SIR KEIR STARMER was accused today of “making a rod for his own back” after he weakened a flagship green pledge.

The Labour leader vowed to meet the Tories’ “fire with fire” in a major speech on Thursday.

But he downgraded his target of spending £28bn a year on green investment schemes in the next parliament to an “ambition,” stressing that it would be subject to the party’s fiscal rules.

Asked today by LBC radio presenter Nick Ferrari whether the figure remained a pledge or a “gold-plated ambition,” Sir Keir said: “It’s a confident ambition.”

A Momentum spokesman said: “The Tories have broken Britain and people have had enough.

“That’s why every poll shows huge public support for bold policies like wealth taxes and public ownership of our energy and water.

“Yet instead of rising to the challenge, the Labour leadership is watering down what few transformative policy pledges remain, from green investment to stripping private schools of their charitable status.

“In doing so, Starmer isn’t just letting down voters, he’s making a rod for Labour’s back in government.”

Sir Keir and his shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves have also faced criticism that the party’s pre-election platform remains light on major policies.

The Labour leader told LBC: “You can’t really say: ‘We don’t know what you stand for, [you] haven’t set anything out, unless you’ve just really not paid very much attention to what’s been said over the last year or so.”

He pointed to “five big mission launches, big speeches, backing documents,” stressing plans to halve the number of incidents of violence against women and girls and insisting that he would “work with the private sector to invest in the future.”