Labour would create a publicly owned clean energy firm if elected, leader Sir Keir Starmer has told the party conference in Liverpool. Called Great British Energy, it would provide “British power to the British people”, he said.
The Labour leader’s keynote speech comes amid days of financial market uncertainty driven by Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget last Friday.
Starmer said Liz Truss’s Government had crashed the economy to offer tax cuts for the richest 1% in society. He said they had left a “Britain all at sea, where a cloud of anxiety hangs over working people”.
The Labour leader added: “At moments of uncertainty like this we must provide clear leadership. We must stand with working people. Meet their ambitions for real change. Walk towards a better future and build a new Britain, together.”
Labour would set up Great British Energy within its first year in office to “take advantage of the opportunities” in clean power. Starmer acknowledged there would be “tough battles on issues like planning and regulation” but the road to net zero emissions was “at the heart of modern, 21st century aspiration”.
On the economy, he said the Government had “lost control of the British economy” and “crashed the pound”. “Higher interest rates. Higher inflation. Higher borrowing. And for what?
“Not for you. Not for working people. For tax cuts for the richest 1% in our society. Don’t forget. Don’t forgive.”
Starmer said the Tories “haven’t just failed to fix the roof, they’ve ripped out the foundations, smashed through the windows and now they’ve blown the doors off for good measure”. He promised a Labour government would “get us out of this endless cycle of crisis” with a “fresh start, a new set of priorities and a new way of governing”.
Sir Keir said the war in Ukraine was not entirely to blame: “The war didn’t ban onshore wind. The war didn’t scrap home insulation. The war didn’t stall British nuclear energy. The Tories did that.”
