The cost-of-living crisis has been a disaster for businesses and working people. Every surgery appointment, every community visit, every door knocking session, I hear how the wages that once supported families now fall far short. This is why tackling energy costs is Labour’s priority. And it’s a vital one.
Our mission of clean power by 2030 isn’t just about climate change. It’s about bringing down bills by achieving energy security, because energy security is national security in a world growing more dangerous by the day.
Our country was left exposed to high energy costs by the Conservatives; dependent on fossil fuels, a price-taker on the international market. Every therm of gas we buy, wherever it comes from, it exposes Britain to the rollercoaster of international markets. That cannot let that vulnerability continue.
Bringing bills down is our defining political challenge. Of the many challenges that our Labour government inherited, the cost of living is the most persistent, insidious, and harmful because it doesn’t just force the British public to go without or cut back – it feeds our sense of insecurity.
Labour can’t allow Britain to be vulnerable in this way – not merely for our economy and our constituents, but for that sense of security.
After so much chaos at home, the public are crying out for stability. With so much insecurity abroad, the public are crying out for calm, long-term, careful navigation of choppy waters. With our pursuit of homegrown, clean energy, Labour is moving fast because Britain is playing catch-up. Our public needs resilience like never before.
In my first year as Mission Champion, I’ve visited some of Britain’s best and brightest clean energy companies and infrastructure projects—from Hemiko’s Greenwich Peninsula Heat Network, to seeing tepeo’s manufacturing site for their heat batteries. They’re all aiming for the same thing: cleaner, cheaper, homegrown energy straight to people’s homes.
So today, when it comes to developing that homegrown clean energy, we need just wind, solar, nuclear, batteries, tidal stream, hydrogen, or carbon capture. We need all of the above. I know from around three hundred conversations with industry that they welcome our mission, having a proper plan, setting out a clear direction of travel that they shape. Industry will continue to bring their expertise and experience, and Labour will continue to provide the certainty and stability businesses need to invest.
To unleash the full potential of wind, the government has lifted the onshore wind ban, streamlined planning rules, and given wind projects the same priority as other major infrastructure projects. And the results are in: for offshore wind, a record £1.5bn of investment support has been secured that should unlock enough new capacity to power 11 million homes.
To bolster solar, Labour has fast-tracked planning approvals for solar farms capable of providing power to 400,000 homes, mandated solar on almost all new homes, and through our state-owned Great British Energy invested £180m in solar on schools and hospitals and public buildings that will reduce energy bills and enable more money to go onto the frontline.
As a former council deputy leader who funded largescale community solar energy, I’m thrilled that Labour is mandating community benefit funds for solar farms, so that local people share in the rewards. Indeed, community energy is at the heart of our new Great British Energy Act.
Nuclear will be at the heart of Labour’s plans, with a focus on large-scale plants and next-generation small modular reactors. Labour has earmarked £14.2 bn for Sizewell C, which will create enough power for 6 million homes. Having stood on a nuclear reactor dome still under construction at Hinkley Point C, I looked out at the work underway, the thousands of people building our future, and saw the potential for nuclear to fuel our economy and energy. With our investment of £2.5bn into small modular reactors, Labour is supporting a Rolls Royce-led consortium to develop this technology, which could generate up to 3,000 jobs at peak construction.
Everything Labour is doing is about protecting our energy security. At IFA2 in Gosport, I saw how interconnectors help us exchange clean energy with our European neighbours. With our new EU-UK reset, Labour is able to develop ways for everyone to gain and remain energy secure, for everyone to lower bills and grow our economies.
In the medium-term, these investments and our £13.2bn upgrades to 5 million homes will bring down energy bills for everyone by protecting Britain against huge energy spikes. The tensions in the Middle East show why this is so critical. But, we know that people need help sooner and Labour is supporting people and businesses with their bills now.
With the £150 reduction on energy bills to help 6 million households stay warm this winter, our government is supporting an additional 2.7 million families, too. With the plan to cut the energy bills of electricity-intensive businesses by up to a quarter from 2027, our government is backing businesses in sectors such as car-making and chemicals.
And backing businesses with their bills and growing our green economy is good for Britain’s economy overall. The CBI says that our net zero economy grew by 9% in 2023 and that it was 40% more productive and wages in the sector were 15% higher than the UK average. With our industrial strategy betting on the green economy, we’re betting on a winner.
That’s why clean energy by 2030 is not just about climate—it’s how we cut bills, boost energy security, and create good jobs. It’s a plan for stability, growth, and fairness. Labour is delivering the leadership Britain needs to lower costs and take back control of our energy future.
For more on how missions work see From Instruction to Innovation: Delivering Labour’s Five Missions in 2025.
