Keir Starmer flip-flops on vow of £300 payments reduce amid GB Energy drive

Keir Starmer today flip-flopped on an election vow to slash bills by up to £300 as he unveiled a drive for more offshore wind.

The PM insisted he was determined to reduce costs as he announced that the new state-owned Great British Energy firm will partner with the King to help speed up building.

Downing Street pointedly refused to repeat the cash figure that Sir Keir had used during the campaign. And the premier seemed to feather the issue again later, telling reporters he stood by the manifesto – which did not specifically include the £300 commitment.

In a round of interviews this morning, Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband conceded it would ‘take time’ for GB Energy to start making money.

He cited international factors as a reason why he could not guarantee lower bills.

The Crown Estate owns the vast majority of Britain’s seabed, stretching up to 12 nautical miles from the mainland, and leases parts of it to wind farm operators.

The Government said GB Energy will help develop future offshore wind projects, as part of its push to hasten the UK’s transition to renewable energy.

It is also designed to reduce the UK’s reliance on energy imported from other countries by generating more of its own electricity.

Speaking at an event in Widnes, Sir Keir argued the plan would ‘drive down bills, it gives us energy independence’.

He said the money the Government is putting into GB energy is intended to be a ‘catalyst’ for private investment.

‘It will take time for this to develop it will take time before were able to get the benefits of clean power but that’s why were moving at pace,’ he said.

The PM said he wanted to see bills reduce over the next five years without using the £300 figure and his official spokesman repeatedly declined to repeat it. 

However, asked later during a question-and-answer session whether he stands by the pledge, the Prime Minister said: ‘Yes, I do – I stand by everything in my manifesto, and one of the things I made clear in the election campaign is because I wouldn’t make a single promise or commitment that I didn’t think we could deliver in government and that’s why we carefully costed and funded everything in our manifesto.

‘That does depend on early firm decisions being made, which is why we’ve set up GB Energy, why we’ve announced the partnership today with the Crown Estate, and why the Energy Secretary has already taken action in week one in relation to onshore wind, in relation to solar energy and also pushing on with nuclear. So I stand by that commitment.

‘What this brings us is lower bills, energy security, the next generation of jobs, and of course an important contribution to our obligations in relation to the planet.’

He added: ‘It will take time for this to develop, it will take time before we’re able to get the benefits of clean power, but that’s why we’re moving at pace.’

Mr Miliband told BBC Breakfast: ‘Within the lifetime of this Parliament it will start generating returns.’

‘Within a couple of years, as we build new onshore wind, new solar, we’ll start to see the effect on bills, but there are lots of things going on here. 

‘So our exposure to gas prices, which are set internationally, is something I don’t control… I can’t promise you what’s going to happen to gas prices.

‘But I can say that, if we drive to clean, homegrown British energy, we will have much more control over what happens to bills.’

Shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho said Labour had dropped its claim that its plans could save £300 off energy bills by 2030. 

Legislation to establish the state-owned energy company needs to go through the Commons, and the Government has set aside £8.3billion to invest in new wind farms and solar projects, which must be built before GB Energy can start generating a return. 

The Crown Estate estimates the partnership will lead to up to 20-30 gigawatts of new offshore wind developments being leased by 2030, enough to power almost 20 million homes.

Ministers laid out fresh details on what GB Energy will do with its £8.3billion of funding over the next five years, as the Great British Energy Bill is introduced to Parliament on Thursday and will receive its second reading on September 5.

The company is set to lead energy projects through development stages to speed up the process, before returning them to private ownership but maintaining a stake.

It could, however, become an operator of such projects over time.

Leading the development of green power projects will come alongside GB Energy’s previously announced role of acting as a co-investor on schemes with private sector firms.

Officials will also look at how GB Energy could join forces with Great British Nuclear, a public body which helps bring forward new nuclear energy projects, and support local energy generation projects through partnerships with local councils.

Keir Starmer said: ‘This innovative partnership between Great British Energy and the Crown Estate is an important step toward our mission for clean energy by 2030, and bringing down energy bills for good.

‘This agreement will drive up to £60 billion in investment into the sector, turbocharging our country toward energy security, the next generation of skilled jobs, and lowering bills for families and business.’

Mr Miliband said: ‘Great British Energy comes from a simple idea – that the British people should own and benefit from our natural resources.

‘The agreement with the Crown Estate will lead to more investment, cleaner power, more energy security, and is a statement of intent that it will be a permanent and transformative institution for our country.’

The Crown Estate has a £16billion portfolio of land and seabed, and returns its profits to the Government, and a small portion goes to the monarchy.

Much of its £1.1billion profit last year came from offshore wind projects, and it is already engaged in a significant push to find and develop new plots of the seabed for companies to build wind turbines on.

In a separate bill, the Crown Estate is set to be given new borrowing powers, confirmed in last week’s King’s Speech, which are designed to help it invest more in preparing its seabeds for offshore wind and other projects.

Under current rules, the Crown Estate cannot use its cash reserves to invest because it must hold them against the prospect of future financial losses.

It comes after the Government scrapped a de facto ban on onshore wind farms earlier this month, reversing planning measures brought in for England by the Conservatives in 2015 under David Cameron.

Onshore wind was treated differently from other developments under the rules, which stopped schemes going ahead if there were any objections.

Ms Coutinho said: ‘The public has been sold a lie that a Labour Government will cut their energy bills by £300,’ she said.

‘Now that they’ve won the election they’ve tried to brush that figure under the carpet, showing us the truth that GB Energy is nothing but a gimmick that will end up costing families, not cutting bills.’

Ms Coutinho said GB Energy would mean ‘funnelling taxpayers’ money into reducing risk for multimillion-pound energy companies’ while the 2030 decarbonisaton target ‘will hike bills and ramp up our dependence on batteries and cables from China’.

‘Now they’re saying bills may go up… but the truth is even worse. Labour’s plans for energy are going to mean huge costs for British families,’ she said.