Climate alert as Starmer axes £28bn green pledge

LABOUR’S leadership came under fire from all sides today for abandoning its pledge to spend £28 billion a year on decarbonising the economy, as scientists warned that the global climate is entering dangerous new territory.

- Jitendra Joshi

The U-turn came just days after leader Sir Keir Starmer said the Green Prosperity Plan was “desperately needed”.

However, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has repeatedly refused to commit to the £28 billion figure in recent interviews, emphasising instead her “fiscal rules” if Labour wins power this year and had already diluted the time frame for the pledge.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: “After four years of Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership it seems like Labour’s only economic plan is to copy the Conservatives.

“But if their policies flip-flop like this in opposition, what sort of chaos would the British people have to endure if they got into power?” asked the minister, who took office after Kwasi Kwarteng’s chaotic and short-lived chancellorship under Liz Truss.

Labour insisted that Tory profligacy in government had forced a rethink but denied any clash at the top as the party pledged new investments to insulate homes and to create a new body called Great British Energy.