Burnham to Launch Great British Grid in Landmark Conference Speech

Andy Burnham will use his first party conference address as Labour leader to announce the creation of a new publicly owned company tasked with investing in Britain's electricity grid, in what is being positioned as the opening move of a broader agenda to extend public control over key utilities.

The prime minister is expected to tell activists gathered in Liverpool on Tuesday that the new body, to be called Great British Grid, will accelerate the pace at which energy projects are connected to the national transmission network. According to the government's argument, injecting public investment into connection projects will sharpen competition and reduce the delays that have frustrated developers for years.

The announcement forms part of a wider ambition to bring the cost of energy in the UK into line with that of other European nations within a decade. Burnham is expected to frame the current situation as a "cost crisis" that has been crippling for businesses, arguing that faster access to grid connections is a practical remedy rather than a distant aspiration.

Few operational details of the new entity have been released so far. Labour officials say the company will invest in and bid for transmission connection projects alongside the three private firms that currently own and operate the grid across Britain. It would also make it easier for companies already waiting in lengthy queues for connection to finance the necessary infrastructure themselves, with Great British Grid potentially supporting or co-investing in those projects.

Funding for the initiative is expected to come from within the existing budget of Great British Energy, the public green investment vehicle established by Labour last year and now based in Aberdeen. That decision may prove contentious, as critics are likely to ask whether reallocating money from one public energy body to another genuinely represents new investment or simply a repackaging of existing commitments.

The context for the announcement is a transmission system widely acknowledged to be under strain. Britain's electricity generation has shifted away from large fossil fuel power stations, which were typically located close to centres of demand, towards renewable sources such as offshore wind farms sited in remote locations. This transition demands extensive rewiring of an ageing grid that was not designed for the geography of modern energy production.

The scale of the challenge is substantial. Ofgem, the energy regulator, has estimated that some £70bn of investment is needed in the grid between 2025 and 2031, a figure that would mean quadrupling the current rate of spending. The National Audit Office added to the sense of urgency earlier this month, warning in a report that the queue of projects awaiting connection had grown significantly while delays continued to lengthen.

In his speech, Burnham is expected to say that Great British Grid will work both with the private sector and with existing network companies to "reform a broken energy market." He is expected to argue that increased competition will drive down costs and speed up delivery, allowing businesses to connect faster and grow more quickly, and to present this as a demonstration of what greater public control can achieve.

The proposals sit at the centre of a political project Burnham has been developing since the summer, when greater public ownership of utilities formed a central plank of his pitch for the leadership. The creation of Great British Grid is being billed as the first significant step in that direction, though the government has yet to explain how far public ownership might eventually extend across the energy sector.

Tuesday's address is also expected to strike a more sombre note than the traditional conference set piece. Burnham is expected to promise an "honest conversation" with voters about difficult subjects, while retaining the overarching message of hope that has been the theme of the four-day gathering. He is expected to say that although he initially wanted to deliver the customary tub-thumping speech, the patriot in him recognised that something very different was required.

The speech takes place against the backdrop of a difficult Budget due at the end of next month, with the government's fiscal room for manoeuvre narrowed by recent increases in the cost of UK borrowing. That constraint lends added significance to the prime minister's promise to set out how he intends to pay for a new NHS-style social care system for England, which he announced over the weekend and which he wants to put before voters at the next general election.

Under current law that election must be held by August 2029 at the latest, with the government aiming to begin rolling out the new social care arrangements from 2030. Funding such a commitment while simultaneously investing in energy infrastructure and managing pressure on the public finances will require politically difficult choices.

Speculation has therefore focused on whether Burnham might signal a willingness to review the "triple lock" on state pensions in order to free up future funding. The policy guarantees that pension payments rise each year by whichever is highest among 2.5%, inflation, or average earnings growth. Because of the UK's ageing population, maintaining that commitment is projected to add billions of pounds to the cost of pensions in the years ahead.

Asked on Monday whether the pledge, which has appeared in every Labour manifesto since 2015, would be retained in the party's next blueprint for voters, Chancellor John Healey declined to give a guarantee. He told BBC Radio 5 Live that the manifesto would be the manifesto at the time and that he was not prepared to make that commitment now. His reticence will do little to quiet speculation that the triple lock could become a target for reform as the government searches for savings to finance its social care ambitions.

For the energy industry, the immediate questions concern how Great British Grid will operate in practice, how it will interact with existing network owners, and whether public co-investment will genuinely shorten connection times or simply add another layer of decision-making to an already complex system. Developers who have waited years for grid access will be watching closely for detail beyond the headline commitment.

Politically, the announcement allows Burnham to present his government as willing to confront entrenched problems rather than merely manage them. By combining a concrete infrastructure proposal with a promise of candour about difficult trade-offs, he is attempting to define his leadership around greater state involvement in the economy while preparing the ground for decisions on tax, spending and pensions that are likely to prove far less comfortable.