What could Labour’s £28bn U-turn mean for the property sector?

Announced in 2021, the programme focused on local and national environmental schemes including the creation of GB Energy - a publicly owned energy company that would prioritise clean power, all generated in Great Britain. Other initiatives included improving home insulation, investing in offshore wind, and updating the National Grid.

This might have been proposed concepts, but these initiatives could massively change how the property sector operates.

Insulation

It was estimated that The Labour Party was to invest £6bn a year into adequately insulating homes across the UK. Now that has been scaled back, after the current government argued it would cost at least double. With these public bouts of misinformation, ordinary people will be discouraged in making the steps to make their houses more sustainable.

Offshore Wind

Labour’s plans to quadruple offshore wind will most definitely be in crisis now the tides have turned inside their party. Offshore wind is a burgeoning energy sector but, without investment, we can’t rely on its development generating any business for the property sector and the surrounding construction industry.

Grid updates

A better National Grid creates more opportunities for infrastructure, and these opportunities can lead to huge property works. Works such as commercial construction and building and development projects would then make way for transport planning, cost consultancy, and lease advisory services.
All these opportunities disappear without investment, and what’s more is we will still have a sub-par power network.

Moving the goalposts

In the months leading up to yesterday’s leak by the Guardian’s Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey, the £28bn amount was cut, changed, and moved around – gaining scrutiny over how they would meet these ambitious ideas.

Ambitious it may have been, but with the current government’s rolling back of their green pledges including moving the date for banning petrol back by 5 years, delaying the phasing out of gas boilers, ruling out any taxes on flying and ensuring landlords are exempt from energy efficiency rules.

The Labour Party is believed to be ditching the plan as it didn’t reflect the financial state that the current government would leave in their wake. However, to not prioritise green objectives and wider sustainability goals feels like a more costly decision.

To learn more about Eddisons' ethos are sustainability and what we are trying to do help you achieve your green goals, go to our Decarbonisation page.