Last week, Sir Keir Starmer was joined in Edinburgh by two of the most senior members of his Shadow Cabinet, Rachel Reeves and Ed Miliband and Leader of the Scottish Labour Party, Anas Sarwar to launch Labour’s fourth mission; making Britain a clean energy superpower.
The speech was an important moment for Starmer, after the party faced criticism is recent weeks for watering down its plan to spend £28 billion a year on green jobs and industry. We’ve taken a look at Labour’s key green policies, what they mean for industry and at the ballot box.
What are Labour’s salient green policies?
Just stop oil: One the most covered, and most criticised, policies has been their commitment to end new North Sea oil and gas exploration. This would however honour licences that are in existence at the time of the next election.
The policy has been met with criticism from both sides of the political divide. One of Labour’s biggest donors, the GMB union who said the policy would be bad for jobs and strangle the North Sea oil industry and the former Labour leader of Aberdeen City Council has quit the party over the policy, describing it as more brutal than anything Margaret Thatcher did to the UK’s industrial towns and cities.
However, Keir Starmer has been keen to draw a line under such comparisons saying the party had a plan to manage the change, to protect good jobs and create new ones, and ensure the industry did not fall of a cliff edge.
Great British Energy: Perhaps the most eye-catching of Labour’s policies is the formation of a new, publicly-owned, energy company to build clean energy projects across the UK. Initially GB Energy will co-invest in technologies, to de-risk projects and encourage private sector investment.
In a move that has ruffled some feathers with the SNP as Labour continues to make poll gains in Scotland, and certainly plays to Labour looking to regain the seats it will need in Scotland to win the next election, GB Energy will be headquartered in Edinburgh.
Backing the builders: Polling last year from RenewableUK found that 77% of voters backed new onshore wind and solar farms to bring down bills. So, it comes as no surprise that Labour is planning to reform the planning system and updating the National Planning Policy Statements to make it easier for developers to bring forward and build low-carbon projects. Labour has particularly focused on overturning the Conservative’s ban on onshore wind, which it estimates has resulted in 7GW of lost capacity, the equivalent of two nuclear power stations.
Britain rewired: Labour has clearly been listening to businesses in the renewable energy sector and the challenges many in the sector face in getting projects online. As well as its amends to the planning system, which will help developers gain consents in shorter timeframes, the party has said it will take a strategic plan to grid infrastructure, investing early in anticipation of tomorrow’s needs. Importantly, they are also pledging to dismantle the grid queue, removing projects that are not progressing in favour of those that are.
Warm homes for all: Labour are pledging to work in partnership with businesses, the third-sector and local government to insulate the UK’s housing stock and make them cheaper to heat. The party sees this as an opportunity to provide new jobs, but also to continue to provide roles for tradespeople across the country.
Do the policies resonate with voters?
Yes and no. Polling undertaken by YouGov on behalf of the Sun last week found that reaching net zero was way down voters’ list of priorities. However, reducing bills/tackling inflation and growing the economy took the first and third spot.
This isn’t to say that voters don’t want net zero, 65% were supportive of cutting carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 – net support of 46%. It is clear to see why Labour is framing these policies as ones that will save households money and get the economy growing.