‘Big, bold, and world-leading’ was how Andy Haldane described the proposal to Sky’s Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge. If Labour were to win the next election, he claimed, the decision to abandon the target would impede investment and the UK’s transition to net zero.
The original commitment “led the world” in its ambition, according to Sky’s Sophy Ridge, and would have helped the nation both in reaching its net zero targets and promoting growth. Andy Haldane is currently the managing director of the Royal Society of Arts.
But according to Sir Keir Starmer, the decision to scrap the target made last week demonstrates how UK lawmakers are “scaling back our plans at the same time as other countries have stepped up their plans,” he claimed.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves committed to investing £28 billion annually until 2030 on green initiatives, ranging from new technology to tree planting, at the Labour Party conference in 2021.
However, she reduced it to a target last summer, citing rising interest rates and inflation as a result of the terrible mini-budget implemented by former prime minister Liz Truss.
Sir Keir indicated last week that Labour would completely drop the headline statistic. If he been given the keys to Number 10, he would have stated, “We can’t now do everything that we wanted to do because of the damage the Tories have done.”
But for making a U-turn on such a crucial policy, he faced criticism from opposition MPs and some members of his own party.
