A huge raft of environmental reforms is promised in the Labour Party’s draft manifesto, writes Oliver Tickell. Among the highlights: a ban on fracking; a clean energy policy based on renewables and efficiency; no commitment to new nuclear power; to meet our Paris Agreement obligations on climate; to give companies a legal obligation to protect the environment; to retain all EU environment laws post-Brexit; and multilateral nuclear disarmament. It’s regrettable that there is no clear promise to drop new nuclear power stations. But the commitment to “support further nuclear projects” looks deliberately vague and leaves lots of wriggle-room. There are plenty of decommissioning projects coming up which will need government support, or maybe projects to make isotopes for medical use, or scientific research. Taken in the round, the vision is overwhelmingly positive and has to earn at least nine out of ten. The biggest problem: so far it’s only a draft. Items may still be dropped or watered down in the final version. And the commitments made are so numerous that there may not be time to put them all into effect in a single term of office.
Ecologist 11th May 2017 read more »
Labour has pledged to take back central government control of the national grid and immediately cap average household energy bills below £1,000, according to its leaked manifesto. The draft manifesto, which was distributed to news organisations last night, says that Labour would take back central government control over what it describes as the “natural monopolies of the transmission and distribution grids”. An incoming Labour administration would also restore Whitehall control over Ofgem’s policy and information functions, says the document. In addition, Labour in power would introduce an “immediate” emergency price cap to ensure that the average dual fuel household energy bill remains below £1,000 per year during the transition to a “fairer system”.
Utility Week 11th May 2017 read more »
A leaked version of the Labour Party’s General Election manifesto has uncovered proposals to boost renewable energy, create a new zero-carbon homes standard and maintain access to the internal energy market. The radical document, which includes plans to nationalise the rail industry and scrap tuition fees, also holds a pledge for renewables to provide 60% of the country’s energy needs by 2030. The Party aims to deliver on the target by bringing the energy system back into public ownership, with support for community energy projects and the creation of an immediate emergency fuel price cap.
Edie 11th May 2017 read more »
Today’s papers say Corbyn is going to nationalise our energy suppliers. What I’ve seen describes no such thing. National ownership of the gas pipelines, yes. But then the draft calls for each region to have “at least one publicly owned” and “locally run” energy supplier. Imagine: if you live in Swansea, you’d have French-owned EDF, German-owned E.ON and all the rest – but then you’d have a publicly owned rival called Wales Energy. The 1970s of state monopolies that ain’t.
Guardian 11th May 2017 read more »