‘We have no alternative in the labour and climate movement but to double down on building the radical policies we need to address the multiple crises we face today’
Sam Mason
As Labour abandon’s its green prosperity “alternative” in favour of fiscal responsibility, and the economy tips back into recession, Sam Mason argues that we must double down in the labour and climate movement on building the radical policies for we need.
The day Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves finally ended speculation over the £28 billion so jubilantly committed to back in 2021 could not be more poignant. Perhaps it was unfortunate timing, and not a good news story at the best of times, but certainly careless on the day the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service announces that global warming is estimated to have exceeded 1.5C across an entire 12-month period for the first time. As the economy slips into recession, and the latest release of the UK Government’s Fuel Poverty Statistics shows a deepening crisis, what further evidence could be needed for a ‘green’ investment plan? And one which prioritises a decades overdue homes insulation programme?
Abandoning the £28bn pledge follows a year that has seen climate records shattered, and the UK itself battered by ten storms between September and January alone. These may not have been as devastating as the wildfires in Chile or flooding in California but it still puts enormous stress on the UK’s cracking infrastructure and, not least, the emergency and energy workers that have to respond to these.
In January, following months of floods and extreme weather in the UK, Matt Wrack of the FBU said “If Labour doesn’t spend this money, it will put our members at risk” along with the public – clearly a message from an affiliated union that has not been listened to.
In the midst of a continuing cost of living crisis, and high energy bills, it was always clear that tackling the climate and biodiversity crisis was about tackling these, too. Indeed, only last September Ed Miliband said that Rishi Sunak was bankrupt of ideas in response to his rolling back on climate policy. He rightly argued that this backtracking would “put up costs for working people, threaten investment and jobs, and lead to climate delay, loading more costs on to families.”
So what’s changed?
Starmer and Reeves can spin the decks on their broken record of how the Tories trashed the economy so their hands are tied but its an argument that doesn’t square. When parading their “clean energy superpower” mission as a new chapter in Labour history, they seemed to have skipped over the bit when the Attlee government went ahead with creating the NHS and building council homes despite being told it was unaffordable.
It’s telling perhaps the lack of response to the questions put by the Greener jobs Alliance last October on Labour’s financial approach to green issues. In letters sent to Rachel Reeves and Angela Raynor, they set out the many questions most of us have, but have yet to receive an answer. Unfortunately, grand statements about having “a world-leading agenda on climate and energy” doesn’t deliver jobs or security for workers, let alone the communities they live in.
The £28 billion was never enough and the Green Prosperity Fund pales into comparison compared to the plans for a green industrial revolution put forward in the 2019 manifesto. Those proposals were not perfect but did offer a real alternative that was developed out of extensive discussion with trade unions and communities. It recognised the need for public ownership and public services to lead on decarbonising our economy and society with energy, rail, mail and water in public hands. And it linked green investment with improving people’s welfare such as warm homes, or accessible and affordable public transport as basic as a bus service.
These are the radical labour and climate movement policies we need to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss while making people’s lives better. That means making energy a public good and nationalising current assets, addressing the energy efficiency of our building stock and localising food production. This would create millions of jobs – whether in renewable energy, construction for new infrastructure including green steel, transport, education, and a decarbonised food system. It also means recognising and valuing work in the care and health sectors, along with nature recovery which are vital to people’s welfare.
State intervention in industry has been tried and failed by Labour before. The workers inquiry by the Coventry, Liverpool, Newcastle and North Tyneside Trades Council into Labour’s attempt in the 1970’s concluded that “never again can we leave politics to the politicians”. After the debacle of the £28billion we can only conclude the same and why we need to develop workers plans in alliance with communities and the wider climate movement to win the future we so desperately need.
As the Welsh socialist writer Raymond Williams, said “To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing.” To do this we have no alternative in the labour and climate movement but to double down on building the radical policies we need to address the multiple crises we face today.
- Sam Mason is the coordinator of the Climate Justice Coalition trade union caucus. You can follow the Climate Justice Coalition on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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