Labour is pledging it will get working within months of election victory to build clean power that will “turn the page” on the cost-of-living crisis.
Labour plans to fund the company, which will be headquartered in Scotland, through a windfall tax on big oil and gas firms, with an initial £8.3 billion capitalisation over a parliament. “This is a challenge that we should not shrink from and say it is too hard, but roll up our sleeves and give it everything we have got”It comes in the wake of the energy price shock which saw costs soar in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We will turn the page on the cost-of-living crisis. The choice at this election is clear: higher bills and energy insecurity with the Conservatives, or lower bills and energy security with Labour.” Claire Coutinho, Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary, accused Labour of an unfunded promise with its plans for Great British Energy, that would cost taxpayers, and attacked the party’s moves to stop new oil and gas licences in the North Sea, claiming it would hit jobs.
Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said: “We need real change if we are to meet the demands of the climate crisis. These Labour plans do not deliver it.