Labour convention – dwell: Triple lock pension ‘may very well be reviewed’ as Andy Burnham prepares largest speech but

Andy Burnham will pledge to drive down energy costs with a new publicly-owned Great British Grid to overhaul the “broken energy market”.

In his big speech to Labour conference, the Prime Minister will set out plans for greater public control of energy as he warned firms and businesses are left shouldering the cost of energy prices dictated by markets miles away. GB Grid, a new publicly-owned company, will aim to speed up grid connections for businesses and drive down costs by increasing competition in the market.

It will also make it easier for firms waiting to connect to build infrastructure themselves so they don’t have to wait. It marks the first major step in Mr Burnham’s drive to bring essential services back into public control. He told the Mirror last week that Britain took a “series of wrong turns” in the 1980s when the Tories sold off a string of core utilities.

Britain’s energy grid, which was privatised by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, gets electricity and gas flowing around the country to homes and businesses. But the ageing grid has suffered from decades of underinvestment, with firms criticising slow connections and the massive backlog to join the transmission network as a blocker for investment.

The PM will say: “We have a cost crisis. We all know it. The price of energy is crippling for businesses, and British billpayers pay some of the highest energy costs in Europe. We have an energy system where prices are dictated in markets miles away, while families and businesses here shoulder the costs. Once again, the British public has lost control.

“Within ten years, I want our energy costs to be in line with other nations in Europe. That means we must reform a broken energy market so it serves the public interest.

“I can announce today our plan for Great British Grid, a publicly owned company that will work with the private sector and network companies. It will increase competition to drive down costs and speed up delivery so businesses can connect faster and grow quicker. This is what more public control can do.”

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