The policy, Warm Homes for All, included a pledge to regulate the social and private rental sectors enforcing a minimum energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of ‘C’ by the mid-2020s.
The proposal aimed to improve energy efficiency through measures such as fitting loft insulation and double glazing and to reduce emissions by installing renewable and low carbon solutions.
Labour estimated the cost of upgrading the UK’s entire housing stock of 27 million homes would be £250bn and said the balance would be paid through energy savings.
The proposals envisaged giving a direct grant to 9.6 million low income homes.
Other households would receive interest free loans to be repaid through energy bill savings. The loans would be attached to the property and not the resident.
The plan was expected to reduce energy bills by £11.54bn and carbon emissions by 50.46 mega-tonnes a year by 2030.
“Warm Homes for All is one of the greatest investment projects since we rebuilt Britain’s housing after the Second World War,” said Rebecca Long Bailey MP, shadow business and energy secretary.
“Labour will offer every household in the UK the chance to upgrade the fabric of their homes with insulation and cutting edge heating systems tackling climate change and extortionate bills.”
“The project will create hundreds of thousands of unionised construction jobs,” Long Bailey added.
Policy goals
The programme was expected to cut the amount of energy used to heat homes by 23 per cent by 2030.
It envisaged creating 450,00 skilled construction industry jobs, such as insulation specialists, plasterers, carpenters, electricians, gas engineers, builders and window fitters.
The plan would also improve public health by preventing deaths where cold is a contributor and reducing cases of asthma where damp is a factor.
The policy proposal claimed the UK’s housing stock was among the worst insulated in Europe.
Currently, the department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is consulting on a minimum EPC band ‘B’ for commercial rented buildings by 2030.
A consultation on a minimum residential rating is slated to kick off in winter 2020.
