investment but warned that “sometimes circumstances change”.
The row-back from Rachel Reeves’ 2021 green prosperity plan has been trailed heavily over the last few months, following reported infighting within the shadow cabinet over the funding of the pledge.
Mr Reynolds told Radio 4’s Today programme that the future of the plan depends on the state of the nation’s finances if they win power.
Asked if the party was still committed to the plan, Mr Reynolds said it was merely ‘an ambition.’
Asked directly if Labour was still committed to its pledge, Mr Reynolds, a key ally of Sir Keir Starmer, said: ‘That is our level of ambition but how quickly we get there and if we can get there has to have respect to and heed to the overall position of the economy.’
Pressed by interviewer Nick Robinson, Mr Reynolds declined to commit to a figure in the event of Labour rowing back on the full sum.
His comments follow an equally difficult media performance by his front bench colleague, Tulip Siddiq, who left radio listeners baffled after she compared her party’s economic policies to child murder.
Yesterday, Ms Siddiq said: “It is a commitment depending on the fact it abides by our fiscal rules - 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.”
Labour may be on course to win the next election but if they do, nobody can really say what difference it will make.
