UK Politics
Labour Promised Up to £300 Off Bills. Now Its Energy Secretary Calls Clean Power 2030 a ‘Stretch Target’
Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh calls Clean Power 2030 a ‘stretch target’ after Labour promised clean power would cut energy bills by up to £300.
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Should Labour admit Clean Power 2030 won’t cut your bills by £300?
News | By Matt, Editor
Labour told voters its clean power plan would cut household energy bills by “up to £300”. Now the Energy Secretary will not say the plan will be delivered on time. Asked by the BBC’s Justin Rowlatt whether Clean Power 2030 would be met, Miatta Fahnbulleh replied: “Well, it’s a stretch target and we’re going to run at it.”
The interview was for BBC Panorama, which aired on Monday night, and the clip has been doing the rounds today. Pressed on whether that meant the government was going to miss it, she still did not say it would be hit. “I don’t think we can afford not to make progress on clean power,” she said, adding that the target had “created massive momentum”.
Clean Power 2030 is the government’s promise that clean sources will produce at least 95% of Great Britain’s electricity by 2030, the BBC reports. It was the centrepiece of Labour’s energy offer at the last election, and the £300 saving was the number ministers sold it on.
That figure was already shaky. Full Fact found it came from a 2023 Ember report measured against the 2023 price cap, not from an assessment of Labour’s own plan. The report’s author later told the BBC the analysis needed updating for the higher cost of offshore wind.
Robert Colvile, who posted the clip, pointed out that Angela Rayner has used the same language about building 1.5 million homes, so “that’s two really big manifesto promises that are being downgraded”. Rayner told the BBC in September the housing pledge had always been a “stretch target” with only a “slim chance” of being met.
Reform’s Richard Tice wrote: “Govt caving on Clean Power 2030 as they realise they are making people poorer.” It comes as Andy Burnham flies home from the COP31 climate summit in Turkey.
It is not the first warning sign. On Tuesday we reported that when wind power fell to 2%, one gas plant was paid £1.4m an hour to keep the lights on.
Our view: a “stretch target” is what you call a promise you already know you’ll break. If the 2030 date is slipping, ministers should say so plainly and tell bill payers what the £300 is now worth.
Should Labour admit Clean Power 2030 won’t cut your bills by £300? Vote below.
Sources
- BBC Panorama interview, aired 9 November 2026 (clip via Robert Colvile on X, 12 November): Fahnbulleh: “it’s a stretch target”
- Full Fact, 2024: Origin of Labour’s “up to £300” claim (Ember, 2023)
- BBC News, 9 November 2026: Fahnbulleh tells Panorama the 2030 target is “a stretch”
- BBC News: Clean Power 2030 = at least 95% clean generation; Ember author on updating the £300 estimate
- Richard Tice on X, 12 November 2026: Reform reaction
Main image: Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Antigua, 2 November 2026, Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street, OGL 3; Rampion offshore wind farm, Russss, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons).
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Was never achievable in the first place. Pure rhetoric and ideology by her predecessor