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

Published

4 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”.

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Lisa Nandy says Sir Keir Starmer ‘very sensible’ to accept football tickets worth thousands

Published

8 hours ago

September 21, 2024

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Lisa Nandy says Sir Keir Starmer 'very sensible' to accept football tickets worth thousands

Lisa Nandy has said Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to accept thousands of pounds worth of football tickets was “very sensible”.

The minister for culture, media and sport also said she had never accepted free clothes from a donor.

Speaking to Sky News at the start of the Labour Party conference today, the MP for Wigan said: “The problem that has arisen since [Sir Keir] became leader of the opposition and then prime minister is that for him to sit in the stands would require a huge security detail, would be disruptive for other people and it would cost the taxpayer a lot of money.

“So I think he’s taken a very sensible decision that’s not the right and appropriate thing to do, and it’s right to accept that he has to go and sit in a different area.

“But I know that he’d much rather be sitting in the stands cheering people on with the usual crowd that he’s been going to the football with for years.”

Ms Nandy also said while she has not accepted free clothes – joking “I think you can probably see that I choose my own clothes sadly” – she doesn’t “make any judgements about what other members of parliament do”.

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She said: “The only judgement I would make is if they’re breaking the rules, so they’re trying to hide what they’re doing. That’s when problems arise.

“Because the point of being open and transparent is that people can see where the relationships are, and they can then judge for themselves whether there’s been any undue influence.”

She asserted there had not been an undue influence in gifts accepted by senior Labour figures, adding: “We don’t want the news and the commentary to be dominated by conversations about clothes.

“We rightly have a system, I think, where the taxpayer doesn’t fund these things. We don’t claim on expenses for them. And so MPs will always take donations, will always take gifts in kind.

“MPs of all political parties have historically done that and that is the system that we have.”

She added: “I don’t think there’s any suggestion here that Keir Starmer has broken any rules. I don’t think there’s any suggestion that he’s done anything wrong.

“We expect our politicians to be well turned out, we expect them to be people who go out and represent us at different events and represent the country at different events and are clothed appropriately.

“But the point is that when we accept donations for that or for anything else, that we declare them and we’re open and transparent about them.”

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Sir Keir, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves said yesterday they will no longer accept donations in the future to pay for clothes.

The announcement followed criticism of Sir Keir’s gifts from donors, which included clothing worth £16,200 and multiple pairs of glasses worth £2,485, according to the MPs’ register of interests.

The register shows Ms Rayner has accepted clothing donations to the value of £2,230.

Sky News also revealed the scale of Sir Keir’s donations this week as part of our Westminster Accounts investigation.

Sir Keir was found to have received substantially more gifts and freebies than any other MP – his total in gifts, benefits, and hospitality topped £100,000 since December 2019.