“Labour is running scared!” blasts the Telegraph. How did that happen? To see a party with an unswerving 20% lead chased away from its headline policy by Tories whose own MPs are fleeing defeat in droves – 89 on the chicken-run at the last count – looks a bit like a doberman running away from a chihuahua.
Labour’s famous £28bn green plan has been bungled, undermining the value of having a green prosperity plan. Even if it’s now half the size it was, that’s still a greener prospect than anything the Tories will offer. But the slow-motion U-turn has been excruciating, and it would have been better from the start not to punt up a large single number. While pared down, the plan is still the only growth policy in town, with its beefed up windfall tax on oil and gas companies and £13bn borrowing to lever in private investment.
