Sir Keir Starmer has tabled £28 billion plans to set up a publicly-owned energy company if he becomes the next prime minister.

The UK Labour leader has insisted his blueprint could save billions in energy bill, kickstart am overhaul of how people heat their homes and boost the amount of clean energy produced across the UK.

What is Labour pledging on energy?

Labour has committed to setting up a publicly-owned energy company if it forms the next UK government after this year’s general election.

GB Energy would be based in Scotland and would have a range of focuses including harnessing investment in green technologies, help scale up the production of renewable energy and community energy projects.

What will be the benefits for Scotland?

Labour claims that if it wins the next election and rolls out the plan as intended, GB Energy and the party’s wider energy policy could save households across the UK up to £93 billion over the rest of this decade”, on energy bills, including £8.4 billion for Scottish households.

The party claims that 8GW of renewable energy could be generated in Scotland by 2030 and tally up 50,000 jobs in clean energy and an additional 17,000 positions upgrading homes for the likes of construction workers, plumbers and installers.

Read more: Labour's energy plans could save Scots £8.4bn on fuel bills by 2030

It has been claimed the proposals could pave the way for upgrades to 1.4 million homes in Scotland.

Labour has also pledged a £1 billion industrial decarbonisation strategy for Grangemouth, which the party claims will protect thousands of jobs and create many more in carbon capture and hydrogen technologies.

What is Scotland's record on green jobs?

Labour is attempting to put right criticism the Scottish Government has faced over failures to scale up green jobs.

In 2010, SNP ministers pledged to create 130,000 green jobs by 2020 – but figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) revealed that in 2020, there were only 21,700 clean jobs in Scotland.

Read more: SNP urge Labour to boost capital spend as ministers brace for cuts

A big part of the narrative around Labour’s energy plans is ensuring that Scotland keeps hold of its energy wealth.

Are there concerns Labour's £28bn green investment might be scaled back?

Since revealing the full plans, Labour has appeared cautious on actually rolling them out as intended.

The £28 billon of investment, which is actually only £20 billion of extra investment as the Conservatives have earmarked £8 billion of funds, would potentially break Labour’s own fiscal rules for debt to fall as a percentage of GDP as the party attempts to position itself as being trusted on the economy.

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Initially, Labour shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said £28bn of capital investment would be allocated for each year of this decade, with much of that coming from borrowing.

That was tweaked in June 2023, with Ms Reeves saying the poor economic picture and the soaring cost of borrowing, meant it would be ramped up to £28 billion per year at some point in the second half of the next parliament.

And now Sir Keir raised doubts the policy will even make it to polling day. Aft being asked if the £28 billion was a pledge or a “gold-plated ambition”, he said: “It’s a confident ambition.”