Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email

       Please enter a valid email address

       Please enter a valid email address

       SIGN UP

       I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice

       Thanks for signing up to the

       View from Westminster email

       {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}

       Sir Keir Starmer said “I hate tree huggers” in an outburst that shocked his shadow cabinet, it has been claimed.

       The Labour leader’s furious remark followed an animated presentation from climate and net zero spokesperson Ed Miliband setting out his revolutionary energy policies.

       Mr Miliband is said to have told his colleagues of the hope and change his policies would bring, receiving only a lukewarm reception from Sir Keir.

       Sir Keir “thanked him for his presentation but said he wasn’t interested in hope and change”, according to a source.

       Recommended Labour ‘confident’ of hitting ￡28bn green pledge after U-turn criticisms Rachel Reeves: I’ve got no time for Just Stop Oil, they are pathetic and tedious Activists interrupt Keir Starmer’s speech to demand ‘green new deal now’

       The source told The Sunday Times: “He was more interested in creating sustainable new jobs to replace jobs in old sectors that were being lost. He then said he was not interested in tree huggers, before adding to everyone’s surprise, ‘In fact, I hate tree huggers’.”

       His comments, at a meeting the day after Sir Keir gave a major speech on Labour’s energy policy, surprised some in the room.

       The Labour leader and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves have faced a backlash from the left of the party over a decision to scale back plans for a ￡28bn “green prosperity plan”.

       Shadow climate secretary Ed Miliband speaking at Glastonbury Festival

       (PA)

       But Ms Reeves insisted on Sunday that she “cares passionately about tackling the climate emergency”. And while she said she “loves a tree”, she lashed out at “rude” environmental protesters such as Just Stop Oil who cause “needless disruption to people’s lives”.

       Ms Reeves said there are “better ways to tackle the climate emergency than stopping working people getting to their jobs”.

       Luke Tryl, UK director at the More in Common group, said Labour risked “throwing the baby out with the bath water” over climate issues. He said it “makes total sense” to condemn Just Stop Oil and Sadiq Khan’s expansion of London’s Ulez scheme.

       Recommended Green industrialist Dale Vince denies donations to Labour paid for influence Ed Miliband defends ‘world-leading’ Labour climate policy at Glastonbury

       “But if Labour strategists think climate isn’t a mainstream electoral issue, their assumptions about voters are a decade out of date,” Mr Tryl added.

       Labour was asked to comment.

       More about Ed Miliband keir starmer Labour Shadow Cabinet

       Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

       Comments

       1/ 2‘I hate tree huggers’: Starmer’s apparent explosion over Labour policy

       ‘I hate tree huggers’: Starmer’s apparent explosion over Labour policy

       Shadow climate secretary Ed Miliband speaking at Glastonbury Festival

       PA Wire

       ‘I hate tree huggers’: Starmer’s apparent explosion over Labour policy

       Sir Keir Starmer reportedly said he was ‘not interested in hope and change’

       PA

       ？ Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article

       Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.

       Subscribe

       Already subscribed? Log in