Contrary to what you might think, Keir Starmer’s No. 10 and No. 11 had an almost Stalinist disdain for the environment. Environmentalists found themselves portrayed as blockers to growth, and growth had to win. There are few more apposite examples from the Starmer years of Labour’s initial unpreparedness for government and its confusion about what to do when in power.
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James Heale
Burnham is trying to do a Brown
Instead of accepting society’s evolved expectations about how to grow in a greener way and tackling the sclerosis of the planning system by starting with reforming the planning inspectorate, an in-house problem, Sir Keir accepted uncritically the recommendations of the Fingleton Review into nuclear power and went as far as contemplating the abolition of duties to conserve national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty, both historic Labour achievements. There were characteristic U-turns on the government’s opposition to swift boxes on new housing, and on its intention to slap inheritance tax on successful family farming businesses.
