‘Anyone who questions Sir Keir Starmer’s commitment to a green agenda is simply peddling the propaganda they have swallowed’

• THE Tory press and the far left have found united cause, once again, this week.

Not surprising: neither wants to see a Labour government. The decision to move on from the pledge to spend £28billion a year to fight climate change was just the excuse both were looking for.

Both glossed over the undeniable fact that the circumstances had changed since the pledge was first made by Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor.

The Tories and the far left wish to hide impact that the brief Liz Truss premiership is still having on us all. It spooked the markets badly and we are continuing to pay the price.

The interest rates have shot us from 0.1 per cent when the pledge was made by Rachel. As the Financial Times pointed out: “The fact that the policy would be funded by borrowing was largely uncontroversial as interest rates were 0.1 per cent at the time.”

Today interest rates stand at 5.25 per cent, the landscape has changed.

As the economist John Maynard Keynes is quoted as so memorably saying: “When events change, I change my mind. What do you do?”

Does this mean that Labour is dropping its Green Prosperity Plan? Of course not. I hope to see in the Labour manifesto a series of pledges which will transform Britain and help reach our climate change promises.

These should include:

— Establishing GB Energy, a publicly-owned clean generation company.

— Grants for families to improve home insulation. This is likely to be less than we first wanted, but still far more than the Tories have done.

— A pledge to spend £500million a year on grants for companies bringing green jobs.

— A plan to spend £2billion on eight battery factories and £3billion on “clean” steel.

— Help for councils and community groups to become “owners of local power”.

Much of the funding for green investment will come from the private sector. This has always been part of the plan.

As the party pointed out in its policy paper back in 2020: “It is estimated that up to £693billion of investment in low carbon infrastructure will be needed by 2031 in the UK, with the vast majority coming from the private sector.”

Of course, it may be that circumstances will again change and the outlook will darken. Labour’s plans will continue to be clarified until the election is called and the manifesto is published.

But anyone who questions Sir Keir Starmer’s commitment to a green agenda is simply peddling the propaganda they have swallowed.

MARTIN PLAUT, NW5