Keir Starmer promised young people a period of “national renewal” despite questions over his party’s commitment to green energy after a U-turn on a previous investment pledge.

Speaking to a group of young journalists at The Northern Echo's office in Darlington, the Labour leader identified climate change and mental health as the two main issues facing young people ahead of the upcoming general election, but was keen to point out that he was not generalising young voters.

“What we’re putting on the table is national renewal, a sense of taking our country forward,” Mr Starmer said.

“On climate change we’ve got a commitment to clean power by 2030. That’s really hard to achieve but we’re going to do it. That means lower bills, energy security and the next generation of jobs.”

The Labour Party rowed back on its plans to get to clean power by 2030 earlier this year, announcing a U-turn on its commitment to spend £28bn per year on climate investment.

But, the man who is on course to be the next PM according to recent polls, said that this actually represents a display of credibility and competence.

“What we stood down was the commitments we hadn’t announced. That we hoped to do, but we hoped to do," he said.

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“And the reason we stood them down was since we first funded this, or put that number up there, we’ve had Liz Truss who did great damage to the economy and it costs a lot more to borrow now than it did. We can’t make promises that we can’t keep.”

Trust in politicians is at a 40-year low and Mr Starmer’s assessment is that previous leaders of the country have promised too much and delivered too little, promising that he would not commit to anything he knew in his “heart of hearts” that he couldn’t afford.

“I think being honest [about affordability] is more important,” Mr Starmer said.