Great British Energy: what is it, what would it do and how would it be funded?
The key pledge of Keir Starmer’s Labour conference speech was the proposed launch of Great British Energy, a publicly owned energy company to invest in clean UK power as part of the party’s commitment to “fight the Tories on economic growth”. But how does it work, and is it the same as renationalising energy?
In his speech at the Labour conference, Starmer said the party would create a new energy generation company, which would be publicly owned, within the first year of a Labour government.
He said Great British Energy would be “a new company that takes advantage of the opportunities in clean British power … because it’s right for jobs, because it’s right for growth, because it’s right for energy independence from tyrants like Putin. Yes conference, Great British Energy will be publicly owned.”
Starmer added that the “road to net zero is no longer one of stern, austere self-denial – it’s at the heart of modern, 21st century aspiration”.
Currently, many British energy generators are wholly or partly owned by foreign governments or companies. In his speech, Starmer cited “the largest onshore windfarm in Wales”, adding: “Who owns it? Sweden. Energy bills in Swansea are paying for schools and hospitals in Stockholm.
“The Chinese Communist party has a stake in our nuclear industry. And 5 million people in Britain pay their bills to an energy company owned by France.”
Analysis by the Trades Union Congress, seen by the Guardian, suggested British households will each miss out on up to £4,400 over the next two years because the UK does not have a nationalised energy generation company.
The TUC argues that if the UK had a state-backed energy generation company akin to France’s EDF, Germany’s EnBW or Sweden’s Vattenfall, it would
Read more on theguardian.com
