Keir Starmer: Tory criticism of Great British Energy offshore plans is ‘unpatriotic’
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has hit back at accusations from Tories of an “unfunded” plan for the UK’s offshore wind sector, by branding them unpatriotic.
At a port in the Ynys Mon region of North Wales, Starmer announced that Great British Energy, a publicly-owned company with an £8.3bn budget that has been the cornerstone of the party’s energy manifesto, will fund the construction of floating offshore wind farms.
“In an increasingly insecure world, with tyrants using energy as an economic weapon, Britain must take back control of our national energy security.” he said.
“A key pillar of a modern British economy is secure, homegrown British energy – this is a basic duty of government and it’s frankly unpatriotic for the Tories to oppose it.”
Starmer added: “Here in Wales, the potential for offshore wind is enormous, and the UK Tory government is squandering it. With public investment through Great British Energy we can unlock billions more in private investment to turbocharge jobs and growth for Wales.”
Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats are committed to 2030 as an end date for UK fossil fuel generation for electricity; five years earlier than the Conservative target.
The Tories have openly decried the proposals as “unfunded” and would likely result in a higher tax bill for the UK consumer.
Last month, Keir Starmer and Labour was blasted for its proposals to extend and increase the windfall tax, with Offshore Energies UK claiming that the move could cost 42,000 jobs and wipe out £26bn of economic value.
The takedown came days after the party officially dropped the £28bn-a-year green energy plan it had been promising.
Think tank Policy Exchange today published a report to coincide with Starmer’s announcement, putting the bill for the party’s National Grid de-carbonisation plans at £116bn.
Labour, however, has claimed the report does not factor in proposals for planning reform.
A spokesperson for the party told the Daily Express the Green Prosperity Plan would “crowd in billions in private investment and bring good jobs to Britain’s industrial heartlands”.
Sam Richards, founder of economic growth group Britain Remade, said that it is this delay-ridden planning process that would be the deciding factor on the success of the party’s ambitions.
“If the dream of having an abundant supply of secure domestic energy that cannot be used as an economic weapon by autocratic regimes is to become a reality, urgent reform of the planning system is needed to slash the time it takes to get clean energy projects built,” he said.
“There is simply no way Britain can enjoy a clean energy grid by 2030, and deliver lower energy bills for millions of people up and down the country, if red-tape and bureaucracy hold back getting spades in the ground.”
Labour’s policy is part of a mission to bring more of the UK’s energy production mix back to its own shores.
The most recent figures show that the UK imported nearly 40 per cent of its energy in 2022, while think tank Common Wealth estimates that 45 per cent of UK offshore wind capacity is owned by foreign state companies, while less than 1 per cent is owned by the UK.
Keir Starmer’s speech took place in an area that is expected to be the site of another major UK energy project.
The Wylfa region of Anglesey, near where today’s announcement took place, is the long-mooted site for the next big nuclear reactor, equivalent in capacity to the delayed Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C.
Japanese technology giant Hitachi had until 2020 been planning to develop the site, but pulled out after a six-year waiting time filled with delays and hikes in expected costs.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in his recent Spring Budget speech that the Wylfa site as well as another in Gloucestershire had been bought back from the company for £160m.