Constitutional chaos takes wind out of Long Bailey’s sails

The intense gusts that swept across Brighton seafront on Tuesday were an apt backdrop for Labour’s landmark pledge to build a new state-backed fleet of offshore windfarms.

The storm on the previous day, by contrast, was inside the conference hall, when Labour’s split on Brexit was laid bare. The Labour hierarchy had planned, until the brouhaha triggered by the botched attempt to strip deputy leader Tom Watson of his post, to make climate change the big focus of this year’s event.

The standing-room-only meeting, held by Labour’s environment campaign SERA, was a testament to that. Shadow business and energy secretary, Rebecca Long Bailey, sought to harness that zeitgeist by pledging that a Labour government would build state-backed offshore windfarms. Her announcement was swiftly blown away by the Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday that the suspension of Parliament was unlawful.

The timing of the announcement was curious, coming so soon after last week’s contracts for difference auction results, which showed the costs for which the private sector is prepared to build windfarms are plunging. Given these attractive economics, there seems little need for state intervention.

But Long Bailey is courting Labour members in the run-up to an anticipated leadership contest. Perhaps the pledge was more about courting Labour’s increasingly left-wing and climate change-conscious activists, who this week backed bringing forward the net-zero emissions target from 2050 to 2030.