As he took to the stage in Brighton to address members of the GMB, Sir Keir Starmer sought to tamp down a row over Labour’s green energy plans with promises of “good, union jobs”.

But what he left out of the speech on Tuesday was almost as revealing as what he put in.

There was no mention at all of what has been, until recently, Labour’s flagship pledge: a plan to borrow £28bn a year – for five years – and plough the money into green energy infrastructure.

Overall, the “Green Prosperity Plan” could have seen a Starmer government borrow a whopping £140bn if his party won power. It was designed to carpet the country with wind farms and solar panels that Sir Keir and his party believe will generate energy, jobs and growth.

However, the borrowing spree threatened to pile more pressure on the country’s already stretched finances at a time when the market meltdown triggered by Liz Truss’s “mini-Budget” remains fresh in the collective memory.