John Healey: Labour will enforce British-first policy for steel in warships

Mr Healey said that this will come alongside £3 billion of investment over the next decade for green steel in Britain which will be paid for through the proposed National Wealth Fund, despite suggestions that the party is looking to ditch its £28 billion green energy pledge.

“Government and ministers have seen cost rather than value,” Mr Healey said, arguing that readiness to see contracts go abroad has been part of “our national weakness”.

“We would direct British defence investment first to British business that would back jobs in UK defence and in vital strategic industries like steel.

“You’d set a higher threshold for putting contracts overseas,” he added.

It has previously been revealed that just 4 per cent of the steel being used to make the five Type 31 frigate warships will come from UK steel mills, with defence minister James Cartlidge insisting that the Government has tried to source steel from the UK where it can.

Mr Healey said the UK’s steel industry has to be “competitive” but also has to “contribute to our climate change challenge”, citing the £3 billion of funding earmarked from Labour’s National Wealth fund which would be used to “give the private sector the confidence to invest more in Britain and to make our steel cleaner in the future”.

It comes amid reports that Labour will ditch its flagship £28 billion-a-year green energy pledge following Conservative attacks on the policy which argue it will put up taxes.

When asked if Labour’s position has changed its policy, Mr Healey said: “Britain must have green energy for the future, the climate crisis is getting worse, while the UK is falling back on its commitments, and we simply can't afford another five years of Conservative go slow on green jobs and green investment.

“Borrowing to invest is what all governments do. It's what the Labour government did. It's what this government does is what all governments around the world do.

“You must do so with prudence which is why the strength of a government's fiscal rules is important.

“We've said we've got a plan within the fiscal rules we've set to look to ramp up the investment in our green prosperity plan to around 28 billion by the end of the first Labour Parliament.”

Yesterday Angela Rayner, Labour’s shadow levelling secretary, said that her party is not committed to “arbitrary” numbers on its pledge.

During a visit to the Glenkinchie distillery in East Lothian she denied that there is confusion around the policy, saying the party will stick to its fiscal rules.

Ms Rayner said: “It’s not about just throwing a figure out there willy-nilly, and saying we’ll just put that in.

“It’s got to be part of applying to our fiscal rules.

“This is about identifying where that money will be spent, and when, how quickly we can get that off the ground in a sustainable way to secure the public money and secure that three times the amount of private investment.

“They’re the rules that we’re applying to that money.

“Therefore it’s arbitrary to say, well every year it will be £28 billion by immediately the first day.

“We don’t even know what the public finances are going to be like.”

Questioned further on whether the party is moving away from the £28 billion figure, she said: “No, we’re saying that we want to ramp up to £28 billion.”