Burnham to Launch 'Great British Grid' in Bid to Cut Energy Costs and Speed Up Connections

Andy Burnham will use his first party conference speech as Labour leader to announce the creation of a new publicly owned body tasked with investing in Britain's electricity grid, in what his team is presenting as the opening move in a broader push for greater public control of utilities.

The body, to be branded Great British Grid, is expected to be unveiled on Tuesday afternoon in Liverpool, where Labour activists have gathered for the party's four-day annual conference. According to the plans, the new company would invest in and compete for transmission connection projects alongside the three private firms that currently own and operate the grid across Britain.

Burnham is expected to argue that the initiative will accelerate the pace at which energy projects can connect to the network by injecting competition into a connection process that has come under mounting strain. The proposal is intended to sit at the heart of a wider ambition to bring UK energy costs into line with those of other European nations within a decade.

The Labour leader is also expected to describe the new body as the first significant step in his long-stated goal of securing greater public control over utilities — a theme he placed at the centre of his summer pitch for power. In his address, he is expected to say that faster grid connections could help resolve what he characterises as a "cost crisis" in energy that has been "crippling for businesses."

Under the proposals outlined by the party, Great British Grid would not operate as a monopoly. Instead, it would work alongside the existing private network companies, competing for transmission projects while also making it easier for firms already waiting in connection queues to finance connection infrastructure themselves. The new body would support such projects and could potentially co-invest in them alongside private developers.

Funding for the new company is expected to be drawn from within the existing budget of GB Energy, the public green investment vehicle established by Labour last year and now headquartered in Aberdeen. That approach suggests the government intends to absorb the cost of the new body without seeking a fresh appropriation from the Treasury.

The announcement comes amid growing concern about the state of Britain's transmission infrastructure. The shift in electricity generation away from large fossil fuel power stations toward more remote renewable sources — particularly offshore wind farms — is placing heavy demands on an ageing grid that will require extensive rewiring in the years ahead.

Energy regulator Ofgem has estimated that around £70bn of investment will be needed in the grid between 2025 and 2031, a figure that would require quadrupling the current rate of investment. The scale of that challenge has been underscored by a National Audit Office report earlier this month, which warned that the number of projects waiting to connect to the grid had grown "significantly" while delays to projects were also increasing.

In his speech, Burnham is expected to say that Great British Grid will "work with the private sector and network companies" in order to "reform a broken energy market." He is expected to add that the body will increase competition to drive down costs and speed up delivery so that businesses can connect faster and grow quicker, describing this as an example of what more public control can achieve.

Beyond energy, Burnham is expected to use the address to set out how he intends to pay for the new NHS-style social care system for England that he announced over the weekend. He has promised to provide an "honest conversation" with voters about difficult subjects, while maintaining the overall message of "hope" that has served as the theme of the four-day gathering.

The Labour leader is expected to tell activists that he initially wanted to deliver "the usual tub-thumping conference speech" but that "the patriot in me tells me something very different is needed." The remarks appear designed to prepare the party for difficult decisions ahead of a challenging Budget at the end of next month, with the government's room for manoeuvre narrowed by recent increases in the cost of UK borrowing.

Ahead of the speech, Burnham has already committed to revealing how he plans to fund free social care services for everyone in England. He has said he wants to put those plans before voters at the next general election, which must legally be held by August 2029 at the latest, before aiming to roll out the new system from 2030.

Speculation has been mounting that the prime minister could signal a willingness to review the "triple lock" uprating policy for the state pension as part of efforts to free up future funding for his social care plans. The policy, under which pension payments rise annually by the highest of 2.5%, inflation, or average wage increases, is projected to add billions to the cost of pensions in the coming years because of the UK's ageing population.

On Monday, Chancellor John Healey declined to guarantee that the commitment — which has featured in every Labour manifesto since 2015 — would appear in the party's next election blueprint. Asked about the pledge, he told BBC Radio 5 Live: "The manifesto will be the manifesto at the time, I'm not going to do that now."

The conference speech therefore carries significant weight for Burnham, who must balance an ambitious domestic agenda against fiscal constraints and a restive party membership. By placing Great British Grid at the centre of his address, he appears to be signalling that public ownership and intervention in key infrastructure will remain a defining feature of his leadership, even as he acknowledges the difficult financial choices that lie ahead.