Keir Starmer underlined that tackling climate change will be at the heart of a future Labour government’s economic policy but was silent on utilities renationalisation in his first party conference speech as leader.
In his keynote address this morning to Labour’s virtual ‘Connected’ conference, which has replaced the party’s annual physical gathering after it was cancelled due to coronavirus restrictions, Starmer emphasised action to cut emissions in his vision of a future Britain.
This included a “a country committed to a greener, cleaner and fairer society, where every policy is judged not just by how much it costs today but also by what it does for the planet tomorrow.”
And as an important plank of his desire for the UK to be an “active force for good in the world, once again admired and respected”, Starmer said he wants to lead the world by example in tackling the climate emergency.
The Labour leader also said that being a party that is “healing the climate crisis, not contributing to it” is one of the keys to regaining the trust of the British public, which has rejected the party at four successive general elections since 2010.
But Starmer did not mention his commitment to public ownership of key utilities, like gas and electricity, which was part of his ten-point list of pledges when he campaigned successfully to be Labour leader earlier this year.