|
|
|
- Labour confirmed at the 2022 conference that it would establish GB Energy, a publicly-owned clean energy company.
- In June 2023, Starmer announced that the company would be headquartered in Scotland.
- GB Energy could provide up to £600 million per year to local councils for green investment and up to £400 million for community projects through low-interest loans.
- In a visit to North Wales with Welsh First Minister Vaughan Gething, Sir Keir Starmer stated that floating offshore wind would be one of the measures supported by GB Energy, a state-owned firm with an initial £8.3 billion budget.
- Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the National Wealth Fund as a new strategic body which would invest and create jobs in the green sector.
- At 2023 conference, Shadow Energy Secretary Ed Miliband pledged an energy independence act, to “break Britain’s dependency on fossil fuel dictators”.
- In March 2024, Ms Reeves announced a new Taskforce of experts would be appointed to advise the party on how to implement its plans for a National Wealth Fund.
- The Taskforce will provide recommendations for the National Wealth Fund and consider different models and approaches, as well as consult privately with private investors.
- Recommendations will be presented to Rachel Reeves and Shadow Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary, Ed Miliband.
- February 2024, Sir Keir Starmer confirmed that he has cut Labour’s green investment plan from £28 billion to £4.7 billion annually, following a political dispute about Labour’s spending plans.
- February 2024: Labour announced the following updates to the Green Prosperity Plan:
- Decarbonising the power system by 2030.
- Introduction of a windfall tax on oil and gas companies and Labour will ‘’fix the loopholes’’ in the Energy Profits Levy rate by increasing the rate to 78% from 75%.
- Labour announced it will capitalise Great British Energy, headquartered in Scotland, with an initial £8.3 billion (inclusive of the £3.3 billion Local Power Plan that is available in grants for local authorities and loans to communities) – over the first parliament, investing in partnership with the private sector.
- The national insulation scheme, known as the “Warm Homes Plan’’, will be cut from £6 billion a year to just over £1.3 billion a year and is now capped at £6.6 billion over the course of a Parliament – with Labour promising now to insulate five million homes in a decade as opposed to the 19 million originally proposed.
- £500m per year, starting from the 2026-27 contract for difference auction round, to provide capital grants to incentivise companies developing clean technologies like offshore wind, onshore wind, solar, hydrogen, and carbon capture and storage also remains in Labours plan.
- Labour will invest £7.3 billion in a National Wealth Fund to invest in industries such as electric vehicles, hydrogen and steel.
|
- The mission document stated that the party will assess “what further role” GB Energy could end up playing in delivering energy security.
|
|
|
- Within the party’s fifth mission statement, “Make Britain a Clean Energy Superpower”, there is a commitment by 2030 to:
- Pioneer floating offshore wind
- Double onshore wind capacity
- Complete new nuclear projects
- Invest in CCUS, hydrogen and long-term energy storage
- Double the Government’s current target on green hydrogen
- The party also stated in the commitment it would ensure the low price of renewables would be passed onto consumers.
- Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband, announced at an energy in February 2024 conference in February that Labour will overturn the de facto onshore wind ban “at the stroke of a pen” if it wins the general election.
- In a visit to North Wales in March 2024, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer vowed that a Labour Government would increase investment in floating offshore wind farms to cut reliance on foreign energy imports. He added that floating offshore wind would be a ‘’first priority’’ of GB Energy.
|
|
|
|
- Sir Keir Starmer, in a speech in Scotland in June 2023 announcing the mission, said that the party would not grant new licences to new oil and gas fields.
- He committed that any licences in existence at the next general election would be honoured.
- The party has committed to banning fracking in England.
- In February 2024 Miliband announced that the party would ‘’fix the loopholes’’ in the Energy Profits Levy rate by increasing the Windfall tax rate to 78% from 75%.
|
|
|
|
- In a bid to “rewire Britain” and reform the planning system, Labour has pledged in 2023 to:
- Ensure local communities directly benefit from hosting clean energy infrastructure
- Reduce the time projects take in planning from years to months
|
|
|
|
- In 2023, the party pledged to power a Future Systems Operator to take on the role of “system architect”.
- Labour would also stop “zombie” projects in the queue for grid connection that are not progressing with their planned developments.
- The party has also pledged to deliver clean electricity by 2030.
- In 2023, they announced that they will remove barriers to grid upgrades, open up new grid construction to competitive tendering, and get GB Energy, Labour’s new publicly-owned energy company, to work in coordinating the transmission operators.
|
|
