Starmer says Labour would create new state energy company, Great British Energy
Starmer talks about visiting an insulation scheme in Kirklees. Energy bills were next to nothing. And tenants were delighted. Why not? Their energy bills had been cut by £1,000.
That is what levelling up should look like, he says.
And he says Labour would not make the mistake the Tories made in the 1980s, when they wasted the wealth from North Sea oil.
That is why Labour is proposing a wealth fund.
He says Labour would set up Great British Energy – a new company – within the first year of a Labour government.
It would take advantages of the opportunities for clean power.
And it will be publicly owned, he says.
That gets a sustained round of applause.
UPDATE: Starmer said:
We won’t make the mistake the Tories made with North Sea oil and gas back in the 1980s where they frittered away the wealth from our national resources.
Just look at what’s happening at the moment. The largest onshore wind farm in Wales. Who owns it? Sweden. Energy bills in Swansea are paying for schools and hospitals in Stockholm. The Chinese Communist party has a stake in our nuclear industry. And five million people in Britain pay their bills to an energy company owned by France.
So we will set up Great British Energy within the first year of a Labour government. A new company that takes advantage of the opportunities in clean British power and because it’s right for jobs, because it’s right for growth, because it’s right for energy independence from tyrants like Putin.
Yes Conference, Great British Energy will be publicly owned.
None of this will be easy – it won’t be like flicking a switch. It will mean tough battles on issues like planning and regulation. But when the Tories nay-say and carp, remember this: the road to net-zero is no longer one of stern, austere, self-denial. It’s at the heart of modern, 21st century aspiration.
Key events
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A Labour delegate was booed in the party’s main conference hall in Liverpool after criticising the Ukrainian government and suggesting that supporting them in the war against Russia is “supporting imperialism”, the PA news agency reported.
Angelo Sanchez, from Leicester South Constituency Labour Party, was speaking on a motion that called for the party to continue to provide support alongside Nato allies to Ukraine and “tackle” Russian President Vladimir Putin, among other things,
On the prospect of the motion being approved, Sanchez said: “It means that the future Labour government would be sending money to a government, the Ukrainian government, that is repressing the left in their own country, a government that is criminalising socialist parties and imprisoning Ukrainian activists.
“If you support this motion, motion 13 on Ukraine, you are not supporting the Ukrainian people, you are supporting only the United States, you are supporting neoliberalism, you are supporting imperialism.”
A number of people in the audience booed the speaker but a minority in the hall also clapped various parts of his speech.
The following speaker, Josh Dean, from Hertford and Stortford CLP, said: “So many across our movement have reaffirmed our unshakeable commitment to Nato, to our friends in Ukraine, and they have put us firmly on the side of the Ukrainian people.
“With due respect to the last delegate, that is where we must remain and never leave again.”
Anushka Anthana, deputy political editor for ITV News, with the latest on the investigation into Labour MP Rupa Huq’s remarks about Kwasi Kwarteng.
Labour source says this apology won’t mean the whip is returned to Rupa Huq. As I understand it it’s suspended pending an investigation 👇 https://t.co/xapbJtd7uz
— Anushka Asthana (@AnushkaAsthana) September 27, 2022
Trade negotiators would be required to deliver economic opportunities across the UK under a Labour government, according to the shadow international trade secretary.
Nick Thomas-Symonds said: “We can’t go on with a situation where only 1.4% of exporters are from the north-east and less than 5% from the east Midlands.
“So, I can pledge today the next Labour government will establish firm rules to ensure that trade negotiators have binding responsibilities to help deliver economic opportunities across all of the United Kingdom.
“For every new trade deal Labour negotiates, we will do everything possible to ensure that it will work for communities, livelihoods and businesses nationwide.”
Starmer ‘needs to be bolder’, says Unite general secretary
Andrew Sparrow
Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary, said Keir Starmer’s speech today was “a start” but that he should be bolder. In a statement, she said:
The real crisis, for everyday families in Britain, is a crisis of wage cuts, frightening energy bills and now soaring rents and mortgages. So Keir Starmer’s promises for change in today’s speech are a start.
But Labour still needs to be bolder. It must offer a very clear, tangible response to the crisis that people can understand and get behind. Clear blue water has opened up in British politics between Labour and the Conservative government. It’s time to make that count.
As Labour’s Nye Bevan said as far back as 1953: ‘We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run down’.
That is all from me for today.
My colleague Nadeem Badshah is taking over now.
Lammy calls for special tribunal to prosecute Putin for ‘crime of aggression’
David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, gave a speech to the Labour conference after Keir Starmer. He called for the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, for his “crime of aggression”. Lammy said:
No act of imperialism is ever the same.
But Vladimir Putin’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine this year was just the latest front in an age-old war between democracy and dictatorship. Freedom and subjugation. Empire and independence.
As Vladimir Putin continues to wage his barbaric war, let us send a message directly to him: we will create a special tribunal to prosecute you for your crime of aggression.
And whether it takes six months, three years or 10, Ukraine will win.
Here is the full text of Keir Starmer’s speech.
Rupa Huq apologises to Kwarteng for calling him ‘superficially’ black
The Labour MP Rupa Huq has offered chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng “sincere and heartfelt apologies” for her “ill-judged” comments describing him as “superficially” black, PA Media reports.
UPDATE: Huq said:
I have today contacted Kwasi Kwarteng to offer my sincere and heartfelt apologies for the comments I made at yesterday’s Labour conference fringe meeting.
My comments were ill-judged and I wholeheartedly apologise to anyone affected.
I have today contacted Kwasi Kwarteng to offer my sincere and heartfelt apologies for the comments I made at yesterday’s Labour conference fringe meeting. My comments were ill-judged and I wholeheartedly apologise to anyone affected.
— Rupa Huq MP (@RupaHuq) September 27, 2022
Scottish nationalists have been responding to Keir Starmer’s move to categorically rule out a Labour election pact with the SNP.
The Labour leader had claimed Scotland’s success in the UK was “met with gritted teeth” and viewed as a “roadblock to independence” by the SNP.
“For them, Scotland’s success in the UK is met with gritted teeth, seen as a roadblock to independence, and so, they stand in the way. We can’t work with them. We won’t work with them. No deal under any circumstance,” he said.
Angus MacNeil, the SNP MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, which covers the Outer Hebrides, tweeted this.
And Ross Colquhoun, an SNP strategist, also took issue with Starmer’s claims that Scotland was an example of Labour winning again during local elections.
Starmer claiming that Scotland is an example of Labour winning again at the local elections – they lost nationally and only secured power in some places due to grubby backroom deals with the Tories. pic.twitter.com/6IhlGiRxyT
— Ross Colquhoun (@rosscolquhoun) September 27, 2022
TUC and CBI welcome plan for state-owned Great British Energy company
The TUC and the CBI have both welcomed the proposal for a state-owned Great British Energy company.
Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC, said:
This is a big, bold move that will cut bills and secure our energy future.
This new national energy champion can provide high-quality jobs to every corner of the UK, and it’s about time the public shared in the profits of British energy.
And the CBI president, Brian McBride, said:
There is widespread recognition that the energy market needs significant reform and industry will want to get to grips with the detail of Labour’s proposals.
The UK is not short of renewable generators right now and investment is waiting in the wings, but where Great British Energy could add value is by channelling catalytic public investment to spur innovation and accelerating the delivery of renewable projects.
Our colleague Jessica Elgot has more on the plan for Great British Energy.
Some new detail on Great British Energy – the publicly owned energy firm announced in Keir Starmer’s speech
– It is a generation company, not retail
– Labour is not nationalising any existing company, supplier or retail
– This is effectively a start-up to grow British renewables— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) September 27, 2022
Starmer’s conference speech – verdict from Twitter commentariat
Here is a round-up of what journalists and commentators are saying about Keir Starmer’s speech on Twitter. The pundit reception is overwhelmingly positive.
Fromy my colleague Gaby Hinsliff
This speech is v Starmer; solid, not over-exciting (tho a publicly owned Great British Energy has legs) but it show he’s done the work. He understands what has to be done & grinds reliably through it. There are worse prime ministerial qualities.
— gabyhinsliff (@gabyhinsliff) September 27, 2022
From the FT’s Sebastian Payne
Keir Starmer’s #lab22 conference speech was solid, but crucially it was plausible. For the first time in a decade, it’s easy to see both the Labour party and its leader in power. There’s a palpable sense Starmer now believes (for the first time) he can and will be prime minister.
— Sebastian Payne (@SebastianEPayne) September 27, 2022
From the Economist’s Matthew Holehouse
Starmer has concluded that with Johnson’s exit, his coalition of Labour Leave voters is for the plundering. “If you voted to take back control of your own life…”
— Matthew Holehouse (@mattholehouse) September 27, 2022
From my colleague Pippa Crerar
Snap analysis: Keir Starmer finished his speech with: “As in 1945, 1964, 1997, this is a Labour moment”. For the first time in years, the party actually looks and sounds like a govt-in-waiting. There will be difficult times ahead, but he took a big step forwards today.
— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) September 27, 2022
From the Observer’s Michael Savage
Starmer’s speech summary: Open goal, neatly tucked away.
— Michael Savage (@michaelsavage) September 27, 2022
From the New Statesman’s Andrew Marr
And here is an extract from Marr’s column.
All conference speeches have a certain windiness. But his was nailed on to the concrete experiences of everyday life: the raw sewage in rivers; the backlogs in courts and hospitals; burglaries going unpunished; the people told to drive themselves to hospital after a heart attack; the cold; the fear of bills.
It was the speech of someone who has properly listened to the worry pulsing through the country. After a tribute to the Queue following the Queen’s death – he didn’t forget that – Starmer spoke of “a Britain all at sea where a cloud of anxiety hangs over working people”. The speech relentlessly portrayed Labour as a party of reassurance, serious-minded common sense and patient duty – a rather Queen Elizabeth II Labour.
From Sky’s Beth Rigby
Lab & its’ leader have changed a lot in a yr. KS, heckled by the left in ’21 speech cheered to rafters even as he positions himself heir to Blair. KS’s Lab the party of biz, of aspiration, of the centre ground. Starmer more confident than I’ve ever seen him. Hope turns to belief
— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) September 27, 2022
From the Sun’s Harry Cole
Better than last year’s boreathon but a low bar.
V good on Ukraine and linking energy security to national security – not sure an energy company run by Ed Milband is the answer though.
Lifting Tories points based immigration is a plus.
But zero mention of our armed forces? 1
— Harry Cole (@MrHarryCole) September 27, 2022
Lively attacks on Trussanomics, but nothing to address the fact he will carry on with 80pc of Growth Plan’s borrowing.
Pledge to scrap business rates is good – but what do you replace it with is the key issue?
Not sure quoting Meghan on thriving not just surviving was wise. 2
— Harry Cole (@MrHarryCole) September 27, 2022
But warm reaction v telling. Last year conference was stepping stone to getting rid of the loonies. Clearly massive progress has been made on that front.
Stylistically Starmer still grates a bit, but presentation now a level playing field with the new PM replacing Johnson.
— Harry Cole (@MrHarryCole) September 27, 2022
From my colleague Owen Jones (who recently has been a fierce critic of Starmer)
This speech from Keir Starmer is… fine, if I’m honest?
It has basic class politics in it – pitching Labour on the side of working people rather than the rich; opposing trickle-down economics; good announcements on a sovereign wealth fund and a publicly owned energy company.
— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) September 27, 2022
From the New Statesman’s Jeremy Cliffe (who for about five minutes was leader of Radicals UK, a party launched late one night on Twitter)
The ultimate goal of @RadicalsUK was a credible, forward-looking Labour Party free of Corbyn’s disgusting anti-Semitism. We didn’t deliver that. But Starmer did.
— Jeremy Cliffe (@JeremyCliffe) September 27, 2022
From the Spectator’s Isabel Hardman
And here is an extract from her column.
The conference hall loved his speech, giving him 14 full standing ovations. Great British Energy got the biggest one. But so did promises on not working with the SNP, on supporting Ukraine and on rooting out antisemitism. Some of the statements felt like an opportunity to show how much Labour has changed: look, they’ll applaud this now, rather than heckle.
But it wasn’t a crowd-pleasing speech in the sense that it promised impossible stuff. Far from it: at one point he had a rather flat-sounding line that ‘I would love to stand here and say Labour will fix everything. But the damage they’ve done – to our finances and our public services means this time the rescue will be harder than ever.’ Public services wouldn’t just need more investment but also reform. Starmer has often been criticised for being too cautious; here, he was trying to justify that as honesty about what was possible.
From the New Statesman’s George Eaton
This is by some distance the best speech Starmer has given as Labour leader – social democratic rhetoric matched by social democratic policy.
— George Eaton (@georgeeaton) September 27, 2022
From the Observer’s Sonia Sodha
Overriding thought having listened to Starmer’s speech: didn’t need to be almost an hour
— Sonia Sodha (@soniasodha) September 27, 2022
From Lewis Goodall from the News Agents podcast
Anyone who says Starmer is channeling reheated Blairism isn’t listening. He’s far more comfortable with a statist turn. Just announced establishing a state owned “Great British Energy” to operate within energy market.
— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) September 27, 2022
From Anja Popp from Channel 4 News
Keir Starmer speech clearly aimed at luring those red wall voters who switched to Cons ‘the Tory party gave up any claim it had to be party of aspiration’. Talks about his working class background repeatedly, economic responsibility, Brexit failures and is unashamedly patriotic.
— Anja Popp (@Anja_Popp) September 27, 2022
From the broadcaster Michael Crick
One of best conference leadership speeches I’ve heard. Brilliantly written; superbly delivered. Lots of memorable lines.
— Michael Crick (@MichaelLCrick) September 27, 2022
From the Mail on Sunday’s Dan Hodges
Bit of a feel of Keir Starmer reading out Ed Milliband’s words in that speech. Doesn’t matter. All very safe. Which is all he needs to do at the moment.
— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) September 27, 2022
From my colleague Peter Walker
And that’s it! Fifty minutes – much shorter than last year’s 90 – and I counted 13 standing ovations. The final peroration was a bit middling, and the speech seemed to almost end a touch unexpectedly, but team Starmer will be satisfied. Job done.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) September 27, 2022
Labour’s Lisa Nandy has said she is attracted to the idea that local leaders should be able to make decisions to freeze rent increases and has asked those on her shadow levelling up team to see if a “workable proposal” can be put together.
The shadow levelling up secretary made the comments at a fringe event at the Labour conference, where she also expressed concern about people in the rental sector where “evictions are much easier, and eviction rates are much higher”.
Earlier this month in Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon announced a rent freeze for public and private properties and a ban on winter evictions, in a package of measures “deliberately focused” on the cost of living crisis.
Describing pressures on household budgets as a “humanitarian emergency”, Scotland’s first minister set out the annual programme for government as the Holyrood parliament met for the first time after the summer recess.
In London, Sadiq Khan has called on ministers to grant him powers to freeze private rents in London.
The proposal to set up a Great British Energy company has been welcomed by the thinktank Common Wealth, which published a report at the weekend saying that having a state-owned company producing green energy would “help create a clean energy system faster, fairer and more affordably than leaving development of renewable generation purely to the foreign state-owned entities, private equity actors, and multinationals that currently dominate the renewable sector, while ensuring the public directly benefits from the UK’s common resources”.
Common Wealth has also released polling showing that 72% of voters – including 72% of Conservative supporters – support the idea of having a government-owned company producing green energy.
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