As the Conservative government’s hold on the public is weakening, the Labour party is preparing for the upcoming election year. Hoping to put an end to 13 years of Tory leadership, Labour leader Keir Starmer announced that if made prime minister he will make the UK a clean energy superpower by 2030.
Labour Party Climate Promises
The party promises to cut bills, create jobs, overturn the ban on onshore wind farms and dismantle planning permission barriers for new clean energy projects. It’s thought that the ban of onshore wind has contributed to an extra £5.1bn in energy bills or £182 per household as the country has remained dependent on importing expensive fossil fuels.
Starmer says that if elected he would take immediate steps to overturn the ban. He says the party’s action will reduce each household’s energy bills by £1400 and commercial energy bills by £53bn.
I’ve previously explained the bureaucratic hurdles that clean energy developers have been tasked with overcoming. See here, Grid Growing Pains! Net-Zero Is A Planning Problem and here, National Grid Makes Huge Profits As Waiting List Criticised. In short, planning laws mean projects need to wait in a queue before gaining approval. Each project is approved or denied on a first-come-first-served basis in a process that can take years. Shockingly, the UK has the potential to meet its energy needs if the projects waiting for approval today were given the green light. Part of Labour’s plan is to reform this system.
Starmer says…
“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.” … “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.”
Alongside all that, they’ve promised to get the country using 100% green and affordable power by 2030. This will in part be made possible by the founding of a nationalised energy company called GB Energy. There will also be huge investment into green technology. And a local power plan that will give discounts to households in local areas that sign up to new green initiatives. They’ve also said that GB Energy will provide £600m for local councils and £400m in low-interest loans for communities.
“We’re going to throw everything at this: planning reform, procurement, long-term finance, R&D, a strategic plan for skills and supply chains.”
The Already Broken Promise
This bold plan comes after the party backtracked on a previous promise made in 2021. They had said if elected they would spend £28bn each year on the green transition until the end of the decade. Due to high interest rates, they’ve now stated this figure will be treated as a goal rather than a commitment. Given the urgency of the green transition, this move attracted criticism from environmental campaigners.
Mike Childs, head of science, policy and research at Friends of the Earth, warned against a repeat of this…
“With plans for communities to benefit from local clean power projects and a commitment to lift the ban on onshore wind, Labour is saying many of the right things on energy policy.
“But to have a credible climate plan in place, there can be no backsliding on pledges to stop new oil and gas extraction and invest in green growth.
“The climate crisis is the greatest threat the world faces. Sir Keir Starmer needs to make it clear that the fossil fuels era is over, and the only viable future is a zero-carbon economy. This means urgently investing in a street-by-street insulation programme and cheap, homegrown renewables to cut emissions, boost the economy, create new jobs, increase energy security and help bring down our energy bills for good.”
Conclusion
Opinion polls say Labour are likely to win the next election. In politics, we should always keep hold of some healthy scepticism. But if these plans really are enacted by a Labour government, the UK could make huge strides towards a genuinely sustainable future. Do you think a Labour government could shake the UK out of its climate rut?
