[ali k]

My impression was that in 2010 there were plans in place towards transitioning to very high energy conservation standards but those were scrapped.

We're talking about the situation/choices at the election now. Not 14 years ago. But you can blame the Tories for what's happened in those intervening years. Building Regs were most recently updated in 2021 including higher performance targets, and were due to be again in 2025 (Future Buildings Standard). But it's a huge step change to go from where we are now to Passivhaus across the board.

My impression is that even the small amount of Passivhaus social housing building that has happened has led to dramatic cost reductions due to 'learning-by-doing" such that now costs are comparable to standard builds https://www.passivhaustrust.org.uk/competitions_and_campaigns/passivhaus-for-local-authorities/

Of course an organisation advocating for Passivhaus will say that, and it's right that costs have come down and will continue to fall as it scales up. But I can only speak from experience being involved in a number of Passivhaus projects right now. When the rubber hits the road it's not true to say that costs are comparable. And the number of people/companies experienced enough to deliver Passivhaus projects is tiny relative to the construction industry as a whole. That cannot change overnight. You haven't said what your target date is for this manifesto commitment...

It's all very well comparing it to building battleships and shifting your entire economy to a war/climate footing, but what happens to literally everything else that needs to be done and paid for in the meantime? Should we disband the army and NHS and retrain all the nurses and soldiers to work in the construction industry for the next decade? Obviously not.

An overrated source of funds.

I literally meant each and every person who buys a new-build property. Not a few billionaires footing the bill. Houses will become more expensive if Stone's wishlist came to pass. Who will pay for that when people rightly moan about the already high housing costs? Or is he saying it should be subsidised out of general taxation?

I'm guessing this news hasn't filtered south of the border? Scotland adopts passivhaus regs, starting 2025.

Hasn't the Scottish Govt just ditched its climate targets because they found them to be unrealistic? As I say, let's see what happens later this year if (a) that legislation is passed, and (b) what the "Scottish equivalent to the Passivhaus standard" turns out to be.

Anyway, I don't want this to turn into a thread with me railing against improving energy efficiency in the construction industry FFS. I wholeheartedly agree it's something that needs to be done. But if Stone is just going to throw together a utopian climate manifesto as a way of attacking Labour for not being radical enough then he needs to show his working.

[seankenny]

I’m sure the other items on your list could be equally dismantled or picked apart on further interrogation by someone with the knowledge and/or inclination (e.g. the right wing press).

Much of what Stone writes about economics is nonsense. It’s based on the careful reading of about three sources, when the subject is one of the most discussed academic or policy topics in existence. Behind much of what he writes is the implicit assumption that powers that be like to keep people down (which in my view is somewhat different from liking hierarchy, which many powerful people absolutely love) rather than the recognition that running even a simple economy is very difficult. This may sound high-handed rather than taking down each point, but frankly, I can’t be arsed.

It’s worth saying that the economic ideas of much of the right wing press is also complete nonsense, but superficially convincing too. The fact that we’ve tried them and they haven’t worked suggests that the superficial charm has perhaps worn off.

Worth reading Will Hutton’s views on Labour’s economic policy, or listening to the interview he did on the Prospect magazine podcast. He is slightly optimistic about Britain’s prospects *if* things are done right, and positive about Labour’s approach.

Full disclose: I’m a Labour Party member and donated the princely sum of three pounds to the campaign on day one. (Look at me eh.) So that’s my bias.