Chancellor Rachel Reeves has a simple message to those who oppose the government’s plans for three new giant solar farms – not building new energy infrastructure will put us “at the mercy” of foreign dictators.
The move, which could power more than 400,000 homes, was welcomed by campaign groups and industry figures, but it is not without its opposition. Both Suffolk and Cambridgeshire County Councils have opposed the Sunnica solar farm scheme on their borders.
Tory West Suffolk MP Nick Timothy told the BBC the decision to green-light the 2,500-acre project was “quite disgraceful and quite arrogant”, arguing it would divide villages and affect a protected Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Asked if she thought people are going to have to “suck it up” and “tolerate things in their local communities that they don’t want” in the interest of growing the economy, Reeves said the new Labour government will have to make “tough decisions”.
“We can’t carry on like we are. We can’t carry on not building energy infrastructure and not building housing,” she told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme.
“Because if we carry on like we are, energy bills are going to continue to go through the roof, we’re going to continue to be reliant on Putin and dictators around the world for our basic energy needs. I’m not willing for our country to be at the mercy of dictators in that way.”
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Reeves said that potential “tough decisions” in this area were “sitting on the previous Conservative energy minister’s desk for months. She wasn’t willing to make those decisions, and we are.”
“We believe that if you host nationally significant infrastructure that you should get something in return for that. But we can’t just keep saying no to investment projects, whether that’s housing, data centres, energy infrastructure, transport infrastructure, because if we do, our economy will continue like it has been – and that has not been delivering for working people.”
Asked whether this now means that MPs “sitting in an office in Westminster” can “impose things on communities that don’t want it”, and if “government knows best”, Reeves said that in the case of housing, central government will set local housing targets, but it would be up to councils to decide where to build that housing.
“The answer to new projects can’t always be no. It’s up to them to decide where the housing should go, but they’ve got to deliver against those targets, because home ownership is going backwards… rents have gone through the roof, it’s just not fair on the next generation.
“We were elected on a mandate to change things, not to carry on as we were, people were sick of the status quo. We’re not about the status quo, we’re about changing things for the better.”
Defending his decision to approve three major solar power projects earlier this week, energy secretary Ed Miliband, who has also lifted the previous government’s de-facto ban on onshore wind farms, said that the “climate crisis” should be a much bigger concern than these infrastructure projects.
“The reason we’re moving at this pace is for one overriding reason, because of the urgency of the challenges we face – the challenge of our energy insecurity laid bare by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and paid for by the British people in the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation, the challenge of an economy that doesn’t work for working people, with too few good jobs and decent wages, and the challenge of the climate crisis – not a future threat but a present reality.”
New solar farms ‘could make food security worse’, MP warns
However, Conservative shadow energy minister Claire Coutinho described Miliband’s clean energy vision ambitions as Labour’s “greatest liability,” arguing that the UK still needs “oil and gas for the decades ahead” because we are in a global race for energy”.
While Miliband spoke of the need for better food security, Tory MP for Rutland and Stamford Alicia Kearns suggested plans for the 350-megawatt Mallard Pass Solar project would in fact jeopardise this by taking up 2,000 acres including agricultural land.
“We in Rutland and Stamford deserved due consideration and due process, that has been ripped asunder with apparent glee,” she wrote on X.
“The impact on food security, biodiversity, (on) human rights concerns and on our local communities warranted the courtesy of meaningful consideration.”
What are the Labour government’s plans for energy?
At the heart of the government’s plan to turn the UK into a “clean energy superpower” is the introduction of Great British Energy.
While it is often described as a publicly owned energy company, it will not generate any energy itself, rather it is an investment vehicle designed to plough more money in technologies such as wind and solar power.
In its manifesto, the Labour Party says Great British Energy will “partner with industry and trade unions to deliver clean power by co-investing in leading technologies; will help support capital-intensive projects; and will deploy local energy production to benefit communities across the country”.
The government says it spend £8.3 billion on the company over the next parliament, which will allow it to buy equity stakes on behalf of the taxpayer in energy projects and their supply chains, with the long-term goal of having a net-zero energy system by 2030.
Labour’s plans for clean energy also include its “green prosperity plan”, which, through the government’s National Wealth Fund, aims to incentivise the expansion of clean energy companies.
From 2026, it will offer up to £500 million per year in “British Jobs Bonuses” to clean energy developers who create jobs and build infrastructure in the UK. If this goes as Labour intends, the party says it will create 650,000 jobs by 2030.
The government has also pledged to invest an extra £6.6 billion over the next parliament, doubling the previous government’s investment, to upgrade the energy efficiency of around five million homes to bring down energy bills.
The Warm Homes Plan will offer grants and low interest loans to support investment in insulation and other improvements such as solar panels, batteries and low carbon heating to cut bills.
While the government is aiming for a net-zero energy system by 2030, its goal is for net-zero emissions across the country by 2050 – but this is mission already has its share of pain points.
Miliband’s plan to build thousands of new pylons through rural areas, under a £30bn National Grid overhaul to help deliver electricity from clean energy sources, are facing plenty of opposition from locals and council leaders.
“These pylons will desecrate the landscape, blot the views and wreck tourism,” said Lincolnshire County Council’s executive councillor for economy and place Colin Davie.
He told the Guardian: “These are horrible monoliths that belong to a past industrial age. We are not going to accept this. There will be a fight over it, without any a doubt.”