Last night I was in Newsnight talking about the bizarre and troubling news that Rishi Sunak is rolling back on Britain’s commitment to greening our economy. From cleaner cars to cleaner homes, the Prime Minister appears to be ditching sensible pledges left, right and centre as he decides a stagnant economy limping along with high carbon practices might be more popular than a bit of challenge and ambition for change. At this stage in Rishi’s story, you start to suspect he’d sell his grandmother if it would play well in a focus group.

But here’s the thing. I don’t believe looking backwards not forwards is actually remotely popular when it comes to our economy. I have faith that the vast majority of the British public are on board with the business case that says, the rest of the world is investing in green technologies and green jobs, and whether you’re concerned about saving the planet or not, in terms of pure economics, if we aren’t in this race towards forward thinking manufacturing, Britain will lose jobs, trade and opportunities to our neighbours.

Beyond that though, I do think most of us want to leave the world in a decent state for our children and grandchildren. And most businesses I speak to are equally keen to leave a positive legacy behind too, and to show leadership in paving a more sustainable way of generating growth.

Take the car industry for example, a sector I care about deeply having grown up in Sunderland with Nissan as the most significant employer by far. Apparently, Sunak wants to ditch his own pledge to move to cleaner new cars by 2030. And yet when I meet with automotive bosses and workers, they tell me they like and need this pledge and it is sparking productivity and survival instinct.

At the time of writing, automotive giant Ford have just issued an unprecedented and strongly worded statement condemning the PM’s posturing, saying “Our business needs three things from the British government: ambition, commitment and consistency.” I am quite sure most businesses would concur.

It’s clear to me that Rishi Sunak is out of his depth and floundering around this way and that in fear of losing power. But power is no good unless you know how to use it- to lead, to support, to fix the many aspects of our great country that are sadly point of embarrassment. The fact is that endless Conservative flip-flopping is hurting business investment in the UK. Labour will end this complete farce and give industry the stability and certainty it needs to thrive.