With the election looming large, it is worth reminding ourselves where the respective parties lie when it comes to energy, the policies they are proposing and the positions they plan to take – starting today with the Conservatives and the Labour Party.
Nothing can be taken for granted and chickens are a long way from being counted still but, barring anything historic, the next government will be formed by either the Conservatives or Keir Starmer’s Labour. So, what happens then?
Technology checklist
Should Starmer take up residence in #10 from Friday, then his party is pledging to double onshore wind and triple solar power. The Conservatives, however, are more lukewarm on both. For onshore wind, the Conservative stance is to ensure there is democratic consent for it and that the areas playing host to new onshore wind projects are able to directly benefit. Similarly for solar, the Conservatives will only support it “in the right places” and “not on our best agricultural land”.
Offshore wind has and continues to be a real success story for Britain and here, both parties are more aligned. Labour will quadruple current levels by 2030. The Conservatives will treble it. There is also a level of consistency in position with carbon capture and storage, where the Conservatives are committed to building the first two clusters in North Wales and the North West of England and Teesside and the Humber, while Labour are promising investment in the technology.
They then diverge on hydrogen and marine energy. Labour is pledging investment in both. The Conservative manifesto seems to have little mention of either.
Labour will extend the life of existing plants, get Hinkley Point C over the line and does acknowledge the role that new nuclear, such as Sizewell C and Small Modular Reactors, will play in delivering energy security for the UK as well as thousands of good, skilled jobs.
The Conservatives also speak positively on nuclear and outline plans to scale it up with two new fleets of Small Modular Reactors approved in the first 100 days of the next parliament, cutting the time it takes to approve new nuclear reactors, deliver a new gigawatt power plant at Wylfa in North Wales and work with industry to deliver existing projects – namely Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C.
One of the starkest contrasts then comes with oil and gas. The Conservatives are supportive, committing to legislating for annual licensing rounds from the North Sea.
Labour, meanwhile, does acknowledge oil and gas will still be part of the mix for many years to come but states there will be no new licenses to explore new fields under a Labour government – the justification being it will not many any difference to bills, nor make the UK energy secure.
The Conservatives will back new gas power stations, Labour says it will ban fracking and promises no new coal licenses too.
Putting plans into action
Labour will bring forward a new Energy Independence Act through which it will establish the framework for its climate and energy policies.
The flagship energy offering of its manifesto, though, is undoubtedly the much publicised Great British Energy. According to Labour, Great British Energy will be a publicly-owned company that partners with industry and trade unions and co-invests in leading technologies, supports capital-intensive projects and deploys local energy production.
Labour believes that with Great British Energy it will be able to cut energy bills “for good”.
The intention is to base it in Scotland where it will play a crucial role in helping to deliver 650,000 new high-quality jobs on a path to the UK becoming a “clean energy superpower”. Labour also says it will capitalise Great British Energy with £8.3 billion in funding over the next parliament.
Further plans from labour include using a National Wealth Fund to directly invest in ports, hydrogen and industrial clusters in every corner of the UK, with this also being used to help the most energy intensive sectors decarbonise. A British Jobs Bonus will have up to £500 million a year allocated from 2026 to incentivise businesses to offer good jobs, terms and conditions and build their manufacturing supply chains in the UK’s industrial heartlands, coastal areas and energy communities.
Labour is intending to close loopholes in the windfall tax. It will extend the sunset clause of the Energy Profits Levy through to the end of the next parliament, increasing the rate by three percentage points, while removing what it calls “unjustifiably generous” investment allowances.
The Conservatives, meanwhile, are fixed on pursuing what they call a “pragmatic, proportionate and realistic approach” to net zero.
This means giving families the time to make changes that will impact their lives. It means a vote in the next parliament on the next stage of the UK’s net zero pathway, with the adoption of any new target to be accompanied by proper consideration of the plans and policies required to meet it, in a bid to ensure democratic consent for big net zero decisions.
It is also pledging to ensure annual policy costs and levies on household energy bills are lower in each year of the next parliament than they were in 2023. It is ruling out further green levies. It will reform the Climate Change Committee, giving it an explicit mandate to consider the costs to households and UK energy security in its future climate advice.
The Conservatives will also plough £1.1 billion into the Green Industries Growth Accelerator to support British manufacturing capabilities, boost the supply chain and ensure that the energy transition is “made in Britain”. It will keep the windfall tax until 2028-29, unless prices are to fall sooner, and also keep the investment allowances.
Bringing down bills
Energy bills have been a hot topic in recent years, skyrocketing in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and various other factors. Both parties have plans to ensure this will not happen again.
Labour, for example, want to bring in a much tougher system of regulation, putting customers first and ensuring the investment needed to cut bills can be brought in. A particular area of focus for Labour is that of standing charges, where it says too much of the burden on bills is placed and it wants to work with the regulator to reduce them.
It wants to work with Ofgem to ensure it is able to hold companies to account for wrongdoing, require higher standards of performance, and make sure that there is automatic customer compensation for failure.
The Conservatives will keep the energy price cap in place and review and reform standing charges to keep them as low as possible. It will introduce more efficient local markets for electricity, give households the choice of smart energy tariffs, implement the recommendations of the Winser Review, and undertake a rapid review into the advantages of alternative network technologies compared to pylons. This review will consider moving to a presumption in favour of undergrounding where competitive.
Upgrading homes is another way to bring bills down and both parties have plans here too. The Conservatives want to invest £6 billion into energy efficiency over the next three years, upgrading a million homes, while financing an energy efficiency voucher scheme open to every household in England. This will support the installation of energy efficiency measures and solar panels.
Labour will implement its Warm Homes Plan, through which it will invest £6.6 billion over the next parliament. It says this will see five million homes being upgraded, with grants offered alongside low interest loans, supporting investment in insulation and other improvements such as solar panels, batteries and low carbon heating.
Labour says that it will work with combined authorities and local and devolved governments to roll out the plan. There will also be collaboration with the private sector to provide further finance to help accelerate home upgrades and the roll out of low carbon heating.
Protecting the environment
Protecting the natural environment has also become something of a hot topic. Water companies in particular have come under fire for dumping sewage into Britain’s rivers and seas – so what are the Conservatives and Labour planning to do about it?
In their manifesto, the Conservatives highlight their “Plan for Water” through which it will work with regulators to further hold companies to account. It will ban executive bonuses if a company commits a serious criminal breach and use fines from water companies to invest in river restoration projects. These projects will include linking up thriving habitats leading to multiple benefits for wildlife and water quality as a “river recovery network” is created.
Labour will place failing water companies under special measures in a bid to clean up the country’s water. Under a Labour government, regulators will be given new powers to block the payment of bonuses to executives of companies that are polluting the country’s waterways and bring criminal charges against persistent law breakers. There will be automatic and severe fines imposed for wrongdoing.
Looking to the wider environment, the Conservatives will use Nature for Climate funding to plant trees and deliver peatland commitments. A new design competition for urban greening will be launched. Red tape that holds back the planting of trees in the planning system will be cut. An 11th National park will be designated too, alongside investment to improve existing National Parks and protected landscapes.
The party also has plans to use further rounds of the Landscape Recovery Scheme to support more local projects, continue supporting programmes that encourage disadvantaged children and young people access to green spaces, deliver on commitments for National Trails, and continue working with landowners, charities and others to open up greater access to nature routes.
Labour’s pledges include creating nine new National River Walks, with one in each region of England. It wants to establish three new National Forests in England and will plant millions of trees, creating new woodlands. The party pledges to expand nature-rich habitats such as wetlands, peat bogs and forests, ensuring that families have green spaces to explore and wildlife has habitats within which it can thrive – this will include on public land. Labour is also committed to a circular economy in a bid to avoid waste.
The manifestos for both parties can be found here: Conservatives, Labour
The Conservatives and Labour, while the biggest parties, are not the only factors in this election. Indeed, with tactical voting seemingly set to play a bigger role than ever before, the offering of other parties could have a big swing in what goes down on 4 July.
Therefore, tomorrow, we will take a closer look at what the SNP, Liberal Democrats, Green Party, Plaid Cymru and Reform are pledging to do in terms of energy policy.
