Why has Labour U-turned on its green investment pledge?
BBC By Iain Watson
Political correspondent, BBC News
The promise was clear. And it was prominent.
At Labour's 2021 conference, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves announced her ambition to be the UK's first "green" chancellor.
To stress her bona fides, she pledged to invest 28bn a year, every year to 2030 to "green" the economy.
Labour's Green Prosperity Plan was one of its defining policies. It gave the party a clear dividing line with government.
Ms Reeves said there would be "no dither, and no delay" in tackling the climate crisis.
It was also an answer to the government's "levelling up" pledge.
The borrowed cash would underpin well-paid jobs in every corner of the UK in the energy sector.
So why has Ms Reeves kicked the pledge into the second half of the next Parliament, if Labour wins?
Why has a 28bn pledge effectively been reduced to a target?
- Labour waters down 28bn green investment pledge
- Labour unveils Biden-inspired economic strategy
The first reason is obvious.
Ms Reeves now says she was "green" - in a different sense of the word - in 2021, in that she hadn't foreseen what then-Prime Minister Liz Truss would do to the economy.
