Labour’s mixed messages on £28bn green pledge put it in worst of all worlds

Tories watch on delighted as Starmer repeats figure while the shadow Treasury team distance themselves

For weeks, Labour officials have been locked in meetings as they try to figure out how to present Westminster's worst kept-secret: Keir Starmer's slow U-turn away from his pledge to spend 28bn a year on the green economy.

Publicly, senior party figures insist that nothing has changed since last summer, when the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said the party would spend 28bn only if the party's strict fiscal rules allowed.