Over the next decade, a wave of solar and wind projects will sweep across the UK to meet both net zero goals and growing energy demand from data centres and AI.
With building comes disruption, and sometimes local opposition that scuppers projects altogether.
To sweeten the deal, the government is considering requiring clean energy developers to fund local initiatives like community centres, sports, apprenticeships and transport links.
“It is all about building towards a point where communities genuinely feel they’ve got a stake in their future and they’re better off as a result,” said energy minister Michael Shanks.
These power projects will pop up nationwide, but many of the major ones are headed straight to the heart of Reform UK territory.
Lincolnshire – which just elected a Reform county council and mayor – has valuable old coal power infrastructure that can be repurposed to connect solar farms to the grid.
Across the rest of the windswept east coast – Reform’s heartlands – jaded seaside towns and ports will build much of the infrastructure needed to bring offshore wind power on to land.
But far from laying out the welcome mat, Reform leaders have vowed to “attack, hinder, delay, obstruct” green energy, which they call a “massive con”.
So will payouts for parish halls and park upgrades be enough for Labour to win over Reform voters who feel left behind?
Funds ‘make rural communities viable’
Industry body Solar Energy UK says many renewable energy developers already voluntarily cough up cash.
Take Crossdykes wind farm in Dumfries and Galloway. It hands out around £500,000 a year to the local area – funding youth projects, childcare and specialised spaces for neurodivergent children.
Resident Nick Jennings, who oversees the fund, says in a world “increasingly strapped for cash” the money has made rural communities not just “viable” but even “attractive” – keeping young people rooted in their hometowns.
Labour, however, says not all developers are pulling their weight. Hence it is expected to launch a consultation, proposing any renewable energy project over 5 megawatts should be required to invest in the community it affects.
Reform won’t want to be seen as impacting jobs and the economy
The government knows that cash sells – not least in the cost of living crisis.
When people are asked what makes them more likely to support a local solar farm, “top of that list is always money being put back into the community… particularly among Reform voters,” said Ed Hodgson, who runs polls and focus groups on energy for More In Common.
Reform voters are also twice as likely to support renewables than oppose them, motivated by energy security rather than climate concerns.
And while Reform’s core base is more sceptical of climate policies than other voters, that’s less true for the majority of voters it drew in at the recent local elections.
“Reform UK don’t want to be seen as impacting local jobs and the local economy… they’ll want to avoid falling on the wrong side of the argument there,” said Beth Kühnel Mann, senior research executive at YouGov.
No one for Reform was available to comment on Labour’s proposals.
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An elaborate ploy?
So is all this an elaborate ploy by Labour to woo Reform supporters?
“Not at all,” said Mr Shanks. The party was talking about the plans well before it took a hammering in the recent local elections.
He told Sky News it’s about saying to people: “If you are a community that’s hosting really nationally significant infrastructure, you’re doing the country a favour… [so] you should benefit from that directly.”
Labour can’t be complacent
But Labour can’t afford to be complacent – and it has to overcome the powerful “Farage factor”.
Support for scrapping net zero among Reform voters skyrockets – by 30 percentage points – if they know party leader Nigel Farage calls for it.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband struggle to generate that kind of pull, said Mr Hodgson. “The government’s on the back foot in their ability to convince people.”
And while climate change is not a very salient issue for Reform voters anyway, that is slowly starting to shift. Broader public support for net zero may also be wavering, YouGov finds, amid pressure from Reform and the Tories.
In reality, Labour is going to have a hard time “selling” anything.
“People don’t trust politicians, don’t trust the government, and ultimately don’t want to really hear anything from them other than what they’re going to do in the here and now to improve their lives and deal with the issues they care about,” said Ms Mann.
“Tying these projects to outcomes that are tangible, that people will be able to see and feel is likely to be a good thing for the party.”
But the clock is ticking to woo any of these voters.
The major challenge for Labour, as with much of its energy policies, is to ensure people feel the benefits well before the next general election. That won’t be easy.
