Positive Money and War on Want at Labour Party Conference

The new Labour Government has made bold commitments to tackling climate change in a way that delivers for workers and communities across the UK. From an ambitious mission to decarbonise our electricity system by 2030 whilst lowering energy bills, to the pledge that the National Wealth Fund will create over 650,000 good jobs all across the country, much has been promised to an electorate that voted Labour in off the back of a cost-of-living crisis driven largely by fossil-fuel driven energy prices, and intensifying ecological degradation.

Despite this much welcome ambition, the drastic reduction of Labour’s £28 billion green investment pledge in the run up to the election, and the commitment to tight fiscal rules the party have so far chosen to retain from the Conservative government, mean current and planned levels of investment fall far short of what is required. We brought a panel of experts together at conference, to reflect on how we could rethink the concept of fiscal responsibility in the context of the ecological crises we face.

Panellists, left to right: Danisha Kazi, Head of Economics at Positive Money, Matt Wrack, General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, Yuan Yang, MP for Earley and Woodley, Liz McKean, Policy, Campaigns and International Programmes Director at War on Want (chair), Jeevun Sandher, MP for Loughborough, and Kevin Anderson, Professor of Energy and Climate Change. 

Kevin Anderson, Professor of energy and climate change, set the scene on the reality of the climate crisis facing us, arguing that climate science tells us that the impact on our economies and societies will be far greater and more disruptive than what is portrayed by many governments and economic models. 

Newly elected MPs Jeevun Sandher and Yuan Yang highlighted the importance of taking a long-term view of the economic and societal benefits of public investments, and current government’s evolving understanding of this, as was promisingly indicated by the Chancellor’s conference speech. Yuan, who founded Rethinking Economics and spent over a decade as a journalist at the Financial Times and the Economist, also reflected on the significant shift that has taken place within the mainsteam economics profession, describing the consensus that now exists on the need for a just green transition. 

Matt Wrack, President of the Trades Union Congress and General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, spoke passionately on the need for a transformation in our thinking around the role of public investment in order to deliver a green transition that is just for workers in the UK and globally.

Danisha Kazi, Positive Money’s Head of Economics, emphasised the importance of putting ‘austerity logic’ to rest, and the need for greater coordination between our economic institutions like the Bank of England and the Treasury. Danisha highlighted the important role that can be played by public investment banks, and urged the Government to seize the opportunity presented by designing a new institution, to supercharge and democratise the new National Wealth Fund. 

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