Standard content for Members only
To continue reading this article, please login to your Utility Week account, Start 14 day trial or Become a member.
If your organisation already has a corporate membership and you haven’t activated it simply follow the register link below. Check here.
Labour leader Keir Starmer has said it will be his party’s “national mission” to upgrade the energy efficiency of 19 million homes “within a decade” if elected.
Starmer set out the ambition in his keynote speech at the Labour party conference today (29 September), saying it would form part of the £28 billion a year Climate Investment Pledge outlined by the shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves on Monday.
The plan would involve upgrading 19 million homes to at least an EPC band C through grants for low-income households as well as low-interest loans. The party estimates this would save families over £400 a year on energy bills and create 500,000 jobs.
The details echo the Warm Homes for All proposals put forward by Jeremy Corbyn in 2019
Starmer said: “If we are serious about climate change we will need to upgrade our homes. The Tories inherited plans from Labour to make every new home zero carbon.
“They scrapped them and now we have a crisis in energy prices emissions from homes have increased and we have the least energy-efficient housing in Europe.
“So it will be Labour’s national mission over the next decade, to fit out every home that needs it, to make sure it is warm, well-insulated and costs less to heat and we will create thousands of jobs in the process.
“I can also pledge that we will also introduce a Clean Air Act and everything we do in government will have to meet a “net zero” test to ensure that the prosperity we enjoy does not come at the cost of the climate.”
In his speech, Starmer also made explicit reference to the utilities sector when talking about the 5.7 million people in “low-paid and insecure work”.
He continued: “Workers in transport, care, education and the utilities.
“These were the people who kept the show on the road during the pandemic and their reward is continued low pay and job insecurity.”
He said Labour would support these people by ensuring a “secure well-paid work force of skilled people in high-class work protected by good trade unions”.
Yesterday, Labour’s shadow energy minister was quizzed on the party’s seemingly conflicted stance on public ownership of energy companies.
Please login or Register to leave a comment.