Will climate activists be happy with Labour’s manifesto?

After the LabourList morning email was sent out on Friday, Jeremy Corbyn delivered a speech outlining Labour’s new offer of free and fast broadband for all. It was pitched as fair, because internet access should be considered a universal public service, and crucially green, because connecting rural and remote areas of the country could result in fewer commuting trips. On the same day, the party pledged to install solar panels in 2,000 public spaces, from libraries to community centres. Labour’s ‘green industrial revolution’ and ‘green new deal’ have not so far featured as heavily in the general election campaign as might have been expected, but the theme is cropping up more and more.

The Labour leader will use the climate crisis and its solutions as an overall framework when he announces a new policy to address the UK’s severe skills gap at the CBI conference today. In its first term of government, Labour would deliver 320,000 new climate apprenticeships through reform of the existing apprenticeship levy – i.e. funds already set aside by large employers – topped up with the inclusive ownership funds that John McDonnell announced last year. Corbyn will know that the ‘IOFs’ plan is exactly the kind of policy, as well as large-scale public ownership and many of the headline proposals announced over the last couple of weeks, that makes a CBI speech difficult as business leaders are rattled. The Q&A will be worth a watch.

Labour may be talking more about the climate emergency, but will activists be pleased with the final manifesto text? Remember that the big battle over how ambitious the party should be in its decarbonisation target took place at conference, where the compositing process resulted in two motions rather than just one. Both were approved by delegates. You might assume that the motion with a 2030 net-zero target might be prioritised over the other one, favoured by GMB, but neither takes precedence over the other. It is therefore key that GMB’s Tim Roache had a seat at the table in Labour’s ‘Clause V’ meeting on Saturday, whereas the organisers at Labour for a Green New Deal did not.

Barry Gardiner confirmed this morning that the broad 2030 commitment is now more of an aspiration than a cast-iron guarantee. Basically, the party wants the bulk of the work done within the next decade – as previously indicated by Rebecca Long-Bailey – but doesn’t think full decarbonisation by 2030 is a realistic aim. As for those wondering about continued freedom of movement post-Brexit, again we’ll have to wait until the manifesto text is officially released on Thursday to know the details. But it is understood that total free movement would not be negotiated as part of Labour’s Brexit deal. Check out our write-up of the Clause V meeting for further information.

What’s going on?

• Monday: Corbyn’s speech at CBI conference (11.15am)
• Tuesday: Corbyn v Johnson debate on ITV (8pm)
• Thursday: Labour’s manifesto release