True cost of Labour’s net zero target revealed in audio leak
Bridget Phillipson, shadow education secretary, refused to put a price on Labour's net zero plan - Christopher Furlong/Getty Images Europe
A Labour frontbencher has refused to put a price on the party’s net zero plan after an audio leak revealed it may be “hundreds of billions.”
Bridget Phillipson, shadow education secretary, was asked about a recording obtained by The Telegraph in which Darren Jones, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said the Labour’s plan to decarbonise the economy will cost “hundreds of billions” of pounds.
Asked how much money the plans meant in practice, Ms Phillipson told GB News: “The point that [Mr Jones] was making is the answer to how we move to a position of decarbonising our economy, creating more jobs, is through private investment, not just public money.
“So you can invest relatively modest sums of public money and that brings in real returns when it comes to private companies using that as a lever to deliver bigger private investment.
“We know there are lots of companies that would relish the opportunity to invest directly in for example offshore wind to create jobs right across our country.
“So it’s about how the government can partner with business, yes to manage our obligations, but also to create more well-paid, highly-skilled jobs right across our country.”
In the recording Mr Jones said the £28 billion per year originally allocated to Labour’s green investment plan was a “tiny” amount.
He said the fact that Sir Keir Starmer had downgraded his investment plans from £28 billion to £4.7 billion “made it sound as if we basically junked the whole thing but we definitely have not”.
Mr Jones told a public meeting in Bristol that private capital would have to be used to upgrade infrastructure, but “public subsidy” would still be needed alongside that.
On Wednesday night, Rishi Sunak challenged Sir Keir about the revelation, saying during a debate on the BBC: “Just be straight with people, how many hundreds is it. Is it 200, is it 300, is it 400?”
The Labour leader appeared to argue that some of the money would be invested by the private sector rather than just the public sector.
Sir Keir’s party wants to convert Britain to “clean energy” by 2030, a target the energy sector has described as “unachievable”.
The Labour manifesto says the party will “use public investment to crowd in private funding” on clean energy and will “invest in the industries of the future” as well as “investing in carbon capture and storage”. It does not say how much will be invested.
Play The Telegraph’s brilliant range of Puzzles - and feel brighter every day. Train your brain and boost your mood with PlusWord, the Mini Crossword, the fearsome Killer Sudoku and even the classic Cryptic Crossword.