Keir Starmer denies ever saying he hates ‘tree-huggers’

Keir Starmer has denied saying he ‘hates tree-huggers’ after The Sunday Times reported he’d made the remark in relation to Ed Miliband’s green energy plans.

However, this morning (16 July) on Laura Kuenssberg’s BBCshow, the Labour leader insisted a trip to Scunthorpe made him realise that workers wanted more green policies.

“What I said to the shadow cabinet and others is they’re not tree-huggers, they’re not gluing themselves to the road, they haven’t got placards, but they are absolute evangelists for green steel,” he said.

“They know their jobs depend on going green and the jobs of the next generation in steel.”