Labour is in the worst of all worlds with confused messaging on its £28bn pledge

Tories watch on delighted as Starmer continues to talk about the figure while the shadow Treasury team distances itself from it

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.