Labour slammed for ditching climate pledge
JVL Introduction
Yet another of Labour’s pledges has been shredded, this time by Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
Many ecosocialists have been able to temper their dismay at Labour’s jettisoning of so many promises by saying that at least its £28bn p.a. green spending pledge offered real hope.
No longer.
Taking her stand on the bedrock of the very “fiscal responsibility” which has brought us over a decade of austerity, Reeves has the gall to say this is not a U-turn.
It’s apparently all the Tories’ fault we can’t even begin to put right the problems which the Tories have caused.
This is a conscious choice to say we can’t afford to tackle climate change for now. Can we afford not to?
RK
Addition: Ed Miliband seems to be resisting this development strongly – see postscript below
This article was originally published by the Morning Star on Sat 10 Jun 2023. Read the original here.
Labour slammed for ditching climate pledge
Rachel Reeves backtracks on £28bn ‘green prosperity plan’
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You cannot trust/believe anything they say.
You know, I quite like Ed. But he’s a bit of a push over as a token “lefty” for centre-right Labour. A few months ago he was tying himself in knots explaining how his sure support for nationalising energy really was intact despite the leadership pretty much killing it off. Now here he is saying Keir and Rachel won’t back down on funding a greener economy, just as Keir and Rachel are backing down. I’m not sure whether I feel sorry for Ed, or just disappointed.
Every day, Starmer’s Labour Party gives us new cause for despair. It seems to have no appetite for bringing to an end the merry dance the Tories have led us in for what feels like an eternity. Instead, it only wants to put its own orchestra in place, even if it means playing the same hackneyed music . If anybody can explain exactly what a future Labour government wants to achieve that would significantly identify it as a government that wants real, effective, constructive change, I’d be pleased to hear what they have to say. Right now, I don’t see it.
Ed Miliband appeared on the Today Programme on the 9th June saying that he fully supported Rachel Reeves’ formulation of Labour Party’s green investment. So the idea above that he is in disagreement with this U-turn is false. He claimed that the finance had to be brought in gradually because it would be impossible to spend in the first year. It is most likely that the Labour Party is watering down its green policies in response to pressure from right wing unions like the GMB. We will have to see if this will affect its backing from Dale VInce (1.5 million in the last decade) who also donates to Just Stop Oil and if the next U-turn will be pulling back from its commitment to end all new Gas and Oil extraction as JSO proposes. It is possible, of course, that Labour will claim that the 130 exploration and extraction licenses for oil and gas, currently being handed out by the Tories, will not count as new if the Labour Party has a majority at the next election.
Ed Milliband doesn’t seem to be using the same hymn sheet as Ms Reeves and the leader, I wonder how long he’s going to last as “Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero”? Maybe the “zero” refers to the level of investment by a future Labour govt?
At the next General Election I foresee an even larger surge in the Green Party vote than there was at the recent council elections.
I hope Miliband IS resisting. I heard him on the World At One trying desperately to square the circle. I understand. He didnt duck the invite to go on, and then he was trapped by ‘Party discipline’ in what he could say. But it was very sad to listen to.
Not all socialists are eco-socialists. Their concerns about deficiencies in meteorological analyses, about economic errors (e.g. about Stern’s use of a nil – interest rate for project planning), about unintended consequences even if the above criticisms are dismissed – these are not the product of Philip Snowden style ‘fiscal/interest rate prudence.’ Reeves, perhaps unlike Anne-Liese Dodds, does believe in financial orthodoxy.
Thre are some sharp barbs here in Nine questions for Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer including this:
“I will never be reckless with the public finances,” and “no plan can be built that’s not on a rock of economic and fiscal responsibility.”
This is total hypocrisy from Reeves. Just a few weeks ago, she ditched the commitment to equalise the rates for earned and unearned income. The estimated revenue for this is £16 billion per year.
At the same time, big increases in the military budget have also been endorsed despite it already being one of the biggest in the world.
It beats me how anyone can vote Labour while Starmer is in charge of it.
Ed Miliband showed his true colours when after being trashed by MSM during his term of leadership, he failed/refused to see the parallel between him and Corbyn and joined with those in attacking JC. Albeit suffering a much lower level of denigration, not being as big threat to the establishment as JC, he put how he was unjustly treated to one side and joined the KS bandwagon.