\n<\/p>\n
Keir Starmer\u2019s government has shown a lack of confidence that it has the answers to the country\u2019s problems, the mayor of London has said, as he called on the chancellor to back green investment in this month\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the eve of a summit of world mayors in Rio de Janeiro, Sadiq Khan said the Treasury should be more supportive of the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, in his pursuit of the government\u2019s target of an 81% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2035.<\/p>\n
The public would reward the government for facing down those who claim net zero policies are adding to the cost of living, the London mayor said, as he argued that cabinet ministers should be true to their beliefs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t understand how we\u2019ve lost the art and ability to explain to people what we\u2019re doing,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Khan, who is co-chairing the C40 World Mayors Summit with the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, said: \u201c[The public] can smell somebody who\u2019s inauthentic. And I think you should be authentic. People respect somebody if you\u2019re authentic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are people who voted for me in the last mayoral election who may not agree with Ulez but they respect the fact that I have got good intentions, but I also explained to them why we\u2019re doing the ultra low emissions zone, the fact that in London we\u2019ve got thousands of premature deaths.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got children with stunted lungs forever, adults with a whole host of health issues, from asthma to cancer to heart disease to dementia. And we showed this policy works, and so people who are originally offside then became on side.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not about out-reforming Reform, or out-greening the Greens. It\u2019s about understanding what our north star is and then delivering and being, you know, true to who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Khan, who won a historic third term as mayor last May, said that Starmer\u2019s government was never going to turn the country around after just 15 months in power, but he suggested that there was a lack of clarity about its purpose.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said this privately, I\u2019m saying it publicly: we don\u2019t appear to have the confidence of showing the public that we\u2019ve got the solution to the challenges they are facing,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd when people say \u2018out-Reform Reform\u2019 it is code for giving the impression of being something that we\u2019re not really and people can smell that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Khan said the Treasury machine could be \u201cbehind the curve\u201d and that the cabinet needed to be speaking as one over the green agenda.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIt can\u2019t just be the Ed Miliband show. I think the whole of the government\u2019s going to be behind this in terms of turning our country into a leader in terms of tackling this issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the Treasury should understand why this is important. You know why? Actually, we can get good growth from attacking the climate emergency.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can get good jobs from this. And that\u2019s why I think the prime minister coming to [the Cop30 climate summit in Brazil] sends a message not just to the rest of the cabinet, but also to the private sector, to those across the globe that we take this seriously and don\u2019t underestimate the global role we can play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Khan has been lobbying for investment to fund big Transport for London projects, including the proposed Docklands Light Railway extension to Thamesmead.<\/p>\n
Asked whether Rachel Reeves, who will give her budget later this month, needed to do more to support Miliband, he said: \u201cWell, I think that\u2019s a whole government endeavour.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think what we\u2019re going to see in the upcoming budget is support for green jobs. Now people think, what is a green job? A green job is somebody who, yes, is a great plumber, but also has got the skills to install heat pumps. A green job is somebody that is a great electrician, but also can support net zero.<\/p>\n
\u201cA green job is somebody that knows how to install triple-glazing insulation, help make electric buses. These are jobs that that should be supported.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow? We\u2019ve got a big issue in relation to the welfare bill. Why don\u2019t we use the crisis caused by climate change to train people up for these green jobs in London?<\/p>\n
\u201cIn London we are, by the way; we\u2019ve got schools, boot camps, construction academies and so forth. But do it with one hand tied behind our back because there\u2019s not enough investment going into this area.\u201d<\/p>\n
Khan said he hoped that Starmer\u2019s appearance with Miliband at the Cop30 summit would be a turning point.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI\u2019m hoping it leads to us having greater confidence to tackle this issue. That would mean, by the way, saying that we think President Trump is wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think his speech at the United Nations was a disgrace, not just because he had a pop at me and London \u2013 because he called the climate emergency a scam, he said that coal is a wonderful thing. We shouldn\u2019t be afraid to call him out that was, that\u2019s just wrong. And it\u2019s the opposite of the evidence that science provides.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked whether Starmer had been too fawning to Donald Trump, who was recently given a historic second state visit to the UK, Khan said that the closest allies were frank with each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not for me to say whether the [Canadian prime minister] Mark Carney school of governance or the Keir Starmer school of governance is the right one,\u201d Khan said, with reference to the Canadian government\u2019s bullish approach to the White House.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can understand why it\u2019s in the UK\u2019s national interest to have good relations with the United States in terms of how we deal with Putin, in terms of tariffs, in terms of the Middle East, but I think there are some times when you\u2019ve got a special relationship \u2013 and I compare a special relationship to a best mate \u2013 you should be honest and candid.<\/p>\n
\u201cExpectations should be higher from a best mate than they are from an ordinary acquaintance. And I think people need to decide themselves whether the Carney or Starmer approach is the better one. I know my view \u2026 the Sadiq Khan is the best one.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Keir Starmer\u2019s government has shown a lack of confidence that it has the answers to the country\u2019s problems, the mayor of London has said, as he called on the chancellor to back green investment in this month\u2019s budget. Speaking on the eve of a summit of world mayors in Rio de Janeiro, Sadiq Khan said<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[18560,5747,4448,113,680,186,187,728,2045,7426,134,2656,13395],"class_list":{"0":"post-32032","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-authentic","9":"tag-boosts","10":"tag-bring","11":"tag-budget","12":"tag-calls","13":"tag-climate","14":"tag-crisis","15":"tag-green","16":"tag-investment","17":"tag-khan","18":"tag-labour","19":"tag-reeves","20":"tag-sadiq"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}