The Labour Party has finally unveiled its manifesto for the next general election, making pledges to introduce measures designed to improve the UK’s energy and transport infrastructure while bolstering industry.
Energy
Labour has reaffirmed its commitment to create a new publicly-owned energy firm called Great British Energy that will aim to boost domestic electricity production through investments in low-carbon sources such as renewables and nuclear.
As part of the plans, it will work with the private sector to “double onshore wind, triple solar power and quadruple offshore wind by 2030”. It will also boost investment in carbon capture and storage, plus hydrogen and marine energy, and will ramp up long-term energy storage. The UK’s current plan, as announced under the Tories, is to fully decarbonise the UK’s power supplies by 2035 at the latest.
With regards to nuclear power, Labour will extend the lifetime of existing plants while aiming to get the troubled Hinkley Point C “over the line”. New nuclear power stations, such as Sizewell C, and small modular reactors were also mentioned as playing a key part in the UK’s future energy security.
Despite its primary focus being on low-carbon energy sources, the party said it would maintain “a strategic reserve of gas power stations” to guarantee the security of the UK’s energy supply.
With regards to North Sea oil, Labour said it would not issue new licences to explore new fields as they would not help to reduce consumer bills and would only help to “accelerate the worsening climate crisis”. This is a marked divergence from the current administration, which approved 27 new licences to begin drilling for oil in the North Sea in October. Labour does not plan to revoke existing licences.
In an effort to alleviate concerns from North Sea oil workers, many of whom are in Scotland, Labour said it would “embrace the future of energy production and storage” by making use of existing offshore infrastructure and the skills of the current workforce.
“Oil and gas production in the North Sea will be with us for decades to come, and the North Sea will be managed in a way that does not jeopardise jobs. And our offshore workers will lead the world in the industries of the future,” the manifesto states.
Labour said it would not grant new coal licences and will ban fracking on UK shores, and has plans to close loopholes in the windfall tax on oil and gas companies.
With regards to energy efficiency, Labour plans to invest an extra £6.6bn over the next parliament – a doubling of the existing government investment – to upgrade five million homes in an effort to cut bills.
Finally, it plans to invest £1bn to accelerate the deployment of carbon capture, and £500m to support the manufacturing of green hydrogen.
Transport
The manifesto confirmed the creation of Great British Railways – an effective renationalisation of the UK’s rail system that will happen gradually as existing private contracts elapse. Labour said the move was to counter “record levels” of rail cancellations and cut costs for consumers.
The plan specifically aims to improve rail connectivity across the north of England, although it did not make any mention of HS2 or proposals to reinstate the proposed lines to Leeds and Manchester that were cancelled by the Tories last year.
It will also overhaul the planning system to help it “forge ahead with new roads, railways, reservoirs and other nationally significant infrastructure”. Labour hopes this will lower the cost of future projects by slashing red tape, while making it easier to build laboratories, digital infrastructure and gigafactories.
The focus on transport extended to the UK’s flagging road network, with recent figures from the AA showing that pothole damage to vehicles had reached a five-year high.
Labour plans to fix an additional one million potholes across England in each year of the next parliament, funded by deferring the A27 bypass, which it said was poor value for money.
It will try to boost the transition to electric vehicles by accelerating the roll-out of charge points while giving certainty to manufacturers by restoring the phase-out date of 2030 for new cars with internal combustion engines.
In September, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak controversially pushed back the ban from 2030 to 2035, much to the ire of car makers.
Industry
Labour plans to introduce a new industrial strategy that will “end short-term economic policymaking”. It will establish an Industrial Strategy Council that will provide expert advice to the government to help it shape the strategy going forward.
It also plans to invest £1.5bn to build a series of new gigafactories for the automotive sector, as well as £2.5bn to help shore up the UK’s flagging steel industry. In January, one of the UK’s largest blast furnaces in Port Talbot announced plans to cut nearly 3,000 jobs.
Labour said its industrial strategy will specifically support the development of the AI sector by removing planning barriers to new data centres. But it also plans to ensure “safe development” of the burgeoning technology by introducing binding regulation on the handful of companies developing the most powerful AI models and by banning the creation of sexually explicit deepfakes.
Elsewhere, Labour wants to put failing water companies under special measures in an effort to clean up the UK’s polluted waterways and will make a renewed push to roll out gigabit internet alongside national 5G coverage by 2030.