{"id":266518,"date":"2023-07-10T11:28:31","date_gmt":"2023-07-10T09:28:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=266518"},"modified":"2023-07-10T11:28:34","modified_gmt":"2023-07-10T09:28:34","slug":"clash-of-priorities-in-labour-party-reveals-deep-divide-on-climate-change-and-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=266518","title":{"rendered":"Clash of Priorities in Labour Party Reveals Deep Divide on Climate Change and Jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From The Daily Sceptic<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BY\u00a0RICHARD ELDRED<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Keir Starmer\u2019s lukewarm response to Ed Miliband\u2019s energy policies reveals a widening rift within the party. His prioritisation of sustainable job creation over \u201ctree huggers\u201d is threatening the party\u2019s unity. The\u00a0Sunday Times<\/em> has more<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Ed Miliband gave an animated Powerpoint presentation to the shadow cabinet on his revolutionary energy policies, speaking excitedly of the hope and change he believed they would bring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His reception from Sir Keir Starmer, however, was decidedly lukewarm.\u201c[Starmer] thanked him for his presentation, but said he wasn\u2019t interested in hope and change, he was more interested in creating sustainable new jobs to replace jobs in old sectors that were being lost,\u201d said a source. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe then said he was not interested in tree-huggers, before adding to everyone\u2019s surprise, \u2018In fact, I hate tree-huggers\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201dThe comments surprised some in the meeting, which took place the day after Starmer gave a speech on energy strategy in Aberdeen last month, but they are symptomatic of the divide that exists between him and Miliband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those close to the leader believe it is the economic challenge, not climate change, the party needs to focus on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They see Miliband as an eco-warrior who is more interested in the green agenda than the party\u2019s central priorities of jobs, bills and energy security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A shadow cabinet minister said: \u201cKeir is always trying to anchor the party. Ed will always try to toe the line by saying that the party\u2019s priorities are jobs, bills, energy security and climate change in that order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He can\u2019t help himself, he is a hopey-changey kind of person.\u201dMorgan McSweeney, Labour\u2019s election chief, is frustrated by those in the party pushing the green policies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A source close to him said: \u201cHe sees everything through the prism of electoral success. He sees everything else as a distraction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He wants to throw the excess baggage off the boat and just concentrate on the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He thinks the focus, for example, on the party\u2019s pledge to end all North Sea gas and oil licences has been an unhelpful distraction, and something the Tories can easily weaponise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, he wants to see more focus on the party\u2019s Bidenomics-led policies, which amounts to an ambitious plan for creating the industries and jobs of the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, and Pat McFadden, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, are among the \u201csceptics\u201d who think the focus on a green agenda is complicating Labour\u2019s key messages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A source familiar with their thinking said: \u201cThey want to talk about economic change not climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another member of the shadow cabinet said the party risked shooting itself in the foot by becoming obsessed with the climate-change agenda, where there are \u201cvery few votes\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The row has been rumbling on since last year\u2019s annual party conference in Liverpool, when Starmer\u2019s most senior advisers, including Deborah Mattinson, his director of strategy, and Peter Hyman, a former aide, wanted to change the colour of the party\u2019s red rose emblem to green. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They argued that commitment to the environment and \u201cgreen stuff\u201d should be one of the Labour leader\u2019s overarching messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were overruled by others, including the unions, who thought the idea was \u201cmad\u201d, given the inflation crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A senior party source said: \u201cMuch of the tensions that exist now are a throwback to conference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have been those who have been pushing the green agenda, but recent events have shown that tactic could easily backfire, and there is an overriding sense among most in the shadow cabinet that we need to strip everything back and talk about our core messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201dIn recent weeks, Labour has faced scrutiny of policies seen to have been the brainchild of Miliband, including the plan for \u00a328 billion a year in capital spending on green growth and a commitment to ban new oil and gas developments in the North Sea.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Worth reading in full<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Keir Starmer\u2019s lukewarm response to Ed Miliband\u2019s energy policies reveals a widening rift within the party. His prioritisation of sustainable job creation over \u201ctree huggers\u201d is threatening the party\u2019s unity. The\u00a0Sunday Times has more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":266523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818102,691820955,691819262,691820941,691818154],"class_list":{"0":"post-266518","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-climate-crisis","9":"tag-economic-growth","10":"tag-green-agenda","11":"tag-labour-party","12":"tag-net-zero","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-273.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-17kG","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":267194,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=267194","url_meta":{"origin":266518,"position":0},"title":"\u201cI 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