Labour confirms U-turn on £28bn green spending pledge

Published

1 year ago

February 8, 2024

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Labour has finally confirmed it is ditching a flagship pledge to spend £28bn-a-year on green investments if it wins the next general election.

The party says it will now spend just £23.7bn on environmental schemes over the course of its first term in office – equivalent to just under £5bn a year.

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However, Labour insists its commitment to becoming a clean superpower by 2030 remains unchanged and the reduced funding will still meet existing promises made under the original green prosperity plan.

These include:

• The launch of Great British Energy – a publicly-owned green energy company

• A National Wealth Fund to invest in British industries such as electric vehicle production

• A warm homes plan to insulate millions of homes over a decade

• A British Jobs Bonus to provide capital grants to incentivise companies developing clean technologies to invest in regional areas

• Reforming the planning system to accelerate energy projects like onshore windfarms

• Making the UK the green finance capital of the world with mandatory 1.5C-aligned transition plans for major companies and financial institutions.

It is understood that when the party had announced the £28bn figure in the autumn of 2021, it had not come up with ways to spend that sum.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said that while existing commitments will still be met, “what won’t now happen is that we won’t make further or new investment decisions. And that means that we won’t reach the £28bn envisaged”.

He said the figure was being “stood down” because of the “damage” the Tories had done to the economy – citing the Liz Truss mini-budget and government plans to “max out the credit card” – effectively use up all fiscal headroom ahead of the next election.

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“I have to anticipate the circumstances as they are now, not as I’d wish them to be,” he told broadcasters as he outlined his decision.

While existing commitments are being kept, the party’s Warm Homes Plan is set to be a casualty of the climbdown.

This was going to cost £6bn a year but will now cost £6.6bn over five years and will “unfortunately have to be carried out a little bit more slowly”, Sir Keir said.

While the aim is still to upgrade all homes below an EPC rating of C by 2035, the new timetable will see just five million properties insulated in the first five years of a Labour government.

The move has angered green campaigners, but Sir Keir insisted: “There is nothing we have said we will do that we are now saying we won’t do.

“I don’t want to have a row about the size of a cheque. I want to have a row about the outcomes.”

U-turn follows months of speculation

The spending U-turn comes after months of speculation about the policy – which aims to kickstart the UK’s transition to a low-carbon economy, meet climate targets and reduce energy bills.

The new plan will be funded half by borrowing, and half by re-purposing and extending the government’s windfall tax on the profits of oil and gas giants.

This currently stands at 75%, but Labour says it will raise it to 78%, the same rate as Norway, while closing what it calls a “loophole” that gives companies tax breaks if they invest in Britain.

Previously, the party had pledged to borrow the whole sum to fund the investments, but this has repeatedly been used by the Conservatives to attack Labour’s fiscal credibility in the run up to the election.

The departure from the £28bn pledge is still expected to be met with ridicule by the Tories, who have seized on what they describe as Sir Keir’s “flip-flopping” on major policies as a key attack line.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the Labour leader “doesn’t have a plan for Britain”.

He posted on X: “His pledge has a £28bn price tag and now he’s admitted there’s no plan to pay for it, which means going back to square one with higher taxes for working people.”

Sir Keir ‘caving like a house of cards in the wind’

Climate campaigners have also attacked the move, with Greenpeace UK’s co-executive director Areeba Hami accusing Sir Keir of having “caved like a house of cards in the wind”.

“Climate action, including borrowing to invest in warmer homes, remains hugely popular among voters. It would be ironic indeed if Labour’s attempt to make their manifesto ‘bombproof’ from Tory attack ended up just bombing on the doorstep instead,” she said.

Labour had already watered down the original plan by saying last year that the spending target would likely be met in the second half of a first parliament, rather than immediately, if the party wins the next election.

The party has since insisted the pledge is subject to its fiscal rules, which include getting debt falling as a percentage of GDP.

Confusion over the future of the policy has grown in recent weeks as some senior figures, including shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, refused to refer to the £28bn-a-year figure, while party leader Sir Keir continued to do so as recently as Tuesday.

The pledge to spend £28bn-a-year on environmental schemes was first made during its party conference in 2021, with Ms Reeves promising to be “Britain’s first green chancellor” if the party wins the next election.

She stood by that promise as she defended the latest row-back, saying: “These policies will transform our economy in ways that are incredibly exciting and can boost growth and I am determined to do that.”

Politics

US-UK trade deal ‘done’, says Trump as he meets Starmer at G7

Published

2 hours ago

June 17, 2025

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US-UK trade deal 'done', says Trump as he meets Starmer at G7

The UK-US trade deal has been signed and is “done”, US President Donald Trump has said as he met Sir Keir Starmer at the G7 summit.

The US president told reporters: “We signed it, and it’s done. It’s a fair deal for both. It’ll produce a lot of jobs, a lot of income.”

As Mr Trump and his British counterpart exited a mountain lodge in the Canadian Rockies where the summit is being held, the US president held up a physical copy of the trade agreement to show reporters.

Several leaves of paper fell from the binding, and Mr Starmer quickly bent down to pick them up, saying: “A very important document.”

Sir Keir said the document “implements” the deal to cut tariffs on cars and aerospace, adding: “So this is a very good day for both of our countries – a real sign of strength.”

Mr Trump added that the UK was “very well protected” against any future tariffs, saying: “You know why? Because I like them”.

However, he did not say whether levies on British steel exports to the US would be set to 0%, saying “we’re gonna let you have that information in a little while”.

What exactly does trade deal being ‘done’ mean?

The government says the US “has committed” to removing tariffs (taxes on imported goods) on UK aerospace goods, such as engines and aircraft parts, which currently stand at 10%.

That is “expected to come into force by the end of the month”.

Tariffs on car imports will drop from 27.5% to 10%, the government says, which “saves car manufacturers hundreds of millions a year, and protects tens of thousands of jobs”.

The White House says there will be a quota of 100,000 cars eligible for import at that level each year.

But on steel, the story is a little more complicated.

The UK is the only country exempted from the global 50% tariff rate on steel – which means the UK rate remains at the original level of 25%.

That tariff was expected to be lifted entirely, but the government now says it will “continue to go further and make progress towards 0% tariffs on core steel products as agreed”.

The White House says the US will “promptly construct a quota at most-favoured-nation rates for steel and aluminium articles”.

Other key parts of the deal include import and export quotas for beef – and the government is keen to emphasise that “any US imports will need to meet UK food safety standards”.

There is no change to tariffs on pharmaceuticals for the moment, and the government says “work will continue to protect industry from any further tariffs imposed”.

The White House says they “committed to negotiate significantly preferential treatment outcomes”.

Mr Trump also praised Sir Keir as a “great” prime minister, adding: “We’ve been talking about this deal for six years, and he’s done what they haven’t been able to do.”

He added: “We’re very longtime partners and allies and friends and we’ve become friends in a short period of time.

“He’s slightly more liberal than me to put it mildly… but we get along.”

Sir Keir added that “we make it work”.

The US president appeared to mistakenly refer to a “trade agreement with the European Union” at one point as he stood alongside the British prime minister.

Mr Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs on countries in April. At the time, he announced 10% “reciprocal” rates on all UK exports – as well as separately announced 25% levies on cars and steel.

In a joint televised phone call in May, Sir Keir and Mr Trump announced the UK and US had agreed on a trade deal – but added the details were being finalised.

Ahead of the G7 summit, the prime minister said he would meet Mr Trump for “one-on-one” talks, and added the agreement “really matters for the vital sectors that are safeguarded under our deal, and we’ve got to implement that”.

Politics

Abortion debate reignited as Sky poll reveals public’s view on decriminalisation ahead of Commons vote

Published

2 hours ago

June 17, 2025

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Abortion debate reignited as Sky poll reveals public's view on decriminalisation ahead of Commons vote

A small group have gathered in the main square in the centre of Birmingham, and it’s a real mix of people. There are older figures from the community, young students, as well as groups of friends and some families.

On closer inspection, you can make out candles and rosary beads, signalling it’s some kind of vigil. As hymns start to be sung, it’s revealed to be a gathering to protest against abortion.

Nearly 90% of this country is pro-choice, but a small, vocal minority is becoming more organised in the UK.

Energised by the Trump administration, young and old activists in the UK anti-abortion movement have become more motivated to get their message across.

And all this is happening just as abortion laws in the UK could be about to go through the most significant change in over 50 years.

Nearly three years on from the ruling reversing Roe v Wade – a landmark case that once made abortion legal in the US – the age-old abortion debate has become even more political in the UK.

A breakthrough moment came when Vice President JD Vance criticised the UK laws on abortion buffer zones – areas outside clinics where police are allowed to use their discretion to stop anyone harassing women entering abortion clinics.

Explained: What are the UK’s abortion laws?

One of the cases cited by the vice president was that of Isabel Vaughan-Spruce.

She’s a lifelong anti-abortion activist who has been handing out leaflets outside clinics for 20 years. Since buffer zones came into force, she now visits to silently pray once a week. In 2022, she was arrested outside an abortion clinic for silent prayer and taken to court, although the charges were later dropped.

She also received £13,000 in a civil claim against West Midlands Police, which did not admit liability.

“They actually asked me what I was doing, and I said, well, I’m just physically standing here. I might be praying in my head, but nothing out loud. And on that basis, they made an arrest. I was heavily searched, I was taken to the police station, locked in a police cell for hours before being questioned under caution. And then, eventually, I went to court.

“I believe that abortion centres are like the modern-day Calvary. This is where the innocent are being put to death. I might not be physically interacting with anybody or stopping anyone or talking to anyone, just to be there in prayer is really, really important from a spiritual perspective.”

For people like Ailish McEntee, any type of protest is a distraction, which she says is not wanted by the women who come to the clinic she works at in London. She’s hoping that this week MPs will go further on abortion laws and pass an amendment through the Commons to decriminalise abortion for anyone seeking an abortion up to 24 weeks.

“The law itself works very well for the majority of people, but for those individuals in those kind of really high-risk domestic abuse situations… they maybe can’t make it to a clinic, they might seek abortion care from those kind of unregulated providers.

“So this amendment would take away that decriminalisation of women themselves. And it’s a really strange part of the law that we have.

“I think particularly in recent years, with Roe v Wade overturning and Donald Trump winning the election again, I think it’s really pushed forward the anti-choice rhetoric that has always been there, but it’s absolutely ramping up.”

According to polling by Sky News and YouGov, 55% of people are in favour of the law changing to stop women being criminalised for their own abortion before 24 weeks.

Surprisingly though, 22% said they believe women should be investigated or imprisoned for abortion after 24 weeks.

Stella Creasy is one of the MPs laying down an amendment to try to decriminalise abortion.

“There’s no other health care provision that we see with a criminal foundation in this way and it has a very real practical consequence.

“We’ve seen some incredibly vulnerable women and girls who didn’t even know that they were pregnant who have late-term miscarriages finding themselves with police officers rather than counsellors at their hospital beds finding themselves under suspicion for months, if not years, and I just don’t think that’s where the British public are at.”

But Rachel is concerned by this amendment. She runs sessions at the UK arm of Rachel’s Vineyard – a faith-based organisation originally founded in the United States, dedicated to, in their words, “healing the trauma of abortion”. They frame abortion not as a medical procedure, but as a harm to mothers and fathers.

“With all sudden deaths, whether you are 80 years of age or you’re 26 weeks born, you know, out of the womb, and you’ve died, you’ve sadly died, we need to be able to investigate that. For us to have compassion, we need to have justice.”

In Northern Ireland, where the decriminalisation battle was won in 2019, I met Emma, who fought on the campaign at Alliance for Choice.

She says police searches were a daily routine for her, and since 2019, she has been able to continue helping women navigate abortion care without the threat of being investigated.

Orfhlaith Campbell should have been one of the lucky ones. She was able to seek a medical abortion at 23 weeks in Northern Ireland, two years after it had been decriminalised, but she says she had to fight to get the care she needed.

She was on the cusp of the medical time limit when she suffered a premature rupture of membranes, went into labour and was told she would likely develop sepsis.

“I would have died and my daughter was dying, I could feel her dying, and it was a compassionate choice. When we got the post-mortem after, the infection had went into her wee body too, and she had nuclear debris in her lungs. If she had survived at all, it would have been a very, very painful existence.

“So yes, I had to break through the stigma that had been ingrained in me in Northern Ireland. I had to break through legal fights and the barriers that were being put in place. But I was strong enough to know that that was compassionate and that healthcare was needed both for me and her.”

The UK is majority pro-choice, and our polling shows the majority are for decriminalising abortion.

But activists who are against abortion are energised by the changing landscape of the debate in the US.

As parliament sets to vote on two amendments on abortion laws this week and potentially pulls in one direction, activists will likely only get louder and become more effective at getting their message across.