Political Leadership

ECIU polling: more voters had heard about Labour’s green investment ‘U-turn’ than the policy itself

21 February 2024

In the wake of Labour’s announcement that their green investment pledge would be scaled back, the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) commissioned snap polling from Opinium.

Only 14% of people reported being ‘very aware’ of Labour’s (previously) proposed £28 billion a year investment plans. This is worth noting, as a significant amount of debate within green policy circles has focused on this specific number (but most of the public wasn’t aware of it in the first place).

Roughly double the number of people (26%) said they were ‘very aware’ of the decision to reduce the £28 billion pledge, though, suggesting that for a significant number of people, the intense media debate around whether or not Labour would ‘U-turn’ would have been the first time they had encountered the policy.

Read our analysis taking stock of what the policy shift from Labour is likely to have meant to voters here.

Reference article:

Author: ECIU
Date: 10th February 2024

Voters concerned over energy security and bills over Labour U-turn

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This holds true across most public voter groups: supporters of all parties except Reform are most likely to say the government should be ‘doing more’ on climate, with 45% of Labour, 35% of Conservative, 61% of Lib Dem and 75% of Green supporters selecting this option. Whilst more than 1 in 3 (37%) Reform backers think the government is ‘doing too much’ to address climate change, even among this group, 28% still want the government to ‘do more’.

Among MPs, the picture is shows a much clearer split along partisan lines: Labour members are unsurprisingly most likely to say that the government is doing ‘the right amount’ (58%), whereas 7 in 10 Conservatives (70%) say that the government is doing ‘too much’ to address climate change, reflecting Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch’s self-declared “net zero sceptic” stance.

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Net zero support remains steady for both MPs and the public

‘Net zero’ has made national headlines in September, with an Energy Security and Net Zero committee report recommending that the government stop talking about net zero, to Prime Minister Andy Burnham reaffirming the policy, a few hours later, explicitly stating the need for the UK to reach net zero by 2050.

Our latest data shows that holding steady is the right move, with net zero still receiving majority support among the public and MPs, and even trending upward slightly.

While it is clear that ‘net zero’ is not the most compelling communications phrase, it is also apparent that the public understand and are willing to support it, especially when linked back to its purpose, to address climate change. Rather than ditching the term, our work suggests that talking about the government’s net zero target is best done when connected to compelling reasons ‘why’, and clear explanations for ‘how’ it can be achieved.