It’s early days for the new administration and although clearly heating policy isn’t a high priority for Labour currently, there are some signs of a change in the approach to our sector when compared against the Tories.
During the election campaign, Labour committed to scrapping the Conservatives’ 2035 target to ban new gas boilers. Ed Miliband, now the new Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, said in the run up to the election that Labour didn’t want to force homeowners to “rip out” their boilers. Instead, he said they will focus on incentives for heat pumps to support households who want to adopt the technology.
Pre-election, Miliband also said that Labour would maintain current grant funding levels, such as for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, and compound this with other interventions to support a more rapid national heat pump rollout. The Party would also look to expand the scope of the grant funding, so more homes are eligible.
Time will tell how it all shakes out, but industry reaction to Labour’s win has clearly set out the scale of the task facing the new government.
Thomas Farquhar, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Heatio, sums up the challenge nicely: “We now need the new government to take immediate action. Promises must be put into action. Time has run out to use energy security, lower bills, and net-zero as political footballs, we need a consistent, unified approach to this huge cost of living driver and national security issue. More support is needed for people to adopt clean technology around the home.
“With winter just around the corner, now is the time for the new government to show strong leadership both immediately and in the long-term, and show the rest of the world that the UK won’t be left behind.”
If you'd like to keep up-to-date with the latest developments in the heating and plumbing industry, why not subscribe to our weekly newsletters? Just click the button below and you can ensure all the latest industry news and new product information lands in your inbox every week.