Sir Keir Starmer tonight officially dropped a pledge for £28 billion a year of green spending in a huge U-turn.
The Labour leader confirmed the amount, central to the party’s Green Prosperity Plan, will be drastically scaled back with £23.7 now set to be spent over the course of the next parliament.
The Tories had seized on the original figure as a key attack line in the run-up to an election this year.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed he doesn’t have a plan for Britain. The uncertainty about what a Labour government would do is a real risk to our country’s future.
“Labour’s pledge – in their own words – has a £28 billion price tag and now they have admitted there is no plan to pay for it. This will mean higher taxes for working people to fill Labour’s black hole.
“That’s why the choice this year is to stick with our plan that’s working, or go back to square one with Labour which would put our country’s future at risk.”
Sir Keir insisted “everything on the table is staying on the table” when it comes to the Green Prosperity Plan as he sought to play down the U-turn earlier today.
The Labour leader said the party would still retain its mission to achieve clean power by 2030.
He said: “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.”
Labour will hope the move will end speculation about the scale of the plan, as well as neutralising Tory attacks.
Last year, Labour adjusted the original plan by saying 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 had also insisted the pledge would be subject to its fiscal rules, which include getting debt falling as a percentage of GDP.
Confusion over the future of the policy had grown in recent weeks as some senior figures refused to refer to the £28 billion-a-year figure, while Sir Keir continued to do so as recently as Tuesday.
