Labour leader Ed Miliband has said that his party intends to allow the Green Investment Bank to borrow.
In his speech to the Labour Party Conference in Manchester, he said that if Labour is elected into Government in next year’s General Election, the environment would be one of six national policy goals.
As part of this, he intends to allow the Green Investment Bank the capacity to borrow. When it was formed by the current Government, the bank was capitalised with an initial £3.8 billion of public funds but was not allowed to borrow on the international capital markets to expand its lending activities.
Ed Miliband said: “Our third national goal is that by 2025, Britain becomes truly a world leader in the green economy, creating one million new jobs as we do.
“Under this Government, we’re falling behind Germany, Japan, the United States and even India and China when it comes to the green technologies and services.
“There are so many brilliant businesses who are desperate to do their bit but Government’s not playing its part. With our plan, we will. This is what we’re going to do.
“We’re going to commit to taking all of the carbon out of our electricity by 2030.
“We’re going to have a Green Investment Bank with powers to borrow and attract new investment…
“…You see the environment isn’t that fashionable any more in politics as you may have noticed with David Cameron. But it matters. It’s incredibly important for our economy. And there is no more important issue for me when I think about my children’s generation and what I can do in politics, than tackling global climate change.”
