commitment to a “green economy and a sustainable planet, recognising that socialism and
environmentalism must go hand in hands”.
Her campaign says the changes will improve the existing clause by expanding pledges to the environment
“in light of the climate emergency”.
Other modifications to the clause include pledges to expand public ownership, an “independent foreign
policy”, and the expansion of democracy by devolving power to communities across the country.
The commitments came as Ms Long-Bailey and Sir Keir Starmer, the frontrunner in the contest, faced a
grilling from the BBC’s veteran journalist Andrew Neil over campaign donations, antisemitism, and
privatisation.
During the interrogation, the shadow Brexit secretary declined to identify all of the major donations behind
his campaign, after coming under pressure to disclose funding.
Sir Keir insisted he was sticking by the party’s rules on donations, but allies of Ms Long-Bailey have urged
for greater transparency in recent days while shadow minister Jon Trickett has described the delays as “anti-
democratic”.
The leadership candidate criticised “this line of attack” when repeatedly pressed to reveal all of his donors
on the BBC’s The Andrew Neil Show.
“How can you say I’m hiding behind process when it’s the Labour Party process,” Sir Keir said. “I’ve got a
compliance team in place who are checking every donation is in accordance with the rules.”
“Once they’ve done that they pass it to the parliamentary authorities for them to publish it. So two lots have
gone up, another lot is with the parliamentary authorities as of today, I’m following the rules.”
The flashpoint over campaign donations began last week when Ms Long-Bailey voluntarily published her
major financial backers, including over £200,000 from Unite union and £100,000 from the left-wing
group Momentum.
The Wigan MP Lisa Nandy also released a list of her financial backers, but Sir Keir has insisted he will do so
in tranches to parliament’s official register of MPs’ interests. Under the rules of the register, all MPs must
disclose within 28 days any interest and the list is updated every two weeks when the House of Commons is
sitting.
After Sir Keir was pressed on the funding of his campaign, Ms Long-Bailey was asked whether she believed
the frontrunner was hiding something. “I hope not,” she told the BBC.
“But I think it’s fair to expect all leadership candidates to be transparent, come under scrutiny, because we
will do as leader of the party and indeed as prime minister, so we should be as open as possible to show
where our donations come from,” the shadow business secretary added.
“It’s important to do that because there’s always an assumption that you don’t get something for nothing in
this world and those who donate to your campaign will expect to be repaid in some way in the future.”
Sir Keir also did not deny a claim by ally Lord Falconer that he was “appalled by the awfulness of the
Corbyn leadership”.
Asked twice whether Lord Falconer’s claim was correct, Sir Keir said: “I was in the shadow cabinet and I
challenged in the shadow cabinet where I thought I should challenge. Jeremy has stepped down and we are
now looking for the next leader of the Labour Party.”
Challenged by Mr Neil over whether he was “frightened” to criticise Corbyn for fear of losing votes among
the outgoing leader’s supporters in the party, Sir Keir added: “It’s not the truth. I served Jeremy for three-