https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1mnxeAvvaMNxX
—Plus immigration candour
By Mathew Carr
Dec. 5, 2024– London — UK public servant productivity down more than 2%, he said.
UK infrastructure shows the country has “long freeloaded off the genius of the past”.
Starmer seeks 1.5 million more homes and 150 new infrastructure projects by end of the sitting parliament.
UK gives itself some wiggle room on clean electricity?: “Securing home-grown energy, protecting billpayers, and putting us on track to at least 95% Clean Power by 2030, while accelerating the UK to net zero”
Note the “being on track” wooly language here below, too, in the more specific document on clean energy superpower, linked below and republished for convenience:
The government’s milestone this Parliament is to secure our energy supply with home-grown, clean power.
Government website pic
We will measure this by being on track to achieving at least 95% of low carbon generation by 2030 in line with advice from the National Energy System Operator (NESO).
(Instead of previous plan for 100% clean power by that year)
Starmer declined to explain the difference, despite being asked by several journalists. He signalled 95% was essentially the same as 100%. It clearly isn’t.
CarrZee: The change may have something to do with global carbon market rules addressed by the Baku climate talks…or electricity imports.
From BusinessGreen: Labour insiders highlighted how the manifesto also promised to maintain a strategic reserve of gas power stations to guarantee security of supply, while the National Energy Systems Operator (NESO) recently defined the clean power target as limiting the use of fossil gas to less than five per cent of the electricity mix over the course of the year.
press conference snip
(Added BusinessGreen, earlier links and clean-power target stuff)
note: source doc:
Plan for Change
Milestones for Mission-Led Government
This plan sets out the ambitious – but achievable – milestones we aim to reach by the end of this Parliament.
This government was elected to deliver change. To improve the lives of working people and strengthen our country. Here we set out our long-term plan to achieve that.
Our missions – growing the economy, an NHS fit for the future, safer streets, opportunity for all, and making Britain a clean energy superpower – are part of a decade of national renewal, built on the foundations of a stable economy, secure borders and national security.
Strong Foundations
Kickstarting Economic Growth
An NHS Fit for the Future
Safer Streets
Break Down Barriers to Opportunity
Make Britain a Clean Energy Superpower
Having already made significant progress on our missions since July – fixing the foundations of the country and kicking off the first steps – these milestones are fundamental to the success of our long-term missions.
To make sure change is felt by working people across the country over the course of this Parliament, we must focus our missions – prioritising clear, measurable milestones for each:
- Raising living standards in every part of the United Kingdom, so working people have more money in their pocket as we aim to deliver the highest sustained growth in the G7.
- Building 1.5 million homes in England and fast-tracking planning decisions on at least 150 major economic infrastructure projects – more than the last 14 years combined.
- Ending hospital backlogs to meet the NHS standard of 92% of patients in England waiting no longer than 18 weeks for elective treatment.
- Putting police back on the beat with a named officer for every neighbourhood, and 13,000 additional officers, PCSOs and special constables in neighbourhood roles in England and Wales.
- Giving children the best start in life, with a record 75% of 5-year-olds in England ready to learn when they start school.
- Securing home-grown energy, protecting billpayers, and putting us on track to at least 95% Clean Power by 2030, while accelerating the UK to net zero.
Any one of our milestones would be challenging on their own. Taken together they are the most ambitious yet honest programme for government in a generation.
We are not choosing targets that are easily reached. Instead, we are choosing stretch goals that will make the biggest difference to people’s lives as we deliver a decade of national renewal.
To achieve these milestones, we will need to make tough decisions. The Autumn Budget took the necessary steps to restore economic stability and repair the public finances, and we had already made those difficult decisions, for example in means-testing winter fuel payments.
These are not easy choices, but they are necessary trade-offs to deliver the priorities of working people, while taking a responsible approach to public finances which is required for long-term economic growth.
The Autumn Budget was a once-in-a-Parliament budget to wipe the slate clean to deliver stability. We know we cannot simply tax and spend our way to better public services and delivery of these milestones, nor will we pursue them at any cost. That is why our focus will be on reform to ensure that we are delivering these milestones efficiently and through the best use of taxpayer money.
Through taking a zero-based approach to our next Spending Review in spring, we will look at every line of government spending to prioritise our first steps and the milestones. Where programmes do not represent value for money or deliver on their outcomes, we will take the necessary decisions to find savings, as the government did in ending the Rwanda scheme and scrapping outdated military capabilities.
The milestones outlined here relate to areas that the UK government has a direct role in delivering. As we deliver these milestones, where they are devolved matters, we will work in partnership to share best practice and align effort.
Publishing these now will galvanise the effort of government and the country, and will mean every person in this country can see exactly how we measure up to the things that matter to them.
We will not get everything right. No government can. But accountability is vital.
Also see:
- PM speech on Plan for Change: 5 December 2024
- 5 December 2024
- Speech
- PM sets out blueprint for decade of national renewal
- 5 December 2024
- News article
Another source doc– Make Britain a Clean Energy Superpower
Milestone: Securing home-grown energy
Missions and Foundations
- Strong Foundations
- Kickstarting Economic Growth
- An NHS Fit for the Future
- Safer Streets
- Break Down Barriers to Opportunity
- Make Britain a Clean Energy Superpower
The starting point
Every family and business has paid the price of rocketing energy bills.
By failing to invest at scale over many years in the clean, secure home-grown power that our country needs, we have been left exposed to volatile international fossil fuel markets.
This failure was starkly exposed when Putin invaded Ukraine and British energy customers were amongst the hardest hit in Europe, with bills hitting a record high. As long as Britain remains exposed to these markets, families will be vulnerable to these price spikes.
At the same time, we have seen other countries steal a march in the race to secure the clean energy jobs and industries of the future. And all the while, the climate crisis is growing more urgent, with spiralling impacts that threaten our children’s futures.
The UK is home to abundant natural resources for renewable energy, and a pioneering industry delivering the latest advancements in clean tech.
Our clean energy mission will harness these opportunities to deliver change, and the opportunity for growth and good jobs in clean tech.
Our long-term mission
The British people deserve lower cost, clean, secure power, with good jobs, and a government that protects us from the long-term threats we face.
The economic case, the national security case and the environmental case all now point in the same direction: a clean energy mission which protects the country from exposure to unstable international markets and gives security and stability to both family and national finances.
We will achieve this through delivering clean power by 2030 and accelerating to net zero. Our mission will bring energy security, protect billpayers, create good jobs, and help to protect future generations from the cost of climate breakdown.
By building a diverse low carbon energy system, we will make the most of our abundant natural resources to keep bills down for good and protect consumers from future price shocks.
In doing so, we can revive the strength of British manufacturing, bringing jobs and investment into Britain’s industrial heartlands – unleashing the power of British technological innovation, and crowding tens of billions of private investment into our country.
We know we can only deliver energy security, lower bills and good jobs for today’s generations if we become a clean energy superpower.The Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
We will accelerate to net zero across the economy, seizing one of the economic opportunities of the 21st century – creating hundreds of thousands of good jobs and driving investment into all parts of the UK, while protecting the planet for our children.
Our legally-binding carbon budgets are a key metric for the government, which we will use to measure progress in our mission to accelerate to net zero, reducing our territorial emissions.
The government’s approach to this transition is built on the principle of fairness – for consumers by ensuring energy security and protecting billpayers, and for workers by ensuring decarbonisation is a route to reindustrialisation.
Rather than letting other countries win the race for new jobs and the industries of the future, we will ensure that we make, build, and buy more in Britain again, backing our homegrown technology pioneers and British workers. Great British Energy will be 100% owned by the British people, for the British people.
Our milestone
Energy security, protecting billpayers, good jobs and climate security – that is what our clean energy mission will deliver.
As we make Britain a clean energy superpower and accelerate to net zero, we will see the benefits this Parliament through protecting billpayers from gas price spikes and creating jobs across the country.
Building a diverse energy sector based on renewables and nuclear will revive British manufacturing and innovation, bringing much needed investment and good jobs to our industrial heartlands and helping to drive growth across all parts of the UK.
The government’s milestone this Parliament is to secure our energy supply with home-grown, clean power.
We will measure this by being on track to achieving at least 95% of low carbon generation by 2030 in line with advice from the National Energy System Operator (NESO).
By doing this, we will secure our energy supply, protect billpayers, and unlock tens of billions of private investment across the country. This milestone is ambitious, requiring significant acceleration of building renewable energy and the transmission network, and of electricity storage deployment.
How will we achieve this milestone?
We are already delivering on our first step by setting up Great British Energy in Aberdeen, a publicly owned company which will drive clean power generation, increasing energy security, boosting jobs, and ensuring UK taxpayers, billpayers and communities reap the benefits of the clean energy transition.
It is time for the British people to own and build things again.
Since July 2024, the government has lifted the ban on onshore wind, consented more solar power than over the last 14 years and held a record-breaking renewables auction. We have also set up Clean Power 2030, led by Chris Stark, to drive though our clean power agenda, breaking down barriers and accelerating progress on energy projects.
The forthcoming Clean Power 2030 Action Plan will set out the further steps we will take, including reforming the planning system and building the grid. In delivering our next steps, we will do things differently. We will:
Ensure the economic benefits of clean energy and net zero are felt by workers and billpayers across the country. We know that the clean energy transition is one of the economic opportunities of the 21st century, protecting consumers from future price shocks, creating new and innovative businesses, and bringing good jobs to workers.
Alongside delivery of clean power, we are investing to improve energy efficiency in British homes and workplaces, delivering on our Warm Homes Plan, to cut bills for good – including through targeted measures for lower-income households to slash fuel poverty.
- Work in partnership with businesses and the sector and provide long-term certainty, with catalytic public investment. We will crowd in business investment through Great British Energy and the National Wealth Fund, and we will remove barriers in the planning process and grid to help enable clean power by 2030.
- Power up infrastructure across the country. If we want cheaper electricity, we need new pylons, wind farms and infrastructure. That is why we have lifted the ban on onshore wind, and we will reform and speed up our planning system to deliver the investment we need for clean power.
- Harness cutting-edge technology as we build out clean power. The UK is home to some world-leading green-tech companies and researchers, pioneering the way to a clean future. Our recent funding commitment of £21.7 billion for carbon capture cements Britain as one of the most advanced CCUS markets globally and paves the way for innovation in the supply chain. With an industry target for at least 50% of the supply chain to be UK-based, there will be significant opportunities to export UK technology abroad in a global sector that is expected to attract £135 billion investment by 2035.
- Ensure the public enjoy the full benefits of home-grown clean power, as the UK accelerates to net zero. Already, we are taking action to support households and businesses towards using cheap, clean power: in their cars and vans including through our investment in electric charging to support a 2030 phaseout, in their heating systems through our Warm Homes Plan, and in industrial processes and elsewhere across the economy. Only by helping everyone benefit from clean power can we deliver jobs, growth, energy security and tackle the climate crisis.