RT by @JackieJonesWal1: Let's Get Net Zero Done!

Labour's Green Prosperity Plan is still the most radical green transition programme ever proposed by a potential party of government. If executed with skill and determination it will create half a million jobs, scoop a 78p-in-the-pound windfall tax from the energy companies, save our steel industry and unleash a local green energy revolution.

And it leaves Labour with a clear and costed plan to Get Net Zero Done - which the Tories cannot match because they prefer tax giveaways to the rich instead.

What's changed is the mix of public and private money needed to make it happen. Instead of a pledge to spend £110bn over eight years, Labour is pledging to spend £24bn over five. That means the rest has to come from the private sector.

In turn, that means that instead of solving problems by borrowing and spending, Labour has to deliver long-term regulatory certainty: rip up the planning rules that prevent green energy developments, change the pension fund regulations to incentivise green investment, and give every environmental quango a net zero obligation.

That sounds boring compared to "£28 billion a year": it's harder to explain and will be harder to do. But it's the right thing to do.

Because fiscal conditions have changed dramatically since Rachel Reeves made the original pledge in September 2021. And so have potential calls on government spending.

First, the cost of government borrowing has quadrupled. That's not an argument against borrowing today and spending today - because the government's own scenarios show that will be cheaper in the long run.

But it's an argument for letting the private sector bear some of those borrowing costs, in return for government bearing more of the risks.

Second, and for me more important, the long-term dynamics of the debt incurred to make the transition have become more uncertain. The O…

🐦🔗: https://nitter.cz/paulmasonnews/status/1755847281243300270#m

[2024-02-09 06:53 UTC]