Labour energy policy not 'kicking the can down the road', insists Starmer
Keir Starmer has denied that Labour’s energy policy amounts to “kicking the can down the road”, but acknowledged that something will have to be done early next year to tackle the crisis in the longer term.
During a Q&A on BBC Radio 5 Live, the Labour leader was quizzed on his plans to tackle soaring energy bills going beyond the middle of next year, the Press Association reported.
One listener told him: “The public is more leftwing than the Labour party at the moment.” Starmer replied: “I don’t accept that is kicking the can down the road.”
He said his party’s plan is “meeting the concerns of millions of people”. He added that he understood the scale of the challenge facing households, adding that “many people listening and watching this will be saying: ‘I can’t afford that”’.
Pressed on his longer-term plans, he pointed to his party’s call for a national mission on home insulation.
“On the question of what we do long term, I am completely up for that challenge,” he told the programme. “I accept the challenge that something has got to be done in April.”
