Labour’s bold growth plan will come to nothing unless they sacrifice sacred cows – starting with mad net zero plan
Labour’s bold growth plan will come to nothing unless they sacrifice sacred cows – starting with mad net zero plan
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SEVEN months after coming to office promising “growth, growth, growth”, it seems Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have come to appreciate that it is not good enough simply to preach about a vibrant economy. They need to make sure that every government department helps make it easier for businesses to invest and grow, as well as to improve the efficiency of the public sector.
![[Rachel Reeves and Patrick Vallance looking inside a Siemens Healthineers machine.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2025-oxford-united-kingdom-chancellor-967603954.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Yesterday, we learned that the plan for a third runway at Heathrow has been revived. A lower Thames crossing is to be approved. The PM declared he would cut through “thickets of red tape”, while the Chancellor promised welfare reforms to make sure people are not dumped on to sickness benefits for years without anyone ever asking whether they are fit to work.
![[UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2025-london-england-prime-minister-967309192.jpg?strip=all&w=640)
These are all good and necessary things. If the Government can achieve them, it may well revive its fortunes. Labour’s planning reforms, too, are a move in the right direction. Starmer seems genuinely shocked to learn the builders of HS2 had to spend £100million building a tunnel for bats.
![[Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer at an investment summit.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/chancellor-exchequer-rachel-reeves-british-941724124.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
But if they are to grow the economy, the Prime Minister and Chancellor will also have to be prepared to ditch some cherished Labour policies and to make enemies within their own party. Labour donor Dale Vince is already bleating about a third runway, claiming it will cancel out Ed Miliband’s efforts to decarbonise the power grid by 2030.
But Starmer needs not only to rebuff Vince — he also needs to relax the 2030 target for “green” electricity. While Miliband has claimed that his plans will save households £300 a year, the real cost of an energy grid dominated by wind and solar is already becoming painfully clear.
