31 January 2024 , 13:26
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A Labour frontbencher attempted to explain the party's economic policies by comparing it being put off marrying someone if they murdered a two-year-old.
In an interview with LBC, Shadow Economic Secretary to the Treasury Tulip Siddiq scrambled to explain whether Labour's promise to spend £28billion-a-year on green projects was a commitment.
Pressed on whether it was an ambition as opposed to a firm commitment, she said: “It is a commitment depending on the fact it abides by our fiscal rules… everything has to depend on external circumstances." LBC presenter Nick Ferrari interrupted to say: “That would be like me saying to my partner: I’ll marry you if you win the lottery. Life doesn’t work like that."
Tulip Siddiq said you may not want to marry someone if they murdered a child - as she explained Labour's climate policy (LBC)In a bizarre response, Ms Siddiq said: "It’s like saying to your partner ‘I will marry you’ but if I suddenly find out you murdered a two-year-old last year, you may not want to marry them, I think that’s what we are saying. If there’s a global financial crisis when there's an election, and we win, obviously we need to review our commitments that that time." Mr Ferrari responded: "That's extraordinary."
Labour's flagship pledge to spend £28bn-a-year on investing in green energy projects has become divisive, with some senior figures pushing to scrap it. It was first announced in 2021, but was scaled back last year to a commitment to work up to the £28bn figure in the "second half of the first Parliament" if Labour won the election.
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In an interview on Monday, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves failed to commit to the figure, blaming the Tories' mismanagement of the economy. “I did not foresee the Liz Truss mini-Budget that crashed the economy, put pensions in peril and sent mortgage rates soaring,” she said. “That was the choice that the Conservatives made, but it has meant the economic inheritance for the next Government is going to be dire.”
She described the green prosperity plan as "so important", but added: "We also know from what the Conservatives have done in the last two years... everything that we do will be subject to the fiscal rules that I’ve set out, because when you play fast and loose with the public finances it is ordinary working people who pay the price.”