This summer has been defined by two crises: the continuing, painful cost of living crisis afflicting millions in our country and the climate crisis, which is playing out in horrifying ways across the world. The Conservative party is saying we can’t tackle both these crises together – and is, in fact, tackling neither. The Conservatives are wrong. Tackling both these crises goes hand in hand. That’s what Labour’s green prosperity plan will do – cutting energy bills, creating good jobs, delivering energy security and providing climate leadership for our country.
To listen to the Conservatives, you might think the status quo is serving us well. It isn’t. Putin’s strangulation of international fossil fuel markets has sent energy bills soaring, plunged countries like ours into the deepest cost of living crisis in memory and stoked inflation to further pile the pain on to families and businesses. The UK has been the worst affected country in western Europe. We have been so exposed because 13 years of failed Conservative energy policy has left us so dependent on fossil fuel markets.
The Conservatives’ failure is made worse by the fact that there is a clear answer staring us in the face: clean, cheap, low-carbon power, made in Britain. Over the last decade, the costs of solar energy have fallen 89% and wind energy has dropped by 60%. As a result, renewables are significantly cheaper than fossil fuels – last summer they were nine times cheaper. That’s why the Tories’ nonsensical ban on onshore wind in England, in place since 2015, means energy bills are now £180 higher for every family in the country, because that onshore wind has been substituted by expensive gas.
The fact that a managed transition away from fossil fuels is also crucial to tackling the climate crisis means we can cut costs for families while also taking the urgent action we need to drive to net zero. For the scientists at the UN, who have warned this week that the “era of global boiling” has arrived, and the economists at the Office for Budget Responsibility, who say delaying action by a decade doubles its costs, acting now is the economic, rational and blindingly obvious choice.
That’s why the centrepiece of Labour’s mission on climate and energy is to provide all of our power from zero carbon sources by 2030. It will cut bills by £93bn over the coming years – or an average of £400 a year for every household in the country. The Tory plan to stay on fossil fuels as long as possible is a recipe for higher bills, energy insecurity and deepening climate disaster. Why would we possibly choose this path?
It is not just in energy where taking action will lower costs. The lifetime costs of an electric car are already lower than those of a petrol or diesel vehicle. And by 2027, the forecasts are that the upfront cost of an electric car will be lower than the fossil fuel equivalent. So it’s right to stick with the 2030 phase-out date for new petrol and diesel cars – for the environment and for lowering costs.
Of course, in some areas, unleashing the benefits of moving away from fossil fuels does require investment. As we make the transition to cleaner, cheaper alternatives, the vital principle is that individuals or sectors should not be left to bear the transition costs on their own. This is one of the purposes of our green prosperity plan, the investment ramping up to £28bn a year in the second half of the parliament.
Take energy efficiency. We do need to invest. Instead of leaving families to waste money on cold, draughty homes, as the Conservatives have, our warm homes plan will bring up to a good standard the 19m homes that need it. This is as close to a policy no-brainer as you can get; cutting energy bills for families across the country, creating thousands of good jobs for construction workers and electricians, tackling fuel poverty and providing climate leadership.
A Labour government will act to make the transition work to the benefit of all, in particular lower- and middle-income families. We will not leave workers on their own either, but will protect them through this period of change.
This is where the Conservatives’ negligence is most acute. They won’t invest to make this transition work for working people, in areas such as energy efficiency or helping to fund a car scrappage scheme in London, and they are content to sit on the sidelines as investment in green industries pours into the US and Europe.
But there is no solution to the cost of living crisis without improving the number of well-paid, good jobs in our economy. That’s why our national wealth fund will invest in boosting our ports, automotive and steel industries and GB Energy, our publicly owned energy-generation company will drive jobs in the UK.
While Labour focuses on lower bills and good jobs, the Tories have decided to double down on their disastrous mistakes – lurching desperately towards a culture war on climate, seeking to upend the climate consensus of the last 15 years. This will not work; as poll after poll reiterates, the vast majority of the British people, in towns and cities across the country, are united in their desire for action on the climate crisis and action on the cost of living.
The stakes at the next election could not be higher. Together, Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves and I have spent three years painstakingly devising an ambitious plan to tackle the climate and cost of living crisis that is equal to the scale of the twin crises we face. It will mean lower bills, more jobs, energy security and climate leadership once again. That is what we will offer at the next general election.
Ed Miliband is shadow secretary of state for climate change and net zero
