Why is £28bn of green spending endlessly scrutinised while the Conservatives get a free pass on their new round of painful austerity?
Like a hornet in the ear, that £28bn is buzzed into every voter. Tory central office sends out daily attack press releases that say nothing else. (They have nothing else.) Over and over again at Wednesday’s prime minister’s questions, the fast-sinking Rishi Sunak grabbed at the threat of Labour over-borrowing and over-taxing to raise that £28bn as his non-answer to whatever Keir Starmer asked. £28bn, £28bn, £28bn … got that?
As you well know, that’s what Labour will spend on investment in green jobs, clean energy and insulation. So does that £28bn have a political sting? The pollsters I’ve spoken to see no sign of it. Voters are preoccupied with the economy on a ground-floor level, struggling with stagnant wages, price inflation, energy, rent and mortgage bills. That’s what Labour’s shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, knows as she drills down with that simple deadly question: do you feel better off than you were 14 years ago? That gets a resounding no, because no amount of tax cuts now will wipe out years of emptying wallets and handbags.
