‘Labour’s ideological approach WILL damage our economy’, Theresa Villiers SLAMS reckless net zero plans
Keir Starmer (left) and Theresa Villiers (right)
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Sir Keir Starmer has attended the COP28 summit in Dubai this week, in what he sees as a dress rehearsal for COP29 should Labour win power in 2024.
The Leader of the Opposition was meeting world leaders from business and politics at the summit.
He also revealed the net zero blueprint Labour would roll out should he become Prime Minister in 2024.
Starmer wants to see greater regulation of financial organizations and FTSE100 businesses in the UK, including moves to enforce the publication of evidence of their carbon footprint and transitions plans.
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Labour’s net zero plans have been heavily criticized by former Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers.
The Chipping Barnet MP said: “Labour don’t understand that it is business and enterprise that create the growth we need to raise living standards.
“They always load burdens on to business. Their ideological approach to net zero will damage our economy. We need the kind of pragmatism on reducing emissions that the PM has set out, not green dogma from Labour.”
In Labour’s 5 missions for a better Britain, the party states that it will invest £28billion a year by the second half of the next parliament at the latest.
In a scathing response, Villiers said: “Labour’s reckless plan for £28billion of extra borrowing would make everyone poorer by pushing up interest rates and debt. This would cost jobs and damage the economy.
COP28 sign
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“This shows that they haven’t really changed. They still want to load debt on to future generations. Today’s borrowing is tomorrow’s taxes.”
A warning was also issued over the level of borrowing required to support Labour’s ambitions, with one government source telling GB News: “If Labour want to keep debt falling while spending £28billion more every year, they need to explain whether this £28billion will come from tax rises or spending cuts.”
A Labour spokesman said: "It was the Conservative Party that crashed the economy and left Britain worse off, with the highest tax burden on record and the highest levels of debt since the 1960s.
"Labour's plan to get our economy growing will cut bills, create jobs and make working people in all parts of the country better off.
“Labour will ramp up to a total of £28bn a year in the second half of the Parliament.
Sir Keir StarmerPA"We will factor in the Government's current investment on the green transition into our plans.
"Labour will introduce a new set of fiscal rules.
"We will not borrow to fund day-to-day spending and we will reduce national debt as a share of the economy over the course of the Parliament."
In response, Conservative MP Alexander Stafford, a member of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, warned: “This move could cripple the UK economy and stifle our businesses.
“This would cost jobs and livelihoods. We need to make sure our businesses are protected from Labour's economic vandalism.”