The UK’s main opposition Labour Party vowed to cut energy bills, create jobs and provide more secure electricity if it wins the next general election, as its leader Keir Starmer tries to attract support ahead of a vote expected next year.
(Bloomberg) — The UK’s main opposition Labour Party vowed to cut energy bills, create jobs and provide more secure electricity if it wins the next general election, as its leader Keir Starmer tries to attract support ahead of a vote expected next year.
Labour plans to make Britain a “clean energy superpower” by 2030, Starmer told ITV on Monday ahead of a speech he’s due to deliver in Scotland. He said Britain needs to boost its energy independence and spur renewables.
Opposition proposals include lifting a ban on new onshore wind farms within months of taking office and cutting the time taken to complete clean power projects from years to months with “tough new targets.”
The goals reiterate promises that both Labour and Conservative governments alike have made and failed to keep since the turn of the century. Business leaders complain that planning rules and bureaucracy are holding back investment, especially in critical green technologies like wind farms, electric-car battery plants and carbon capture facilities.
Starmer said his party would reform planning rules to stop so-called nimbyism blocking projects. He told BBC radio that he wanted local people to benefit from new projects through cheaper bills and investments by developers in local improvements.
“We have to have a mechanism where we can move forward,” Starmer told the BBC. There can’t be “individual vetoes all across the country,” he said.
Scaling Back
Starmer is seeking to boost confidence in Labour’s commitment to green energy after the party scaled back its plan to invest £140 billion ($180 billion) over five years on a clean energy transition because of cost concerns. It now plans to “ramp up” to £28 billion a year, rather than deliver that figure from the beginning of the next parliamentary term.
The original plan fell victim to Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ efforts to show a more fiscally conservative face to voters ahead of an election polls show they can win next year. Industry leaders says the clean-power goals are all but impossible.
“We’ve got to roll up our sleeves and start building things, run towards the barriers — the planning system, the skills shortages, the investor confidence, the grid,” Starmer said in excerpts released by Labour ahead of his speech.
“If the status quo isn’t good enough, we must find the reforms that can restart our engine. I’m not going to accept a situation where our planning system means it takes 13 years to build an offshore wind farm.”
Britain would run on 100% clean power by 2030 under Labour, Starmer is due to say, cutting £1,400 off household bills and £53 billion off energy bills for businesses. Industry experts say the clean power goal is impossible.
“2030, even with the best will in the world, I would say is impossible,” Phil Thompson, chief executive of clean energy developer Balance Power Group Ltd. said earlier this month. “We have to be super ambitious because the planet isn’t getting any cooler and it’s a case of shoot for the stars, but I think technically it’s not achievable unless someone has got a magic wand.”
Polling Lead
Labour also needs to make sure its backers in the unions are on board with its plans and there have already been signs of disquiet. Unions want to make sure fossil fuel jobs aren’t destroyed before enough new ones are created.
Read more: Labour’s Starmer Defends UK Energy Plan After Union Critique
Under Labour’s plans, a new public body, GB Energy, would be created to build jobs and supply chains, together with a National Wealth Fund to invest alongside the private sector in gigafactories, clean steel plants, renewable-ready ports, green hydrogen and energy storage.
Labour, which has a double-digit lead in opinion polls over Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives, is hoping a strong climate policy will help it win votes at the next election. A vote, due by January 2025, is widely expected to be held next year.
Starmer will deliver his pledge alongside Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, Reeves and Shadow Energy Secretary Ed Miliband. They will seek to show a united front despite internal tensions over the move to row back the scale of investment.
(Updates with Starmer comment, further details, starting in second paragraph.)
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