Labour’s civil war over net zero continues to rumble on after Tony Blair took a blowtorch to the party’s “irrational” green agenda – branding it “doomed to fail,” as Guido first reported yesterday morning. Labour insiders are said to be fuming, with one source slamming Blair’s intervention as a “public tantrum.” Environment secretary Steve Reed was wheeled out on the morning media round after the fallout, admitting on Times Radio that he agreed with much of what Blair said:
“He’s making a valid and important contribution to a very significant debate that we’re having. I agree with much of what he said, but not absolutely every word and dot and comma of it. But this government is moving to clean energy because it’s best for Britain.”
It’s not the first time Red Ed’s net zero crusade has run into turbulence, with Labour’s so-called ‘pro-growth’ faction winning the argument on Heathrow’s third runway. Meanwhile Downing Street is yet to give Ed the same five-year job guarantee they handed David Lammy. The green dream running out of steam…
UPDATE: The Tony Blair Institute has now had to issue a statement saying that the government’s approach is the “right one”. A spokeswoman says:
“We must prioritise technologies which capture carbon, place a bigger emphasis on protecting and enhancing nature, and develop new nuclear power, smart grids, and a new system of financing existing renewable solutions in developing economies The UK government is already pursuing these, and their approach is the right one. The report is clear we support the government’s 2050 net zero targets, to give certainty to the investors and innovators who can develop these new solutions and make them deployable.”
Red Wall Labour backbencher Jonathan Brash told GB News that Starmer should resign:
“I’m completely fed up about it, and I think it’s got to the point now where I genuinely think that, as far as the Prime Minister is concerned, it’s not a case of if, it’s when.”