Patrick Vallance becomes the latest civil servant to work with the Tory government to support Labor

Sir Patrick Vallance, whose face has become synonymous with Covid briefings during lockdown, has backed Labour’s Great British Energy plan in today’s election campaign.

The former chief science officer’s backing was revealed as Sir Keir Starmer revealed that a public company he believes will reduce energy costs will be based in Scotland.

But Sir Patrick is the latest former Whitehall mandarin to support Labor in a move that has already angered the Tories.

Earlier, Sue Gray resigned as the Cabinet’s second permanent secretary in favor of Sir Keir’s chief of staff.

There were also reports of senior government officials leaving their positions to work for the Labor Party. This included Nick Williams, who had previously spent almost six years at the Treasury as a policy adviser, leaving along with three other Treasury officials to work with Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves.

Pledges of allegiance by Ms Gray and others to the Labor Party have already led to Tories raising questions about the impartiality of the civil service. Just before the election was called, Common Sense Minister Esther McVey produced a new set of guidelines aimed at enforcing impartiality among civil servants and putting an end to activism.

There have also been threats that government officials will go on strike over the government’s support for Israel in the Gaza crisis.

Signing in TimesSir Patrick has suggested that Labour’s plans for Great British Energy, a public company that also aims to deliver a Net Zero policy, could be “quickly delivered”.

The former adviser, who now chairs the board of the Natural History Museum, also took aim at Rishi Sunak for slowing down the rollout of the Net Zero policy.

He wrote: “If we choose to move slowly, others will provide answers and ultimately we will buy into the solutions.”

He also noted: “I am often asked which of the UK’s many pressing public policy challenges require a vaccine-style approach.” I believe one such priority is the urgent need to end the era of excessive greenhouse gas emissions, high energy bills and energy insecurity by accelerating the transition to clean, net-zero homegrown energy. “With a determined effort using technologies currently available and those close to deployment, achieving a clean energy system by 2030 is possible.”

Great British Energy is one of the first six steps on Labour’s election pledge card.

According to the Conservatives, Minister Esther McVey rejected Sir Patrick’s intervention.

She said: “Independent experts with real expertise in the energy sector have described Labour’s virtue-signaling, underfunded green policy as ‘unachievable, inconsistent and unreliable’. “No amount of support from a former public servant can distract from the fact that Labor has no plan and no ideas for the future.”