Some in the party think the name of the £28bn-a-year policy, the “Green Prosperity Plan”, is a mistake too, pointing to how Joe Biden badged his own, enormous clean tech programme as the “Inflation Reduction Act”.
What is perhaps strange to some in the party is that Labour has had its £28bn-a-year pledge for nearly two years and still hasn’t fleshed out the detail of what it will be spent on. When she announced it, Reeves mentioned giga factories, hydrogen, offshore wind, tree planting, flood defences and home insulation but the plan remains sketchy.
I’m told that the new edict against any new spending pledges issued this week may extend to the next election. In a neat twist on the Tories’ own “there is no money left” charge levelled at Gordon Brown, shadow ministers are told not to expect more money. Most importantly, as the Shadow Chancellor first set out earlier this year, the whole plan will indeed be subject to Labour’s fiscal rules. One senior figure tells me that if there is any conflict “the fiscal rules will come first”.
Yet despite claims that sources close to Starmer are unhappy with the Biden-style plan, I’m told that he, Reeves and Miliband are in lockstep on the policy. “It is central to our plans,” one senior figure tells me. The Labour leader will underline his commitment when he launches his next “mission” for his government later this month, on how to decarbonise the UK by 2030.