Labour conference: Delegates vote to back nationalising energy industry

The Labour Party conference has voted to nationalise all UK energy companies, despite leader Sir Keir Starmer ruling this out.

Delegates in Brighton backed a motion which argued this would make the industry greener and fairer for customers.

Sir Keir earlier said nationalisation should happen only where it gave customers "better value for money",

The vote comes at a time when global gas prices are soaring.

Companies are complaining that, with caps on tariffs which are in place for many customers, they are unable to pass on their full costs to customers.

Several smaller operators have gone out of business in the last few weeks and millions of households are facing higher bills this winter.

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Labour's 2019 general election manifesto promised to bring "energy into public ownership to end the great privatisation rip-off and save you money on your fares and bills".

And, when he ran successfully for party leader the following year, Sir Keir pledged to bring in "common ownership of rail, mail, energy and water".

Last month, Shadow business secretary Ed Miliband backed the public ownership of energy, water and transport.

He told BBC Newsnight: "We are in favour of common ownership absolutely... Starmer said this in the leadership campaign - we haven't changed that commitment."

Labour is currently carrying out a national policy forum, where it is asking members and affiliated organisations for ideas for the next election manifesto.

Asked on BBC One's Andrew Marr Show whether he would nationalise the big six energy companies - British Gas, EDF, E.ON, npower, Scottish Power and SSE - if he became prime minister, Sir Keir replied: "No."

He said he would be "pragmatic" and not "ideological", adding: "Where common ownership is value for money for the taxpayer and delivers better services, then there should be common ownership."

However, the motion passed by the Labour conference - and proposed by the FBU and the Edinburgh Central Labour Party - called for "public ownership of energy including energy companies, creating an integrated, democratic system".

Labour MP Diane Abbott, a former shadow home secretary, tweeted that "everyone" had assumed Sir Keir "meant nationalisation" when he wrote of common ownership in his leadership manifesto, but he had now "denied supporting any such thing".

The government has said it is considering emergency state-backed loans to encourage surviving energy firms to take on customers from defunct rivals.

But it has ruled out nationalisations, with Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng saying last week: "The taxpayer should not be expected to prop up companies which have poor business models and are not resilient to fluctuations in price."

On Saturday he said the UK's gas system "continues to operate reliably and we do not expect supply emergencies this winter".