PM repeats familiar claims about Labour’s action on energy

In a video marking Labour’s first 100 days in office, the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said his government had “lifted the ban on onshore wind” and “secured a record number of clean energy projects”.

We’ve written about both these claims before.

Planning considerations relating to onshore wind development in England introduced under the Conservatives in 2015, which Labour has now reversed, were often described as a “de-facto ban”, due to a substantial decrease in applications for onshore wind sites.

But there was no formal ban as such on onshore wind farms.

And as we explained last month, while it is true that 131 new clean energy projects emerged from the latest renewables auction round in August, applications for this round were submitted in April 2024, while the Conservatives were in office, and the previous government also increased the maximum ‘strike price’ companies are allowed to charge. 

This means the new government cannot take full credit for the outcome, even though it did increase the auction’s overall budget, which likely affected the total number of projects.