Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer vows to kick off clean energy plans ‘within months’ if party wins general election

Published

6 months ago

May 31, 2024

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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will vow on Friday to “get working within months to build clean power across the United Kingdom” if his party wins the general election.

At an event in Scotland – and joined by Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar – the prime ministerial hopeful will reiterate his plans for Great British Energy, first announced at the party’s conference in 2022.

Headquartered north of the border, the new, publicly owned company will generate homegrown green energy up and down the country, with the party claiming it will help to “turn the page” on the cost of living crisis by driving down bills.

But the Conservatives claimed it was a “vanity project” of former Labour leader – and now shadow energy security and net zero secretary – Ed Miliband, that will “leave taxpayers picking up the bill”.

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Sir Keir will outline how initial investments will be made within weeks, including in wind and solar projects, and as the firm grows, it will look into floating offshore wind, hydrogen, and carbon capture and storage, in the hope of making Scotland “a world-leader in cutting edge technologies”.

The party said the pledge would be paid for through a windfall tax on oil and gas companies.

Sir Keir will say: “Family financial security depends on energy security. The pain and misery of the cost of living crisis was directly caused by the Tories’ failure to make Britain resilient, leaving us at the mercy of fossil fuel markets controlled by dictators like Putin.

“It doesn’t have to be this way. Our clean power mission with Great British Energy will take back control of our destiny and invest in cheap, clean homegrown energy that we control.

“We will turn the page on the cost of living crisis. The choice at this election is clear – higher bills and energy insecurity with the Conservatives, or lower bills and energy security with Labour.”

But Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Claire Coutinho claimed the project was both unfunded and would “turn off the taps to North Sea oil and gas”, risking 2,000 jobs.

“By sticking to the Conservatives’ clear plan, energy bills are at the lowest point since 2022,” she added. “But we must go further.

“That’s why we are taking bold action to guarantee the future of the energy price cap, as we back new nuclear power and offshore wind, keeping bills low and ensuring families are not lumbered with the cost of reaching net zero.”

The SNP’s Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, had an even bleaker assessment of the plan, claiming it was “threatening to destroy 100,000 Scottish jobs and deter billions of pounds of investment”.

He added: “The fact is Starmer’s plans would take Scotland’s energy wealth and spend it on nuclear projects in England.

“In contrast, the SNP wants every penny to be spent in Scotland – reducing household bills, creating Scottish jobs, and securing our green energy future.

“It’s no wonder the Labour Party has given up campaigning in the North East and huge swathes of Scotland – because Starmer knows how deeply unpopular his damaging policies are.”

Great British Energy got the backing of one campaign group, Britain Remade, who called it “hugely welcome”.

But its founder, Sam Richards, warned Labour “won’t be able to get spades in the ground as quickly as they need to – unlocking the benefits of cheap power and lower bills – unless they tackle head-on Britain’s outdated planning system”.

Environmental campaigners Friends of the Earth also called the plan “great news” but warned the Labour Party not to “rest on its laurels” when it came to reducing carbon pollution from transport and heating.

Elsewhere on the campaign trail on Friday, the Conservatives will be talking about tackling anti-social behaviour, unveiling plans to give fly-tippers points on their driving licenses, “kick out” anti-social tenants and roll out “hot spot” policing controls.

And the SNP will be making further demands on Labour, calling for them to hold an emergency budget straight after the election to “reverse Tory austerity cuts, boost NHS funding, and invest in economic growth”.

Politics

NY Supreme Court allows Greenidge to keep mining, but challenges remain

Published

39 mins ago

November 15, 2024

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NY Supreme Court allows Greenidge to keep mining, but challenges remain

The state Department of Environmental Conservation botched the permitting process, but it still gets a do-over.

Politics

UK economy grows by 0.1% between July and September – slower than expected

Published

39 mins ago

November 15, 2024

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UK economy grows by 0.1% between July and September - slower than expected

The UK economy grew by 0.1% between July and September, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

However, despite the small positive GDP growth recorded in the third quarter, the economy shrank by 0.1% in September, dragging down overall growth for the three month period.

The growth was also slower than what had been expected by experts and a drop from the 0.5% growth between April and June, the ONS said.

Economists polled by Reuters and the Bank of England had forecast an expansion of 0.2%, slowing from the rapid growth seen over the first half of 2024 when the economy was rebounding from last year’s shallow recession.

And the metric that Labour has said it is most focused on – the GDP per capita, or the economic output divided by the number of people in the country – also fell by 0.1%.

Reacting to the figures, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said: “Am I satisfied with the numbers published today? Of course not. I want growth to be stronger, to come sooner, and also to be felt by families right across the country.”

“It’s why in my Mansion House speech last night, I announced some of the biggest reforms of our pension system in a generation to unlock long term patient capital, up to £80bn to help invest in small businesses and scale up businesses and in the infrastructure needs,” Ms Reeves later told Sky News in an interview.

“We’re four months into this government. There’s a lot more to do to turn around the growth performance of the last decade or so.”

New economy data tests chancellor’s growth plan

The sluggish services sector – which makes up the bulk of the British economy – was a particular drag on growth over the past three months. It expanded by 0.1%, cancelling out the 0.8% growth in the construction sector.

The UK’s GDP for the most recent quarter is lower than the 0.7% growth in the US and 0.4% in the Eurozone.

The figures have pushed the UK towards the bottom of the G7 growth table for the third quarter of the year.

It was expected to meet the same 0.2% growth figures reported in Germany and Japan – but fell below that after a slow September.

The pound remained stable following the news, hovering around $1.267. The FTSE 100, meanwhile, opened the day down by 0.4%.

The Bank of England last week predicted that Ms Reeves’s first budget as chancellor will increase inflation by up to half a percentage point over the next two years, contributing to a slower decline in interest rates than previously thought.

Announcing a widely anticipated 0.25 percentage point cut in the base rate to 4.75%, the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) forecast that inflation will return “sustainably” to its target of 2% in the first half of 2027, a year later than at its last meeting.

The Bank’s quarterly report found Ms Reeves’s £70bn package of tax and borrowing measures will place upward pressure on prices, as well as delivering a three-quarter point increase to GDP next year.