LABOUR is pledging to reform the energy sector as part of its wider plans to bolster British industry.

Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long Bailey will visit turbine makers Hutchinson Engineering in Widnes today, where she will announce Labour plans to invest in new green technologies across every region of Britain.

By taking the top end of the energy industry back into public ownership, Ms Long Bailey will say that Labour can create a wave of new high-skill energy jobs across the country, “actually delivering” for both business and the environment.

Pouring scorn on the Tories’ cancellation of the Swansea tidal lagoon project, she will also condemn the government for scrapping the £1 billion flagship programme on carbon capture and for overseeing the reduction of small-scale solar panel installations by more than 85 per cent, with about 12,000 solar jobs lost as a result.

She will also point out that the Tories scrapped the zero-carbon homes policy, abolished the Department for Energy & Climate Change, and offered no clarity on renewables funding before 2025.

Ms Long Bailey will discuss with the turbine engineers how a newly nationalised green energy industry under a Corbyn-led government would not only provide real energy affordability for consumers but also show a potential for a far more democratic control of industry by workers.

She will explain how adjustments to public-sector procurement rules would mean that a Labour government could give more support to jobs and industry while actively promoting gender equality, pushing for higher environmental standards and the recognition of trade unions in workplaces.

This industrial strategy, Ms Long Bailey will say, will help combat climate change but also rebalance an economy that has become too focused on the City of London and Britain’s financial sector.

Ms Long Bailey will say that the Tories have overseen an “expensive and polluting energy system” that is “reaching its sell-by date.

“At every turn, the government has undermined the energy industry and our green economy, scrapping big renewable projects, and the innovative expertise and jobs that come with them.

“Labour will build an energy system that actually delivers for businesses, workers and our environment, creating secure and high-skilled jobs, while at the same time ensuring that 60 per cent of our energy comes from zero-carbon or renewable sources by 2030.”