Labour in needless tangle over headline policy that didn’t exist in detail at all

Published

1 year ago

February 9, 2024

admin

The incredible – needless – tangle that Labour got itself into over its £28bn green investment policy only truly became clear as leader Sir Keir Starmer and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves were killing it.

The flagship policy had been that it borrows £28bn a year to turn Britain green.

But at 5pm on Thursday, Labour announced it would only be borrowing just a tenth of that sum – £2.6bn a year – an extraordinary switch.

Politics Live: Starmer ditches his ‘biggest dividing line’ with Tories

Yet in the same breath, Sir Keir and Ms Reeves say that they will continue to press ahead with all the projects they were talking about doing before this change, reducing the scale of spending on just one project while keeping all the rest in train.

Only over the course of briefings and interviews did the true scale of the underlying mess become clear.

All the agony and pain that Labour has been absorbing over this policy – a bruise the Tories have been mercilessly punching – was for a headline policy that, in reality, didn’t exist in detail at all.

As recently as Tuesday, Sir Keir recommitted to spending £28bn a year. Last month, he told Sky News the Tories were trying to “weaponise this issue, the £28bn… this is a fight I want to have”.

Yet even as he said this, it wasn’t true.

Since it was first announced two years ago, this policy has already been changed three times – to delay its introduction in full until the second half of the parliament, make it subject to fiscal rules, and to set this target inclusive of existing government decisions.

This meant that despite repeating the headline figure, Labour was never going to spend anything like £28bn.

Some £10bn of the £28bn had already been committed by this Tory government – so would not need further additional borrowing by a future Labour government.

On top of that, Labour never worked out how to spend all the remaining £18bn a year. Around £6bn of that had no plan attached to it whatsoever, so that’s been slashed – a cost-free cut.

Shadow climate secretary Ed Miliband might have had designs for how to spend that remaining sum, but it never appears to have passed muster with the shadow Treasury team.

Yet it seems incredible that Labour was drawing fire, worrying and losing political capital and sleep over a borrowing pledge it did not know how to spend.

It had become a strange mirage of a policy – about signalling intent – yet Sir Keir appeared determined to continue fighting in public to defend it – until today. Now he will spend just £4.7bn, only £2.6bn of which is from borrowing.

Nobody would say this has been easy.

Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts

But in killing it, Labour is setting a clear course that very tight fiscal discipline matters most, just at a point where big decisions are about to be made that will determine what Labour does in office.

Sir Keir and Ms Reeves made clear that the fiscal rules – artificial rules to curb borrowing – are more important than anything else, yet have not spelled them out in full.

Reeves – who seemed to be the architect of the U-turn – is pushing to copy the Tory fiscal rules, meaning an even tighter regime than the one implemented by Gordon Brown as chancellor in 1997.

This worries some, as it will hinder spending all the way through the next parliament if as many think growth remains anaemic.

It is one thing to scrap an artificial spending pledge which had become a political millstone.

But if Ms Reeves is about to bind the hands of Labour for the whole of the next parliament, with the blessing of Sir Keir, decisions like this could become more tricky and more frequent.

Politics

More children from Gaza to be brought to UK for urgent medical treatment

Published

4 hours ago

August 3, 2025

admin

More children from Gaza to be brought to UK for urgent medical treatment

Efforts to bring Gazan children to the UK for urgent medical treatment are set to be accelerated under new government plans.

Under the scheme, reportedly set to be announced within weeks, more injured and sick children will be treated by specialists in the NHS “where that is the best option for their care”.

It has been suggested that up to 300 children could arrive in the UK from Gaza.

A parent or guardian will accompany each child, as well as siblings if necessary, and the Home Office will carry out biometric and security checks before travel, the Sunday Times has reported.

It is understood this will happen “in parallel” with an initiative by Project Pure Hope, a group set up to bring sick and injured Gazan children to the UK privately for treatment.

A government spokesperson said: “We are taking forward plans to evacuate more children from Gaza who require urgent medical care, including bringing them to the UK for specialist treatment where that is the best option for their care.”

More than 50,000 children are estimated to have been killed or injured in Gaza since October 2023, according to Unicef.

So far, three children have arrived in the UK for medical treatment with the help of the charity Project Pure Hope.

Around 5,000 have been evacuated in total, with the majority going to Egypt and Gulf countries.

Sir Keir Starmer said last week that the UK was “urgently accelerating” efforts to bring children over for treatment.

The government has also pledged another £1m to help the World Health Organisation in Egypt provide medical support to evacuated Gazans.

The prime minister told the Mirror: “I know the British people are sickened by what is happening.

“The images of starvation and desperation in Gaza are utterly horrifying. We are urgently accelerating efforts to evacuate children from Gaza who need critical medical assistance – bringing more Palestinian children to the UK for specialist medical treatment.”

Around 100 MPs have signed a letter urging the government to fast track the scheme.

Labour MP Stella Creasy, who co-ordinated the letter, said: “The commitment we all share to help these children remains absolute and urgent – with every day, more are harmed or die, making the need to overcome any barriers to increasing the support we give them imperative.

“We stand ready to support whatever it takes to make this happen and ask for your urgent response.”

Meanwhile, Project Pure Hope has been campaigning for months to create a scheme which would allow for the evacuation of 30 to 50 children.

The charity has raised the money to bring the children and their families to the UK, and cover their medical costs, privately.

Politics

The token is dead, long live the token

Published

4 hours ago

August 3, 2025

admin

The token is dead, long live the token

Crypto tokens have failed retail investors through insider concentration and poor design. Regulation and tokenized real-world assets offer hope for revival.

Politics

Clampdown on social media ads for Channel crossings unveiled

Published

13 hours ago

August 3, 2025

admin

Clampdown on social media ads for Channel crossings unveiled

Anyone who advertises Channel crossings or fake passports on social media could face up to five years in prison under new government plans.

Research suggests about 80% of migrants arriving to the UK by small boat used internet platforms during their journey – including to contact agents linked to smuggling gangs.

While it is already illegal to assist illegal immigration, ministers hope the creation of a new offence will give police more powers and disrupt business models.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is also planning to introduce a fast-track scheme to tackle the asylum backlog, meaning decisions will be made within weeks.

It comes as official figures show more than 25,000 people have arrived on small boats so far in 2025 – a record for this point in the year.

Ms Cooper said it is “immoral” for smugglers to sell false promises online, adding: “These criminals have no issue with leading migrants to life-threatening situations using brazen tactics on social media.

“We are determined to do everything we can to stop them, wherever they operate.”

The new offence prohibiting the online promotion of Channel crossings is set to be included in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill already going through Parliament.

Officials from the National Crime Agency already work with tech giants to remove such posts – with more than 8,000 taken offline last year.

A Preston-based smuggler who was jailed for 17 years had posted videos of migrants thanking him for his help.

Meanwhile, Albanian smugglers have created promotions for £12,000 “package deals” which claim to offer accommodation and a job in the UK on arrival.

The Conservatives have described the measures as “too little, too late” – and say automatic deportations are the only way to tackle small boat crossings.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “Labour still has no clear plan to deter illegal entry, no effective enforcement and no strategy to speed up removals. This is a panicked attempt to look tough after months of doing nothing.”

It comes as protests outside hotels believed to be housing asylum seekers continue in towns and cities across the UK.

Several demonstrators were detained – with police breaking up brief clashes – outside the Thistle City Barbican Hotel in north London yesterday.

The government is legally required to provide accommodation and subsistence to destitute asylum seekers while their claims are being decided, most of whom are prohibited from working.