UK Labour Party Suckered by Big Energy
Liverpool, UK – UPDATED 15.55 9/10/23 – The opposition Labour Party has launched its policy on modernising the grid. It plays into the hands of the Energy Industry, and is set to be a disastrous and expensive mistake that will leave the UK dependent on foreign energy for the next decade and beyond.
The wrong-turn on energy policy was announced today at annual conference by failed former party leader Ed Milliband. The proposals will feature heavily in Labour’s election campaign.
The party aims to establish a UK electricity system fully based on clean power by 2030, with the largest expansion of renewable power in Britain’s history, and establish “GB Energy”, a publicly owned energy company announced by party leader Keir Starmer last year.
Labour intends it becomes law soon after a general election win. One source said the act showcased “modern public ownership, working with the private sector without the need to nationalise”. The history of private-public partnership in the UK is that it usually results in cost overuns, excessive bonuses and profits for the private partner, and endless delays in major projects.
In his speech on Monday, Miliband, the shadow secretary of state for energy security and net zero, rightly attacked the Conservatives’ record on energy security, saying the UK was the most exposed economy in western Europe to the energy price spike caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, telling Labour party conference: “You’re paying record energy bills because they left us exposed to Putin’s war. Every time they turn their back on a clean energy future, they leave us exposed to global fossil fuel markets, at the mercy of dictators and petrostates, driving up bills, making us more insecure.”
But the decision to play Big Energy at its own game is doomed to failure because of shortage of supply of the miles of copper cable needed to roll out the national grid to contain up to 300 Gigawatts of renewable energy currently planned, not to mention 150 Gw of new demand from planned housing estates and other developments. Meanwhile, local energy initiatives, which would bypass the grid and allow much faster rollout of new energy supplies have been sidelined
Milliband’s biggest round of applause came when he announced £1b a year for local renewable power owned by local people. A great initiative, but it costs £30bn to build a nuclear power station currently planned. Why so little for local energy? And over what period is it being budgeted?
A speaker from the floor added that an incoming Labor government would spend £6bn per year on a “Warm homes plan £6bn a year “for the next 10 years, to cut bills, and cut emissions.”
Milliband had already stated where the bulk of Labour’s energy investment will be focused – floating off-shore wind-farms. And that means large centralised, slow-moving projects, dependent on the same utility companies that caused the …
