Labour in pledge to insulate 5m homes

Setting out details of Labour’s “green plan”, shadow energy and climate change secretary Caroline Flint, who is defending her seat in Don Valley, said that “building a more equal society means tackling climate change and protecting nature”.

The plan includes a legally binding target to decarbonise electricity supplies by 2030, delivering energy efficiency upgrades to at least five million homes over 10 years and developing a green industrial strategy to create a million new jobs.

There are also pledges to bring in a new programme to protect homes and businesses from extreme weather, develop a 25-year plan to help nature recover with five-year milestones to measure progress, and planting new woodland and trees closer to where people live.

As it launched the plans, Labour sought to highlight differences between the two main parties on the environment, warning the Conservatives had ruled out setting a target to cut power sector emissions despite advice from the Government’s climate advisers.

And the party claimed it would protect the public forest estate from “Tory privatisation”, which it said had not been categorically ruled out in the Conservative manifesto.

Ms Flint said: “The aims we have championed throughout our history - from decent living standards for working people, to care for the vulnerable, and a route out of poverty for those in the developing world, are all at risk from spiralling global temperatures.