Starmer pledges £60bn on major housing retrofit programme
A Labour government would spend £6bn a year on the retrofitting of housing over the next decade as part of a wide-ranging plan to tackle climate change, the party’s leader has said.
Speaking at the Labour Party’s annual conference in Brighton today, Sir Keir Starmer called climate change the “biggest issue of our time” and said the retrofitting of housing is key to fighting the challenge.
Labour’s plan would see it spend £60bn over a decade to retrofit 19 million homes to a minimum standard of EPC Band C, a spokesperson confirmed.
Grants will be provided to low-income households, while those who can afford it will receive low-interest loans.
The spokesperson said Labour government would work with local and combined authorities, and the private sector, to recruit and train staff to coordinate the retrofits, which would involve fitting homes with insulation, double glazing, upgraded home heating systems, and other renewable and low carbon technologies.
The party estimates that the programme will save households over £400 per year on energy bills.
Sir Keir said: “If we’re serious about climate change we need to upgrade our homes. The Tories inherited plans from Labour to make every new home zero carbon. They scrapped them and now we have a crisis in energy prices. Emissions from homes have increased and we have the least energy-efficient housing in Europe.”
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Sir Keir said it will be Labour’s “national mission over the next decade to fit out every home that needs it to make sure that it is warm, well-insulated and costs less to heat”.
It comes two days after Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves vowed that the party would spend £28bn per year on climate change over a decade if elected.
Sir Keir told delegates that Labour would also introduce a “Clean Air Act” if elected. He said: “Everything we do in government will have to meet a net zero test to ensure that prosperity we enjoy does not come at the cost of our climate.”
On Sunday Labour’s shadow housing secretary Lucy Powell laid out a number of key housing policies for the party, including plans to reform affordable rent to meet 30% of incomes and a new Building Works Agency to tackle the building safety crisis.
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