Labour may curtail green plan to avert Tory attacks

Labour is considering scaling back ambitious plans to borrow £28bn a year to invest in green jobs and industry, amid fears that the Conservatives will use the policy as a central line of attack in the general election campaign.

- Pippa Crerar, Kiran Stacey

The Guardian understands that the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, and the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will discuss the party's flagship economic policy next month with senior figures pushing to drop the £28bn commitment entirely; others want to retain key elements of the plan.

Labour officials say they intend to keep central parts of their green policy but want to recast them in a way that allows them to stop talking so much about what they cost, focusing instead on what they will achieve.

One insider said some in the party were concerned about how a Labour government would expand the economy without the green plan, and whether it could be politically damaging for Starmer as it could leave him open to charges of "flip-flopping" by the Conservatives.

But they added: "There will be a pivot in the new year and the £28bn price-tag as it exists now is unlikely to survive that. Whatever ultimately happens will be a further watering down of the position. This will be the Tories' number one area of attack so they need to deal with it."

It comes after Reeves delayed plans in June for the green fund to start in the first year of a Labour government, saying it would "ramp up" by the middle of a first parliament, as the leadership looked to review its spending in an attempt to pro its fiscal credibility.