You excoriate the Labour leadership for “a humiliating rowback” on the green transition (Editorial, 8 February). But hold on! When the £28bn ambition was declared in the autumn of 2021, interest rates on government debt were about 1% but are now 4.5%, with repayments of debt coincidentally increasing by around the same proportion of GDP. Last December, the repayments hit £119bn. In realistic household terms, since 2021 your mortgage payments have soared, and your family income has stagnated, so don’t plan to buy a big electric car for some years.
What the statement by Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves makes clear (Opinion, 8 February) is that they are not going to promise to spend £28bn using power that they don’t yet have and might not get access to because of the dire state of the economy and public finances that they will inherit. That’s not “hawkish”, it’s plain honesty. And it’s better than emulating the ostrich or repeating a boosterish Johnsonian pyramid of piffle.
You say many traditional Labour voters will “be left asking what the party is for”. It’s for Great British Energy (£7bn), the National Wealth Fund (£8bn), green steel (£3bn), and a housing and planning programme that can change the scale and strategy of public investment in generating growth, skills and jobs, and combating the climate crisis. That, as you say, “cannot wait” – but it cannot be fought by glowing, though notional, promises from a party still in powerless opposition.
Better to have the truth about what will be done to secure the reality – not just the “hope” – of a “better life”. After years of corroded integrity and economic and social impoverishment, surely that can “inspire a generation”.
Neil Kinnock
Labour, House of Lords
• You note of Labour’s retreat from its green investment strategy that some will argue that “economic credibility is the rock on which everything redistributive rests”. That was the view of Labour first chancellor, Philip Snowden, exactly 100 years ago too. Unfortunately, it led in quite short order not to a mildly more equal society but to the 1931 national government.
Keith Flett
Tottenham, London
• Investing in a green future can’t be a mere ambition, it has to be a necessity. We have to do everything possible to reduce carbon emissions, but do so in a way that creates a more equal society. This is the essence of a just transition. By training a green army of workers to insulate every house in the country that needs it, we lower emissions, reduce the worrying burden of heating bills and provide good, well-paid jobs to people across the country who need them.
Labour simply cannot be allowed to backslide on the commitment to such a just transition. Not just because it’s the right thing to do; it’s also the popular thing to do – 82% of potential Labour voters believe investing in renewable energy should be a priority.
The pressure to cave in to the demands of rightwing politicians and the media is a direct consequence of our first-past-the-post voting system. Proportional representation creates a level playing field for ideas such as a just transition to flourish. To decarbonise, we must democratise.
Labour has to put climate and equality first – and that means putting democracy first.
Neal Lawson Director, Compass, Clare Short Former secretary of state for international development, Ruth Lister Labour, House of Lords, Carla Denyer Leader, Green party, Caroline Lucas MP Green, Brighton Pavilion, Tim Farron MP Former leader, Liberal Democrats
• As a longstanding member of the Labour party, I am appalled by the apparent decision to abandon abolition of the House of Lords (Remaining Labour policies face ‘bombproof’ test to finalise manifesto, 9 February). The case for ridding us of this ludicrously bloated, undemocratic, archaic and expensive institution is surely overwhelming. Is it too cynical to suspect that part of the reasoning lies in the hope among those responsible that they too might one day enjoy the luxury of being members? That they could follow in the footsteps of the likes of Mandelson, Darling and Blunkett, to mention just a few?
Dr David Mervin
Emeritus reader in politics, University of Warwick
• With Keir Starmer’s ditching of the £28bn green pledge, I am left wondering, as I look back from my seat in the Emirates Stadium towards his, whether a belief in Arsenal is the only thing left that we have in common.
Ian Wilson
Thames Ditton, Surrey
• Oh dear – Green party here I come!
Dr Tim Paine
Bristol
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