Labour launches green economic recovery consultation

Ed Miliband and Anneliese Dodds have launched a consultation on how to help the UK make a green and just economic recovery from the coronavirus crisis.

Labour’s Shadow Business Secretary and Shadow Chancellor argue that the UK needs a Green New Deal to ensure there are jobs for those displaced by the crisis and that our recovery builds an environmentally sustainable economy.

Over the next few weeks Labour is encouraging businesses, sector associations, unions, workers, green campaign groups and the public to submit ideas to its consultation to explore what a green recovery should look like, with a green jobs plan to counteract unemployment, stimulate the economy and invest in green industries of the future.

The consultation, which will run until the end of June, will involve virtual round tables with industry and experts, as well as town hall style engagement events online with environmental groups, and the public to get their views. These responses will form the basis of Labour’s plan for a green economic recovery.

Miliband said: “This is a moment of profound economic distress for the country. People are losing their jobs at an alarming rate in the midst of the biggest recession for 300 years. We need a zero carbon army, helping all workers. There is so much work to be done, from home energy insulation to designing and producing zero emission vehicles to renewable energy production to reforesting and improving our green spaces and redesigning and improving our towns and cities. This rapid consultation will seek views on specific measures that can be taken now to kick start a green recovery. We know that this work needs to be done if we are to meet our climate objectives.”

Dodds added: “While the current recession is the deepest and widest in hundreds of years, the long-term costs of failing to deal with the climate crisis also pose grave risks for our economy. We must ensure that the recovery builds back better. Public funds must be focused on sustaining and promoting employment, especially in those areas which are already struggling; and meeting our climate and environmental commitments. I would urge anyone who feels they have solutions to these enormous challenges to contribute to this consultation.”