# ‘I hate tree-huggers’ — Keir Starmer explodes over green policy
**Labour’s leader and his allies are unhappy their economic focus is being jeopardised by the party’s ‘eco-warriors’**
Saturday July 08 2023, 6.00pm, The Sunday Times
Ed Miliband gave an animated Powerpoint presentation to the shadow cabinet on his revolutionary energy policies, speaking excitedly of the hope and change he believed they would bring.
His reception from Sir Keir Starmer, however, was decidedly lukewarm.
“[Starmer] thanked him for his presentation, but said he wasn’t interested in hope and change, he was more interested in creating sustainable new jobs to replace jobs in old sectors that were being lost,” said a source. “He then said he was not interested in tree-huggers, before adding to everyone’s surprise, ‘In fact, I hate tree-huggers’.”
The comments surprised some in the meeting, which took place the day after Starmer gave a speech on energy strategy in Aberdeen last month, but they are symptomatic of the divide that exists between him and Miliband.
Those close to the leader believe it is the economic challenge, not climate change, the party needs to focus on. They see Miliband as an eco-warrior who is more interested in the green agenda than the party’s central priorities of jobs, bills and energy security.
A shadow cabinet minister said: “Keir is always trying to anchor the party. Ed will always try to toe the line by saying that the party’s priorities are jobs, bills, energy security and climate change in that order. He can’t help himself, he is a hopey-changey kind of person.”
Morgan McSweeney, Labour’s election chief, is frustrated by those in the party pushing the green policies.A source close to him said: “He sees everything through the prism of electoral success. He sees everything else as a distraction. He wants to throw the excess baggage off the boat and just concentrate on the economy.
“He thinks the focus, for example, on the party’s pledge to end all North Sea gas and oil licences has been an unhelpful distraction, and something the Tories can easily weaponise.
“In contrast, he wants to see more focus on the party’s Bidenomics-led policies, which amounts to an ambitious plan for creating the industries and jobs of the future.”
Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, and Pat McFadden, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, are among the “sceptics” who think the focus on a green agenda is complicating Labour’s key messages. A source familiar with their thinking said: “They want to talk about economic change not climate change.”
Another member of the shadow cabinet said the party risked shooting itself in the foot by becoming obsessed with the climate-change agenda, where there are “very few votes”.
The row has been rumbling on since last year’s annual party conference in Liverpool, when Starmer’s most senior advisers, including Deborah Mattinson, his director of strategy, and Peter Hyman, a former aide, wanted to change the colour of the party’s red rose emblem to green. They argued that commitment to the environment and “green stuff” should be one of the Labour leader’s overarching messages.
They were overruled by others, including the unions, who thought the idea was “mad”, given the inflation crisis.
A senior party source said: “Much of the tensions that exist now are a throwback to conference. There have been those who have been pushing the green agenda, but recent events have shown that tactic could easily backfire, and there is an overriding sense among most in the shadow cabinet that we need to strip everything back and talk about our core messages.”
In recent weeks, Labour has faced scrutiny of policies seen to have been the brainchild of Miliband, including the plan for £28 billion a year in capital spending on green growth and a commitment to ban new oil and gas developments in the North Sea.
Starmer is also under pressure from the Conservative Party for taking £1.5 million from Dale Vince, a vegan ex-hippy and green energy industrialist who also donates money to the direct action group Just Stop Oil. The leader’s office insists that Vince, who was ushered in as a donor under Miliband’s leadership, has “absolutely no influence on policy”. In an interview with Times Radio on Thursday, the Labour leader condemned the “arrogance” of the group’s tactics, and said: “I can’t wait for them to stop their antics.”
However, by far the biggest headache comes from Sadiq Khan’s plans to expand the ultra low emission zone (Ulez) for vehicles to outer London.
Last week, Starmer exposed internal divisions when he backed the party’s candidate in the Uxbridge by-election who said the expansion should be delayed.
Danny Beales said it was “not the right time to extend the Ulez scheme to outer London”, in a direct challenge to Khan, the Labour mayor. Starmer was asked if he agreed with Beales, and he said the party’s candidate was “right” to “stick up” for his would-be constituents.
The split within Labour mirrors one in the Conservative Party. Lord Goldsmith resigned as a minister last month, accusing Rishi Sunak of being “uninterested” in the environment. He told Channel 4 in an interview last week: “[Sunak’s] not in the net-zero sceptic camp . . . he’s just not motivated by these issues, he’s not interested, they don’t move him.”
Lord Frost, the former Brexit secretary, is among the most vocal sceptics. He used a speech in May to argue that Britain’s path to delivering net zero is “inevitably wasteful and damaging”.
Starmer is now waking up to the disconnect between his own party’s political and economic objectives.
It is understood that he will visit Aberdeen this summer to talk to industry and union figures, after criticism of the party’s proposals to freeze North Sea oil and gas licences. Critics believe Labour has fallen into the same trap as the SNP — which has embraced the green agenda and has Green Party MSPs in the Holyrood cabinet — and risks losing votes.
A senior Labour figure said: “It will just take one North Sea oil worker to stand up and say that despite being a lifetime Labour voter, they are going to vote Tory because of this policy and it could be game over. We need to be the party that can sow the green shoots of recovery rather than the party of tree-huggers.”
1 comment
Non-paywalled version: [https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0751233c-1d0e-11ee-a1d2-5f915afc01a5?shareToken=88e39eb42c81ae1a39a8d50b238ecf6a](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0751233c-1d0e-11ee-a1d2-5f915afc01a5?shareToken=88e39eb42c81ae1a39a8d50b238ecf6a)
———-
# ‘I hate tree-huggers’ — Keir Starmer explodes over green policy
**Labour’s leader and his allies are unhappy their economic focus is being jeopardised by the party’s ‘eco-warriors’**
Saturday July 08 2023, 6.00pm, The Sunday Times
Ed Miliband gave an animated Powerpoint presentation to the shadow cabinet on his revolutionary energy policies, speaking excitedly of the hope and change he believed they would bring.
His reception from Sir Keir Starmer, however, was decidedly lukewarm.
“[Starmer] thanked him for his presentation, but said he wasn’t interested in hope and change, he was more interested in creating sustainable new jobs to replace jobs in old sectors that were being lost,” said a source. “He then said he was not interested in tree-huggers, before adding to everyone’s surprise, ‘In fact, I hate tree-huggers’.”
The comments surprised some in the meeting, which took place the day after Starmer gave a speech on energy strategy in Aberdeen last month, but they are symptomatic of the divide that exists between him and Miliband.
Those close to the leader believe it is the economic challenge, not climate change, the party needs to focus on. They see Miliband as an eco-warrior who is more interested in the green agenda than the party’s central priorities of jobs, bills and energy security.
A shadow cabinet minister said: “Keir is always trying to anchor the party. Ed will always try to toe the line by saying that the party’s priorities are jobs, bills, energy security and climate change in that order. He can’t help himself, he is a hopey-changey kind of person.”
Morgan McSweeney, Labour’s election chief, is frustrated by those in the party pushing the green policies.A source close to him said: “He sees everything through the prism of electoral success. He sees everything else as a distraction. He wants to throw the excess baggage off the boat and just concentrate on the economy.
“He thinks the focus, for example, on the party’s pledge to end all North Sea gas and oil licences has been an unhelpful distraction, and something the Tories can easily weaponise.
“In contrast, he wants to see more focus on the party’s Bidenomics-led policies, which amounts to an ambitious plan for creating the industries and jobs of the future.”
Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, and Pat McFadden, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, are among the “sceptics” who think the focus on a green agenda is complicating Labour’s key messages. A source familiar with their thinking said: “They want to talk about economic change not climate change.”
Another member of the shadow cabinet said the party risked shooting itself in the foot by becoming obsessed with the climate-change agenda, where there are “very few votes”.
The row has been rumbling on since last year’s annual party conference in Liverpool, when Starmer’s most senior advisers, including Deborah Mattinson, his director of strategy, and Peter Hyman, a former aide, wanted to change the colour of the party’s red rose emblem to green. They argued that commitment to the environment and “green stuff” should be one of the Labour leader’s overarching messages.
They were overruled by others, including the unions, who thought the idea was “mad”, given the inflation crisis.
A senior party source said: “Much of the tensions that exist now are a throwback to conference. There have been those who have been pushing the green agenda, but recent events have shown that tactic could easily backfire, and there is an overriding sense among most in the shadow cabinet that we need to strip everything back and talk about our core messages.”
In recent weeks, Labour has faced scrutiny of policies seen to have been the brainchild of Miliband, including the plan for £28 billion a year in capital spending on green growth and a commitment to ban new oil and gas developments in the North Sea.
Starmer is also under pressure from the Conservative Party for taking £1.5 million from Dale Vince, a vegan ex-hippy and green energy industrialist who also donates money to the direct action group Just Stop Oil. The leader’s office insists that Vince, who was ushered in as a donor under Miliband’s leadership, has “absolutely no influence on policy”. In an interview with Times Radio on Thursday, the Labour leader condemned the “arrogance” of the group’s tactics, and said: “I can’t wait for them to stop their antics.”
However, by far the biggest headache comes from Sadiq Khan’s plans to expand the ultra low emission zone (Ulez) for vehicles to outer London.
Last week, Starmer exposed internal divisions when he backed the party’s candidate in the Uxbridge by-election who said the expansion should be delayed.
Danny Beales said it was “not the right time to extend the Ulez scheme to outer London”, in a direct challenge to Khan, the Labour mayor. Starmer was asked if he agreed with Beales, and he said the party’s candidate was “right” to “stick up” for his would-be constituents.
The split within Labour mirrors one in the Conservative Party. Lord Goldsmith resigned as a minister last month, accusing Rishi Sunak of being “uninterested” in the environment. He told Channel 4 in an interview last week: “[Sunak’s] not in the net-zero sceptic camp . . . he’s just not motivated by these issues, he’s not interested, they don’t move him.”
Lord Frost, the former Brexit secretary, is among the most vocal sceptics. He used a speech in May to argue that Britain’s path to delivering net zero is “inevitably wasteful and damaging”.
Starmer is now waking up to the disconnect between his own party’s political and economic objectives.
It is understood that he will visit Aberdeen this summer to talk to industry and union figures, after criticism of the party’s proposals to freeze North Sea oil and gas licences. Critics believe Labour has fallen into the same trap as the SNP — which has embraced the green agenda and has Green Party MSPs in the Holyrood cabinet — and risks losing votes.
A senior Labour figure said: “It will just take one North Sea oil worker to stand up and say that despite being a lifetime Labour voter, they are going to vote Tory because of this policy and it could be game over. We need to be the party that can sow the green shoots of recovery rather than the party of tree-huggers.”