After byelection defeat and with right-leaning advisers gone, will PM return to his instincts and embrace Labour ‘DNA’ on climate?
Less than a year ago, Keir Starmer stood in front of an audience of senior officials and business leaders from 60 countries in London to declare climate action was “in the DNA of my government”.
Vowing to go “all out” for net zero and to “accelerate” while others were slowing down, the Lancaster House speech was his strongest intervention yet on the issue. “We’re paying the price for our overexposure to the rollercoaster of international fossil fuel markets,” he said. “Homegrown clean energy is the only way to take back control of our energy system.”
For many who know Starmer, that speech reflected his genuine and rationally thought-out view. Climate action is not only necessary but economically beneficial, and can help the UK avoid future cost of living crises – arguments he has made in private as well as in public.
But throughout his premiership, Downing Street has also been home to senior advisers sceptical about green issues. They have sought to stifle Starmer’s pro-climate interventions, watered down environmental policy and tried to steer Labour towards Reform and the Conservatives’ anti-net-zero stances.
