SO, another week and another major policy U-turn by Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour.

On Friday, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves announced her party was ditching their pledge to invest £28 billion a year supporting the transition to net zero. A Labour commitment for the past two years had suddenly been branded ‘reckless’.

In doing so, Labour showed yet again their readiness to abandon any kind of vision or agenda which could frighten off the traditional Tory voters they desperately want on their side.

Planning for net zero isn’t just about preparing us for the existential and growing threat of climate change, as critical as that is. It’s about seizing the biggest opportunity we have for economic growth, prosperity and addressing inequalities.

Since Glasgow hosted COP26, I’ve been working with cross-party leaders of other UK cities to build the case for the investments needed over the next five to 10 years to address the challenges of the climate emergency. That’s been about big capital projects like making sure every single home has the highest insulation standards, that we have sustainable sources of heat and energy, and modern transport systems that can reduce the numbers and impact of millions of cars on the roads.

We’ve also been clear on the huge job creation potential, the opportunities to create the skills for the next generation and the ability to attract new international investment for the emerging new economy.

But with Labour now confirming that if elected as the next UK Government their pledged levels of investment won’t materialise for several years, then we’re at a real risk of losing out.

Not only are the future jobs required to transform our society and economy in jeopardy, but with Britain already lagging far behind our European counterparts and the US in public support for the green transition, Labour is turning away potentially massive levels of international investment. As the global competition for jobs and new industries accelerates, the UK simply can’t afford to fall behind any further.

It’s also poor economics. Put simply, by the time a UK Labour Government ever got round to investing £28bn a year, the cost to the UK in terms of meeting the needs of net zero will be many times that.

I do agree with Ms Reeves on one thing. The Tories have indeed trashed the UK economy and everything we do is a greater financial challenge than it has been in living memory.

But in March, six months after Liz Truss’s mini-budget which Labour blames for their U-turn, Ms Reeves was still talking up the UK following Joe Biden’s lead in green investment, of creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs in former industrial heartlands and of the need not to miss out on the international investment, given the global competition. Now that’s all been shoved to the side as she talks about the need to be “responsible”.

In the grand scheme of things, £28bn isn’t a huge sum, given the social, economic and environmental rewards. The cost of retrofitting homes across the Glasgow city region alone is around £10bn. Every UK city leader could show Ms Reeves any number of transformational projects which would benefit citizens for years to come from significant government investment.

But as they’ve shown on Brexit, immigration and tuition fees, Labour’s commitments are dropping like flies. And in pursuit of the Tory vote their offer to the electorate is increasingly indistinguishable from that of the Tories and detached from the needs and priorities of people in Glasgow and Scotland.

 

GLASGOW is a city of distinct neighbourhoods and local town centres.

It’s been my privilege to represent Langside for more than a decade, an area now starting to lead the way in transforming the look and feel of every city community.

Over the next decade the council’s Liveable Neighbourhoods plan will see the redesign of many of our streets and public spaces, a local response to the challenges of the climate emergency but also making areas feel safer, more pleasant and more attractive.

And in revitalising Glasgow’s town centres it will provide local businesses with an economic lift.

For a couple of years, we’ve been consulting with members of the local community on proposals they would like to see while bidding for national funding to translate these into projects on the ground.

I’m delighted that in the past week, we’ve secured £2.5 million from the Scottish Government’s Active Travel Transformation Fund to do just that.

The Connecting Battlefield project will progress the work carried out with residents and businesses to improve streets and public spaces for walking, wheeling and cycling, giving over more street space to people and reducing the dominance of traffic.

Designs have been developed for Battlefield Road, Grange Road, Langside Road and Queens Drive, with the public realm improved, new travel connections created and the South City Way cycle route connected to the new Victoria Hospital.

The transformation of every ward will take time and investment. And in Langside, we’ll continue to push for national funding to progress our work.

But this is a huge step in the right direction.