UK opposition leader Keir Starmer vowed to overhaul planning rules to accelerate the building of new wind farms, laboratories and housing, as part of his mission to secure the highest sustained growth in the G-7 if he wins power at the next election.
(Bloomberg) — UK opposition leader Keir Starmer vowed to overhaul planning rules to accelerate the building of new wind farms, laboratories and housing, as part of his mission to secure the highest sustained growth in the G-7 if he wins power at the next election.
“We do need to take on planning,” the Labour Party leader told reporters after a speech in the City of London on Monday. A new onshore wind farm that could be created in two years “is ending up taking 13 to 15 years before you get a single bit of electricity out of it,” he said, pointing to delays for planning consent and connection to the National Grid.
Starmer also pledged to build more affordable homes by shaking up planning rules. It comes after Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak dropped plans in December to impose mandatory housebuilding targets in the face of a brewing rebellion from Tory members of Parliament.
Starmer Unveils UK ‘Missions’ But Faces Questions Over Trust
Riding high in the polls after 13 years of opposition, Labour is increasingly presenting itself as a government-in-waiting ahead of a general election due by January 2025. Starmer hopes to win over voters who have grown disillusioned with the Conservative administration, pledging long-term solutions to turn around Britain’s ailing public services and boost productivity.
If the planning system continues to “favour the already wealthy, not the new houses, wind farms, and laboratories we need to create more wealth, then that’s not going to work for us,” Starmer said in his speech. “That’s not going to work for growth and won’t deliver what our country needs.”
He told reporters the current “default” for wind farms was that “if any one or a number of people object, then the whole system is focused on them rather than the majority who want to move forward.”
Along with his shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, Starmer also hosted a round-table discussion with senior business figures and public officials including Tesco chair John Allan, former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney — now chair of Canadian infrastructure specialists Brookfield Asset Management, investor Deborah Meaden, and Trades Union Congress general secretary Paul Nowak.
After the meeting Starmer said business leaders were “crying out for some stability, for some long term strategic thinking.”
Pressed by reporters on whether Labour backed a rise in the minimum wage to boost economic growth, Reeves vowed to bring in a “real living wage as quickly as possible.” She added: “You can’t do that overnight. To get wage increases you need growth and to get growth you need greater productivity in the economy.”
Starmer defended Labour’s strategy to focus on the long-term rather than quick fixes: “I don’t want a Labour government that after five years has just about managed to keep people just above the minimum threshold for living.” People should be “thriving” rather than just surviving, he said.
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