The leader of Britain's Labour Party will warn on Friday that “family financial security depends on energy security” as he pledges to build clean power capacity in the UK within months of a general election victory.
Keir Starmer will accuse the governing Conservative Party of failing to make Britain resilient as he vows to “turn the page” on the cost-of-living crisis by cutting energy bills.
Mr Starmer will make the announcement and launch the logo and website for Great British Energy at an event in Scotland with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.
Labour’s pledge to set up a publicly owned company to invest in domestic power sources is part of the party’s six-point “first steps” policy.
Early investment plans by Great British Energy will feature renewable energy sources, including wind and solar projects across the UK, as well as making Scotland a world leader in new technology such as floating offshore wind, hydrogen, and carbon capture and storage (CCS), Mr Starmer is pledging.
Labour plans to fund the company, which will be headquartered in Scotland, through a windfall tax on big oil and gas firms, with an initial £8.3 billion ($10.6 billion) capitalisation over a first term in government.
Keir Starmer through the years - in pictures
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Keir Starmer has been the Labour party's leader since 2020, and is now the UK's prime minister. Here The National looks back through his political career. Getty Images -
Mr Starmer speaking in Westminster, London, in May after Rishi Sunak announced the general election for July 4. AP -
Mr Starmer speaks to Labour supporters at Harlow Town Football Club's stadium in Essex, on the eve of local elections in May. Getty Images -
Mr Starmer talks to Dan Poulter at the Francis Crick Institute in London in April, after the MP had defected from the Conservative Party to Labour. Getty Images -
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and Mr Starmer during the launch of Mr Khan's mayoral re-election campaign in March, which proved successful. Getty Images -
Mr Starmer addresses the Labour Business Conference in London in February. Getty Images -
Mr Starmer and Mr Sunak at the Palace of Westminster for the State Opening of Parliament in November 2023. Getty Images -
Mr Starmer addresses delegates at the National Annual Women's Conference in Liverpool in October 2023. Getty Images -
Mr Starmer with his shadow cabinet in London in September 2023. Getty Images -
Mr Starmer speaks to supporters in Chatham after a Labour win in local elections in May 2023. Getty Images -
Joining party activists at a national phone bank on local elections day in London in May 2023. Getty Images -
Mr Starmer meets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Speaker's House in the Palace of Westminster, London, in February 2023. Getty Images -
The Labour leader and his wife Victoria leave the stage after his speech at the party conference in Liverpool in September 2022. Getty Images -
Mr Starmer and then-UK prime minister Liz Truss leave the Palace of Westminster in September 2022. Getty Images -
With former Labour prime ministers Tony Blair, centre, and Gordon Brown, right, at St James's Palace, London, where King Charles III was formally proclaimed monarch in September 2022. Getty Images -
Mr Starmer and then-prime minister Boris Johnson attend the State Opening of Parliament in May 2022. Getty Images -
Mr Starmer makes his keynote speech to the Labour conference for the first time as party leader in September 2021 in Brighton. Getty Images -
The gloves are on during a visit to the Vulcan Boxing Club in Hull, East Yorkshire, in April 2021. Getty Images -
Mr Starmer in talks with care home workers and family members of residents at Cafe 1899 in Gedling Country Park during the Covid-19 pandemic in July 2020. Getty Images -
Mr Starmer, then-shadow secretary of state for exiting the EU, addresses the audience at a hustings in March 2020 in Dudley. Getty Images -
Mr Starmer and then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn talk to the media at the EU Commission headquarters in March 2019 in Brussels. Getty Images -
Mr Starmer delivers a speech on Labour's Brexit policy at the Institute of Civil Engineers in London in April 2017. Getty Images -
Holding a press conference as Director of Public Prosecutions to outline new guidelines on assisted suicide, in London in September 2009. Getty Images -
Human rights advisers Mr Starmer and Jane Gordon with the Northern Ireland Policing Board annual human rights report 2006, at the Dunadry Hotel in Co Antrim. Getty Images
It comes in the wake of the energy price shock, in which costs soared in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Labour says that in the last two years a typical family paid £1,880 more on energy bills than they would have done if prices had stayed the same, while the government spent £94 billion of taxpayers’ money on capping energy costs.
The party says the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) has warned that if the UK remains dependent on gas, families and taxpayers could be hit by a repeat of the recent crisis, and accused the Tories of leaving households at risk of a £900 annual energy price increase.
”Family financial security depends on energy security," Mr Starmer said.
“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 [Russian President Vladimir] 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.”
Who's who in the Labour cabinet - in pictures
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Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition. PA -
Angela Rayner, shadow deputy prime minister and shadow secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities. PA -
Rachel Reeves, shadow chancellor of the exchequer. Reuters -
Bridget Phillipson, shadow education secretary. PA -
Yvette Cooper, shadow home secretary. Getty Images -
Wes Streeting, shadow health and social care secretary. Getty Images -
Ed Miliband, shadow energy security and net zero secretary. Getty Images -
David Lammy, shadow foreign secretary. Reuters -
Pat McFadden, shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and national campaign co-ordinator. PA -
Nick Thomas-Symonds, shadow minister without portfolio. PA -
Jonathan Ashworth, shadow paymaster general. PA -
Shabana Mahmood, shadow justice secretary. Getty Images -
Jonathan Reynolds, shadow business and trade secretary. PA -
Liz Kendall, shadow work and pensions secretary. House of Commons -
John Healey, shadow defence secretary. PA -
Louise Haigh, shadow transport secretary. PA -
Thangam Debbonaire, shadow culture, media and sport secretary. House of Commons -
Anneliese Dodds, Labour Party chairwoman and shadow women and equalities secretary. PA -
Steve Reed, shadow environment, food and rural affairs secretary. PA -
Peter Kyle, shadow science, innovation and technology secretary. PA -
Hilary Benn, shadow Northern Ireland secretary. House of Commons -
Ian Murray, shadow Scotland secretary. House of Commons -
Jo Stevens, shadow Wales secretary. Getty Images -
Emily Thornberry, shadow attorney general. House of Commons -
Lisa Nandy, shadow cabinet minister for international development. UK Parliament / AFP -
Darren Jones, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury. House of Commons -
Ellie Reeves, deputy national campaign co-ordinator. House of Commons -
Lucy Powell, shadow leader of the House of Commons. House of Commons -
Alan Campbell, opposition chief whip in the House of Commons. House of Commons -
Baroness Angela Smith, shadow leader of the House of Lords. House of Commons -
Lord Roy Kennedy, opposition chief whip in the House of Lords. House of Commons
“Great British Energy will kick-start our mission for clean power to lower bills and boost our energy independence," said Ed Miliband, shadow energy security and net-zero secretary.
“It’s time to move on from the Tories’ bone-headed opposition to clean energy, for which British families are paying the price.
“The choice at this general election is clear: higher bills and energy insecurity with the Conservatives, or lower bills and energy independence with Labour.”
Commenting on Labour's plan, Alasdair Johnstone from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said: “The UK has spent £100 billion on gas during the energy crisis of the last couple of years, placing a burden not only on bill payers but also taxpayers, as bills were subsidised.
"With prices are set to go up again in October, there will be a need to insulate from more gas price volatility.
"This means using less gas and more British renewables along with insulating homes so they leak less heat.
"Recent polling showed that the public think that the best long-term solution to the energy crisis is to decrease dependence on gas and transition to renewable energy.”
