DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 19 (Reuters) – British Labor leader Keir Starmer laid out his green growth plan in Davos on Thursday and criticized British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for not attending World Economic Forum Annual Meeting.
Starmer, whose left-leaning opposition party leads the polls ahead of an election in the next two years, told participants at his Swiss resort that a future Labor government would pursue a “positive state” ready to work with business.
Britain, mired in a cost of living crisis that has sparked widespread strikes, could benefit from a clean energy plan that would lower fuel costs, create jobs and contribute to tackling the climate crisis, he said.
“There is huge potential in the UK when it comes to wind and offshore wind,” Starmer told a WEF panel.
Starmer said the Davos meeting was an opportunity to talk to chief executives and investors who could work with a future Labor government to push the party’s green prosperity plan, which involves creating an energy utility called Great British Energy. new tools.
He said some people he spoke to had noticed Sunak’s absence from the meeting, a criticism his party colleague Rachel Reeves, who is likely to be treasurer in a future Labor government, had taken up.
“Someone has to be an ambassador for the UK without the prime minister and the chancellor,” she told another audience member, referring to the finance minister, Jeremy Hunt.
“We are here to send a message that at the next election … the UK economy will open up again.”
While Sunak was not in attendance, the British government sent Trade Secretary Kemi Badnoch and Business Secretary Grant Shapps to Davos.
Former prime minister Boris Johnson also appeared, urging Britain’s allies to redouble their efforts to send military equipment to Ukraine.
renewable energy
Labor’s economic credibility with financial institutions and markets has been wary of some of its policies in the past, but has suffered under Starmer’s more radical predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn. Popular with far-left voters but unable to unseat the ruling Conservative Party in opinion polls.
The opposition leader also said it was important to tell a clear story around stability and economic growth, adding that the UK had all the right attributes for investment but needed to create the right environment and environment for it.
Starmer said that the Labor Party hopes to establish a new role for fossil fuel companies in the energy transition, and the Labor Party government will not make new investments in oil and gas fields.
“With oil and gas, what we’re saying is that there is a real need for a transition. Obviously, it will play a role in the transition, but new investment won’t, neither will the new oil fields in the North Sea because we need to go to net zero and we need to make sure we can Renewable energy is where we’re going next,” he said.
Britain, which has just held a new round of North Sea oil and gas exploration licenses under the leadership of the Conservative Party, has not joined the international club banning the development of new oil and gas fields.
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Reporting by Brenda Wu; Writing by Mark John; Editing by Alexander Smith
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