Yvette Cooper has moved to claim ground from her Labour leadership rival Jeremy Corbyn by framing herself as the environmentalist candidate. Speaking in Leicester on Sunday, the shadow Home Secretary is expected to describe climate change as “the biggest existential threat to mankind” and set out a six-point green plan that she would introduce as prime minister.
Her proposals will include reinstating the policy of making every new home take as much power from renewable sources, such as solar, as it does from traditional energy sources, and encouraging investment in onshore wind farms.
Mr Corbyn is considered to have seized the initiative on green issues with his own 10-point climate change plan, which includes banning fracking and adopting the French policy of covering new buildings with solar panels.
The environment is thought to be a potential vote-winner after the Conservatives ditched a number of green policies when they won a majority in May; these included halting subsidies to new onshore wind farms and killing off “green deal” home insulation loans because they had not proved popular with homeowners.
Ms Cooper is expected to say: “At the heart of my leadership will be the determination to demonstrate that Labour can lead the low-carbon transition. There are some who believe that the impact of climate change will be felt far off into the distant future, if at all, and as a result we can defer acting to stop it now. They’re wrong. The consequences of the Government’s inaction are being felt here and now. They are a betrayal of future generations.”
Labour leadership candidate Jeremy Corbyn on the campaign trail
Referring to the Prime Minister’s photo-opportunity with a husky in the Arctic when he was leader of the Opposition, Ms Cooper will say: “David Cameron’s hug-a-husky-but-scrap-a-wind-farm hypocrisy has set us back years and put us in danger.”
Ms Cooper said last week that she would not be challenging the leadership result if she loses. Andy Burnham’s camp warned on Friday that the result could be left open to a legal challenge because of Conservatives registering to vote in the election, a loophole opened by Ed Miliband’s reforms of leadership contest rules.
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Mr Burnham will not make any challenge either, but his campaign manager, the shadow Transport Secretary Michael Dugher, warned there could be “several thousand Tory infiltrators”. One of these, Lord Mancroft, told The IoS: “I have no intention of joining the Labour party and never have had. I only clicked on the button because I was looking on the net one day and thought I couldn’t quite believe any party would be stupid enough to let someone like me have a say in how they choose their leader, but it turns out for just £3, you can.
“I have never had any intention of voting for any of the candidates. What all this tells us is that the Labour party is far too incompetent to be entrusted with the government of the country. I certainly am not part of any Tory plot to vote Corbyn in. My only regret is that I can’t withdraw and claim my £3 back.
“It is quite amusing that the BBC found this out before the Labour Party. Actually, I don’t think the Labour party have found out yet – they just sent me another email this morning, inviting me to meet Burnham on Monday.”
Some Corbyn supporters believe his rivals and disgruntled MPs are desperately trying to find ways of negating the election result. Many MPs are worried about a lurch to the left are considering how to undermine his leadership. They are concerned about reports he would refuse to serve on the Privy Council, as all Opposition leaders customarily do, because he is anti-monarchy – meaning Mr Corbyn would not receive top-level security briefings. Labour leadership: The Contenders
One proposal was to run a slate of “awkward squad” MPs in a Shadow Cabinet election with the aim of blocking Mr Corbyn’s more extreme policies from the frontbench. Mr Corbyn had been expected to revive these elections, which were scrapped by Ed Miliband in 2011, but he wrong-footed potential rebels by saying he would stick with a system where the leader appoints the top team.
It has been reported that MPs are planning to hold a vote on bringing back Shadow Cabinet elections at a parliamentary Labour Party meeting before the new leader is announced next month. Mr Burnham said he would consult with the PLP about forming a top team – but not immediately.
