{"id":301393,"date":"2024-02-12T12:03:50","date_gmt":"2024-02-12T11:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=301393"},"modified":"2024-02-12T12:03:52","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T11:03:52","slug":"labour-donor-urges-party-to-borrow-billions-for-green-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=301393","title":{"rendered":"Labour donor urges party to borrow billions for green revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Dale Vince<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

Entrepreneur Dale Vince argues that sustainable infrastructure will pay its own debt<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Millionaire Labour donor Dale Vince is urging Sir Keir Starmer to borrow billions of pounds to boost net zero and rid fossil fuels from Britain\u2019s energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The electricity entrepreneur, who\u00a0severed ties with Just Stop Oil last year<\/a>\u00a0as part of his commitment to Labour, said the party must not be \u201cashamed\u201d of spending vast sums if it wants to instigate change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vince\u2019s argument for taking on greater levels of debt comes as\u00a0Labour rows back on its flagship \u00a328bn pledge for green energy projects<\/a>\u00a0over claims it is no longer affordable. The Telegraph<\/a> has the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starmer confirmed on Thursday that Labour will now spend just \u00a34.7bn a year on its clean energy policy as he blamed the Government for \u201cmaxing out the credit card\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Vince argues that Labour should ignore the \u201cpublic narrative mindset\u201d that \u201cborrowing is bad\u201d, and instead push ahead with plans to spend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told The Telegraph: \u201cBorrowing to invest is how you grow economies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBorrowing to invest in projects that pay their own debt, meet interest payments and make money on top of that, that is what businesses do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe money will allow us to invest in green technology that will pay for itself. For \u00a350bn, we could power the entire country from wind and sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a contrast between borrowing to invest in infrastructure that makes things better for our country and borrowing for tax breaks like Liz Truss proposed to do, which was madness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of Starmer\u2019s green U-turn, Vince remains committed to the Labour cause and says he will keep topping up the party\u2019s coffers until the next election, which is expected later this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023 alone, Vince gave \u00a3500,000 to Labour through his business Ecotricity, taking his total tally of donations in the past decade to at least \u00a31.5m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is a disparity of funding at the election and I will do whatever I can to close that gap,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s the most important election of our lifetime. It\u2019s our last chance to take decisive action.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having also previously donated to the Green Party, Vince decided to back Starmer\u2019s Labour out of a desire to oust the Tories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A former New Age Traveller who lived off the grid for a decade, Vince made his fortune after founding Ecotricity, the UK\u2019s first green energy company, in 1996.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur system will only enable one of the two main parties to form a Government and Labour is by a very long way the greenest option that we have,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vince, who refuses to fly or eat meat<\/a>, insists there is \u201cclear green water\u201d between the Conservatives and Labour, particularly since the Government diluted Britain\u2019s net zero policies last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat is one thing Rishi Sunak has done that I would congratulate him on,\u201d says Vince. \u201cHe has gone in an anti-green direction, so at the election, it won\u2019t be an argument at all over which party is the greenest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One policy that has infuriated Vince more than most in the past year is the Prime Minister\u2019s decision to expand production in the North Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having long campaigned against fossil fuels, including\u00a0participating in Just Stop Oil\u2019s protests last summer<\/a>, Vince wants Labour to revoke new drilling licenses if it wins power \u2013 something Starmer has so far vowed not to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vince accepts that Labour is \u201ctrying not to appear too radical and threaten to rip up everything\u201d, although he has doubts over such a cautious approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s potentially a mistake as it gives the Tories carte blanche to make a number of commitments that Labour will have to inherit and run with,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s a degree where they can say \u2018we will come in and question everything\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A cornerstone of his thinking is to expand a windfall tax on oil giants, which chimes with Labour\u2019s ambitions. He says BP and Shell have been able to rake in record profits on the back of unaffordable energy bills but he believes Labour will put a stop to this by expanding the windfall levy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given his faith in Labour\u2019s green agenda, Vince says he will not have to restart his donations to Just Stop Oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full story here<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Millionaire Labour donor Dale Vince is urging Sir Keir Starmer to borrow billions of pounds to boost net zero and rid fossil fuels from Britain\u2019s energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":301398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","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_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Millionaire Labour donor Dale Vince is urging Sir Keir Starmer to borrow billions of pounds to boost net zero and rid fossil fuels from Britain\u2019s energy 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been\u00a0mis-sold\u2019","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/30\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Dale Vince, a leading Labour donor, said that\u00a0heat pumps don\u2019t \u201csave you money\u201d\u00a0as he criticised the \u201cmis-selling\u201d of the devices.","rel":"","context":"In \"Dale Vince\"","block_context":{"text":"Dale Vince","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=dale-vince"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0-Dale-Vince-and-heat-pumps.jpg?fit=784%2C1168&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0-Dale-Vince-and-heat-pumps.jpg?fit=784%2C1168&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0-Dale-Vince-and-heat-pumps.jpg?fit=784%2C1168&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, 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