Starmer: I will not force you to get rid of your gas boiler
Sir Keir Starmer has insisted the Labour Government will not force people to rip out their gas boilers as part of its net zero plans.
The Prime Minister said the green transition was “not about barreling down on individuals and imposing a disproportionate burden on them”, before adding: “I am not going to tell people what to do with their boilers.”
Sir Keir was speaking during an appearance at an engineering firm near Runcorn, Cheshire, where he announced the new head of Great British Energy (GB Energy), the Government’s new state-owned energy company.
Jurgen Maier, the former head of Siemens UK, will be the chairman of GB Energy, which will invest taxpayer money in renewable energy development.
Sir Keir said he stood by a claim made during the election campaign that creating a clean electricity grid by 2030 would save households an average of £300 a year on their bills. But he added that achieving it would depend on “early firm decisions being made” by GB Energy to push through renewable energy projects.
The claim was questioned during the campaign by the Conservative Party and energy experts, who said it relied upon out-of-date figures from a think tank report.
First GB Energy project announced
The Prime Minister said the Government would be willing to go up against Labour councillors to get pylons and other green infrastructure built.
“We will take the tough decisions to make this work,” Sir Keir said. “That will include those decisions on planning, where we intend to make the necessary changes. And that will apply everywhere, whatever the rosettes on the constituency, because we have to move this forward.”
GB Energy, which will be funded by £8.2 billion over the course of this parliament, will invest alongside the private sector in renewable energy development.
Its first project, announced on Thursday, will be a partnership with the Crown Estate to accelerate the development of enough offshore wind to power about 20 million homes.
Energy experts have raised questions over the viability of the Government’s target for 100 per cent green electricity by 2030, suggesting that Labour may need to increase investment over the course of the next parliament.
Mr Maier has previously said that investing £28 billion a year, a Labour pledge that was dropped before the election, was the minimum needed for the green energy transition.
Sir Keir said he wanted to the UK to “win the race for clean energy”, but added that “change on that scale will not happen overnight, but today we have taken a good first step”.