Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer vows to kick off clean energy plans ‘within months’ if party wins general election
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.
Read more: Do we need Labour’s Great British Energy policy?
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.”
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Sir Keir Starmer first announced the policy in 2022
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.”
Rishi Sunak and Claire Coutinho will argue the Tories are better placed to bring down energy bills. Pic: Reuters
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.”
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Sir Patrick Vallance endorses GB Energy
However in a boost to Sir Keir, the plans were endorsed by Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK’s pandemic-era scientific adviser.
In a sensitive intervention for a former top civil servant, Sir Patrick wrote in The Times: “The prize is huge: lower energy bills, good jobs, more innovative businesses, energy security, and climate leadership.”
Great British Energy also 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”.
Business
Vivergo: How US-UK trade deal could bring about collapse of huge renewable energy plant in Hull
The smell of yeast still hangs in the air at the Vivergo plant in Hull but the machines have fallen quiet.
More than 100 lorries usually pass through here each day, carrying 3,000 tonnes of wheat. It is milled, fermented and distilled. The final product is bioethanol, a renewable fuel that is then blended into E10 petrol.
This is a vast operation. It took several years to build, with considerable investment, but it is on the verge of closing down. Management and staff are holding out for a last-minute reprieve from the government but time is running out.
It’s been a turbulent journey. The plant was already being annihilated by US rivals, losing about £3m a month. Vivergo and Ensus, based in Teesside, blamed regulations that enable US companies to earn double subsidies.
They were pushing for regulatory change but then a killer blow: The US-UK trade deal, which allows 1.4 billion litres of American ethanol into the UK tariff-free (down from 19%).
“We’ve effectively given the whole of the UK market to the US producers,” said Ben Hackett, managing director at Vivergo.
“If we were to have the same support that the US industry has, if we could use genetically modified crops, we wouldn’t need that tariff. We would be able to compete. If we had the same energy costs. We wouldn’t need those tariffs.”
The government has the weekend to come up with a plan that could keep the business running. If it fails, Vivergo will begin issuing redundancy notices to its 160 staff.
Ben Hackett
It’s a devastating prospect for workers, many of them live in Hull and are nervous about alternative opportunities in the area.
Mike Walsh, a logistics manager who has been working at the plant for 14 years, said: “It’s not a great place to be at the moment. It’s a very well paid, very high-skilled role and they’ve (Vivergo) given everybody an opportunity in an area that doesn’t pay that well…. The jobs market isn’t as good as what people would like. So it does impact the local economy.”
He called on the government to “help us, save us, give this industry a future”.
His colleague Claire Wood, lead productions engineer, said: “I moved here after a career in oil and gas for 10 years, partly because I want to be part of the transition to renewable fuels. I can see so much potential here and it’s absolutely devastating to know that this place might be closed very, very shortly and that all that potential just goes away.”
Thousands more could be affected. Haulage companies may have to lay off truck drivers and farmers could also suffer a blow.
Vivergo makes bioethanol using wheat. That wheat is bought from farms from Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.
Claire Wood
The National Farmers Union has sounded the alarm, saying: “Biofuels are extremely important for the crops sector, and their domestic demand of up to two million tonnes can be very important to balance supply and demand and to produce up to one million tonnes of animal feed as a by-product.”
Another bioproduct is carbon dioxide. The gas can be captured and used to put the fizz in drinks or injected into packaging to preserve food.
If Vivergo and Ensus were to go, Britain would lose as much as 80% of its output of carbon dioxide. Supplies are already tight across Europe, meaning this decision could compound shortages across a range of sectors, from meat-packing to healthcare.
The industry is calling on the government to help. Vivergo says it needs temporary financial support but that the government must create a regulatory and commercial environment in which it can thrive.
It says rules that award double subsidies to companies that use waste product in their bioethanol must be changed. At present, these rules are being used by US companies that make ethanol from Uldr – a by-product of processing corn. They argue this is not a genuine waste product.
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Another option is to grow the market. Industry leaders are calling on ministers to increase the mandated renewable fuel content in petrol from 10% to 15% and for an expansion into aviation fuels. That would allow British companies to carve out a space.
The government has been locked in talks with the company since June.
It said: “We will continue to take proactive steps to address the long-standing challenges it faces and remain committed to a way forward that protects supply chains, jobs and livelihoods.”
However, the time for talking is almost over.
Mr Hackett said he had no idea how the government would respond but he was firm with his stance, saying: “In times of global uncertainty, losing that energy certainty and supply from the UK is a problem.
“I think what they’re missing out on is the future growth agenda. We’re the foundation on which the green industrial strategy can be built. We make bioethanol that today decarbonises transport. Tomorrow it will decarbonise marine. It will decarbonise aviation.”
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