I commissioned a report from the House of Commons Library at the end of January into Labour’s plans to renationalise the energy sector under the ambiguous con of the “Great British Energy Company”.
In this document, it included two reports by the Unite union estimating that it would cost between £90billion and £196bn to renationalise the energy sector (including supply, transmission and distribution, generation, and North Sea oil and gas).
The same report estimates that nationalising just energy suppliers would cost £3.5bn, which compares to a Trades Union Congress (TUC) estimate of £2.85bn.
This is all uncosted and the latter could be spent if implemented, on the NHS instead of abolishing energy service providers that actually drive down the cost to you and keep the markets competitive.
David Morris claims that Labour want to renationalise the energy sector
PA/Getty
This week alone, there have been press reports and investigations into Labour's ‘Great British Energy’. No one, including Labour can actually say what it is.
Let’s look at what their candidates are peddling nationally on their template Labour leaflets to the electorate: ‘’Switch on Great British Energy. Cut energy bills for good and create 500,000 high paid jobs with a new publicly owned, clean energy company."
You can’t get much greener in Morecambe and Lunesdale with two nuclear, plans for a third nuclear development because of the Conservative Government protecting my constituents jobs and skills, and we have the largest offshore windfarm in Europe. Nothing new, so what is Labour really offering?
Starmer said in his speech that we will create a (renationalised?) new energy company: “And let me also be clear, GB Energy will be a shared project owned by all four nations on these islands.”
Translated...renationalisation!
We’ve seen this week an extra uncosted £116bn to “decarbonise the grid”.
Policy Exchange think-tank said that decarbonising the grid by 2030 could require an extra £116bn investment.
The National Grid is coming into public ownership under the Tories in any case, so what is he really saying about the uncosted £116bn costings for buying back infrastructure we own?
Labour whose paymasters are the Unions and Unite being just one of them, want to create the “Great British Energy Company” by nationalisation of the energy sector.
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David Morris claims Labour want state control and union profits and higher taxes for everyone and drive down wages in our energy sector
PA
They want to windfall tax the energy companies, but… nationalise them at the same time! What does that mean? It’s all smoke and mirrors and no substance.
Quite simply state control and union profits and higher taxes for everyone and drive down wages in our energy sector.
Offshore Energies UK state the Industry are now warning that Labour’s energy plans would leave the UK “uninventable.”
Hundreds of thousands of jobs and £450bn of investment all at risk. Our energy security must come before ideology.
The Energy market is currently full of energy providers. This ranges from producers and distributors.
According to the new statesman 10 largest energy companies own 80 per cent of the UK's energy sector, with smaller ones owning the remaining 20 per cent combined.
So where will Labour get its operational share? It can only be renationalisation.
Importantly, Labour strategists insist GB Energy is not an attempt at renationalising UK energy, but rather making a publicly run firm a credible competitor. This sounds remarkably like renationalisation.
The above demonstrates without a shadow of doubt that Labour and the unions plan to take over the UK energy sector, and shaft the Taxpayer for an approximate uncosted £700bn or higher?
In Morecambe and Lunesdale the biggest employer is the energy sector. In my constituency we have two Nuclear Power stations, EDF, Dong, and National Grid just to name a few.
This week there have been press reports and investigations into Labour's ‘Great British Energy’
Getty
We had a visit from Ed Miliband, so you would think he would visit the two nuclear power stations that put 10 per cent of our energy into the system.
No….he went to an engineering company that historically has provided services to the offshore oil and gas sector. A sector that Labour want to abolish and shut down.
This has backfired and also caused controversy with my constituents that work in this sector, as Labour want to ban offshore energy and gas? My inbox has been full of local concerned workers in that sector.
Why did he do this? I believe because he shut down the government Nuclear development programme when he was the Energy Secretary in the Blair-Brown era and furthermore he knew he would be grilled on the real meaning of his policy which is unionised renationalisation.
My constituents who work in energy will see straight through this. They know this will mean, lower wages, higher taxes and energy bills and less jobs and job security and nil investment other than your taxes. Not good for Morecambe and Lunesdale.
Remember the power cuts of the 70s? I do, and so do many of you that watch this channel.
Remember the higher unreliable service and bills that led to privatisation. This incidentally is at odds with Labour's recent cringe fest of their disingenuous Thatcher love in, that absolutely no one believes, not even themselves.
They’ve spent 40 years demonising her and now heap praise on the greatest post war leader. Beware of costly imitations.
I will leave you with Starmer’s words on their GB Energy: “I know this comes with challenges – political ones, yes, the British people always need to know they can trust Labour to spend their money wisely.”
He obviously forgot Liam Byrnes ‘no money left note’ when the Tories came back in 2010. On that occasion we all had to sort out their austerity.
Learn from their past record and don’t let it happen again!