Labour hired former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, and Barclays boss to unlock billions of pounds of private investment. was forced to abandon a pledge to spend £28bn on green projects.
Rachel Reeves has appointed Britain’s top business leaders to advise on how to raise private investment via its proposed National Wealth Fund.
Ms Reeves was forced to find other ways to pay for Labour’s promises to spend after Jeremy Hunt scrapped the non-dom regime – a major Labour promise – in his Budget last Thursday and used the money to cut national insurance.
Since , Labour has ruled out the introduction of a tax for the wealthy in order to fill the funding gap needed to fulfill its manifesto promises.
Reeves stated on BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg that everything in Labour’s Manifesto would be “fully funded and costed”. She added that the party was currently examining the Budget documents of the Government to identify additional sources of money.
Shadow chancellor says she has “no illusions” regarding the challenges she will face in cutting government spending if she becomes chancellor.
She said, “I’m going to have to admit that we won’t be able turn the situation around immediately. We will work hard to fix all that.
This came after Sir Keir starmer last month abandoned his flagship promise to invest £28bn in green investments each year, and blamed the poor financial state of the country.
Labour leader cuts clean energy policy from £4.7bn to £4.7bn annually, but keeps plans to invest in £7.3bn into a National Wealth Fund for jobs creation in a zero carbon economy.
The investment includes floating offshore wind farms, green steel and thousands of jobs in Britain for plumbers and electricians.
The party promised that every £1 in public money would be backed by £3 worth of private sector investments.
The Sunday Times reported that Ms Reeves advisory committee included Mr Carney, a former Bank of England Governor, and C S Venkatakrishnan the chief executive of Barclays.
Carol Young, chief executive of USS (the UK’s largest pension scheme), and executives from Equitix, Brunel Pension, are also present.
The taskforce will be consulting private investors over the next three month and making recommendations for how to set up the fund. This includes ways to attract investment and develop future projects.
Rhian-Mari Thomas will chair the committee. She is a former Barclays Banker and CEO of Green Finance Institute, an investment firm. Her company will provide administrative support.
The Labour taskforce is reporting directly to Ms Reeves, and Ed Miliband the shadow climate minister.