There will be ‘more to come’ on renationalising public services in Labour’s next manifesto, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Shadow Secretary of State for Business Energy & Industrial Strategy, promised a fringe meeting on public ownership at the Labour Party Conference.
“We want regional energy agencies to be right at the forefront of the electric vehicle revolution,” she said, and they will be “tasked with rolling out the infrastructure we need for charging points all the way through to homes and workplaces, rather than allowingthe private sector on its own to meet that demand. It isn’t working, and we are not generating a market for our automotive sector.”
The regional energy agencies will be publically owned bodies that will replace the existing distribution network operators, owning and operating the network. Labour has also said that the National Grid would be replaced by a National Energy Agency. It and the regional energy agencies together will be tasked with making sure the UK achieves its decarbonisation targets. That would include a role in industrial policy to help enable a ‘green industrial revolution’ and taking a ‘hands on’ approach to insulate homes and tackle fuel poverty.
Saying “We have the legislation ready”, Long-Bailey said “The government’s own cost of energy review has criticised the energy companies for prioritising dividend extraction over investment in critical infrastructure,” and if we are to take the necessary “radical action” to tackle climate change “we have to have the means to do it”. Taking the grid into public ownership was one of the “essential components” of that. She promised “open and transparent” decision-making in the new bodies, with customer and employee contributions and online decision-making mechanisms.
Further reading
Shift: UKPN’s EV charging market trial to begin recruiting in August
EV users shift 70% of charging out of peak hours in ‘real world’ study
Want to avoid blackouts? Buy an electric vehicle
Shell promises its faster EV charger will be one of hundreds on retail sites
Climate change minister promises action on hydrogen ‘this year’
Labour renationalision plans – responses
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