Ahead of a looming general election, the Labour Party has set out proposals to bring the UK’s railways back into public ownership and “rewire” the energy grid, plus an industrial strategy for the automotive sector designed to create 80,000 new jobs.
Speaking at the party’s conference in Liverpool, shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh confirmed that plans announced under former leader Jeremy Corbyn to return the UK’s train system to public ownership have not been dropped under Keir Starmer.
“There is no point offering infrastructure announcements of investment unless we radically reform railways as well, because for too long decisions around investment and infrastructure have been made completely divorced from the reality of the way railways are run,” she said.
“I am here to confirm today that the next Labour government will radically overhaul our rail system and we will outline the detailed vision for that in the coming days, weeks and months.
“We are working in lockstep with unions, mayors and with local leaders and industry. That means bringing our railways back into public ownership, where they have always belonged.”
The party has created a “comprehensive” strategy to improve the UK’s rail infrastructure that would be simpler than the current system, which is overseen by a mix of different private and public entities.
Labour also set out plans to “rewire Britain” in a bid to improve its readiness for a massive increase in renewable infrastructure. It said the plans include up to £200bn in private investment from projects that have already been announced but are struggling to get approval to be connected to the grid anytime soon as core infrastructure upgrades still need to be implemented.
New grid connection dates are currently being offered in the late 2030s.
Labour said the plan is expected to support over 220,000 jobs each year between 2024 and 2035 across the country.
British businesses such as the steel industry, new electric car battery factories, ceramics manufacturers and other forms of energy-intensive industries are also expected to benefit from the reforms.
Under the current system, taxpayers are sometimes forced to pay millions of pounds per day to renewable developers to turn off their energy generation because the grid cannot deal with the capacity.
Shadow energy secretary Ed Miliband said: “Labour’s energy policy will take back control of our energy system to deliver clean power and energy independence for Britain.
“With GB Energy, our publicly-owned energy company, we will deliver the grid we need to slash bills for every family and business.”
The party also announced a sector deal for the automotive industry in a bid to improve supply chain resilience and upskill Britain’s workforce.
It promised that new battery factories would get priority in planning decisions so they could be built as quickly as possible, as well as 10-year funding cycles for automotive R&D to match that given to aerospace.
Consumers will be given more information about the battery life of new electric vehicles (EVs), alongside “realistic” estimates of their maximum range. Standardised battery health tests will be introduced to improve the confidence of customers wanting to buy second-hand electric vehicles.
“Growing up in the shadow of the Nissan plant in Sunderland, I know the impact good manufacturing jobs have for communities,” said Jonathan Reynolds, Labour’s shadow business secretary.
“Every family deserves the chance to have an affordable, reliable car in their driveway. Labour knows the value of vehicles to our economy and society – that’s why we have a plan to drive the British automotive industry confidently into the future.
“Battery factories on our shores, reliable charging networks in every part of the country, secure supply chains, increased consumer demand and 80,000 more high-skilled jobs – Labour has a plan to give British industry its future back.”
Labour also said it would bolster Ofwat’s powers in order to ban the payment of bonuses to water bosses who are found to pump significant levels of raw sewage into the UK’s rivers, lakes and seas.
Furthermore, water bosses who fail to meet high environmental standards on sewage pollution will be slapped with “significant sanctions”.
The party said that Ofwat would have been able to block six out of nine water bosses’ bonuses last year if the new rules had already been implemented.
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