Letter to Keir Starmer

Dear Sir Keir,

How to be certain of winning the next General Election – a ‘no-brainer’ way to kick-start a low carbon economy.

Millions of votes from the millennial generation and those under 30 await the Labour Party if it can present the young with a vision that offers hope for environmental stability and climate security.

Ask people under 30 years of age:  many are depressed, angry and disgusted at the lack of understanding and frustration they feel when considering their futures – no hope of getting on the housing ladder, unable to afford unregulated rents, prices spiralling out of control, facing apocalyptic climate change warnings, an accelerating species extinction and an environment facing terminal decline.

The energy sector is ripe for an immediate and visionary overhaul of the kind that will inspire the young. The Tories have manifestly failed to pick the low hanging fruit available in the climate change battle: mandatory roof top photovoltaic cells on all new homes and buildings, retrofitting of thermal insulation on all existing buildings, nation-wide, mandatory, government financed change to LED lighting; a policy which directly and deliberately addresses the demand side of the energy equation, installing smart grids, decentralisation of electricity generation, investing in storage, efficiencies and advancing the wide range of cutting edge renewable technologies.

As a result of this government’s fixation with nuclear power, we believe that an opportunity is afforded to you in respect of making a huge and pivotal advance on putting the Labour Party at the centre of British politics for many years to come.

The advantages of adopting a policy which preferences a non-nuclear future are legion.  Without even addressing the political wins such a policy would bring, please consider the practical, monetary and societal advantages:

• No new nuclear waste streams;
• Huge savings from ditching nuclear technology;
• No more long nuclear planning inquiries;
• No more demands for unaffordable nuclear investment decisions;
• Ten times the number of jobs created from a renewables development and deployment programme;
• Truly home-grown technological and industrial development in disadvantaged areas;
• The restructuring of the energy sector around truly low-carbon generating;
• The redirecting of funds away from nuclear to efficiencies and technological innovation;
• The ability to meet net zero targets far more cheaply and swiftly;

In terms of political gains, we believe that a radical shake-up of the energy sector along non-nuclear principles would rock the foundations of the current political orthodoxy to the point where the platform it would give the Labour Party would allow you to speak the language that is recognised by the millions of younger people in the UK who are desperate to hear something to give them hope for the future.  They would vote for you.

We are not blind to the vested interests and trades union forces ranged against such a bold and revolutionary step, but the alternative is unconscionable, unaffordable and irresponsible: a nuclear-based electricity sector is insulting and unjust to future generations to whom we bequeath its lethal legacy.

Please accept this invitation to come to Suffolk and meet us. We, and the wider UK population but most importantly the younger generation, are desperate for a meaningful, exciting and challenging change of political direction starting with our broken energy sector.  The Labour Party can provide it if it has the political will to refocus the UK’s energy future.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Pete Wilkinson

Chairman, TASC

11 November 2022

Cc: Ed Milliband, MP, Leiston Labour Party