Six in ten Britons support GB Energy in principle, with the public highly supportive of expanding renewable energy production
One of Labour’s flagship policies at the election was the establishment of GB Energy, a publicly-owned company that would generate renewable energy. Under energy secretary Ed Miliband, the new government last month began the process of putting their plans into practice – announcing a partnership with the Crown Estate to allow the construction of new offshore wind turbines.
This should be an early easy win for the government, with the principle behind GB Energy – of a government-owned renewable energy generation company – being supported by six in ten Britons (62%) and opposed by only one in six (17%). This notably includes support from 59% of Conservative voters, half of Reform UK voters (49%), as well as around three-quarters of Labour and Lib Dem voters (74-77%).
However, a hypothetical alternative that both generated energy and sold it directly to consumers holds an even higher level of support – seven in ten Britons (72%) favouring an integrated government-owned energy company, with just one in eleven (9%) opposed to the idea.
The British public similarly believe this generator-supplier would be more likely to cut energy bills than a GB Energy-style entity. While the public are split on whether something like GB Energy as currently envisioned would bring down energy prices – 29% expecting it would lead to a decrease in bills, 28% an increase and 24% no difference – four in ten Britons (41%) believe a combined producer and retailer would cut bills, with only one in five (21%) expecting such a body to increase energy costs for consumers.
This speaks to a problem in the perception of what GB Energy is. When asking about a GB Energy-style company in vaguer terms, without the explanation of the distinction between a generator and a retailer, public support (70%) is closer to the hypothetical integrated entity (72%) than it is to the government’s actual proposals for GB Energy (62%), with Britons also more likely to expect it to lead to a decrease in energy bills (52%).
Although it is clear that the majority of the public support the broad concept of a government-owned energy company, this gap in public support suggests that the public might not be getting out of GB Energy what they necessarily expect from it.
Britons aren’t just positive towards renewables in principle, but want more of them too
But regardless about what the public think GB Energy actually is, a key determinant of its success will be its ability to expand renewable energy production in the UK.
Clear majorities favour Britain getting more of its power from renewable sources, with solar and tidal energy receiving the greatest backing, at 74%. No more than one in ten want a reduction in any kind of renewable energy generation; onshore wind has the most detractors, but even then, only 10% of Britons want less power generated by it.
For the public, the era of fossil fuels should be over, or at least coming to an end. A majority of Britons (51%) want less of the UK’s energy to come from natural gas, with six in ten (62%) wanting a reduction in the amount of energy derived from shale gas and oil, rising to 68% when coming to coal power (a wish that is expected to somewhat come true by the end of next month with the closure of the UK’s last coal power station). Nuclear energy manages to be somewhat more divisive, evenly splitting Britons, with 30% wanting more electricity generated by nuclear power and 31% wanting less.
Of course, it's possible to increase renewable energy production without increasing the supporting infrastructure, the construction of which will be central to GB Energy’s push.
In principle, the British public are again positive in their support for renewable energy. Eight in ten Britons (80-81%) support an increase in the construction of offshore wind turbines and solar panel farms, with clear support for building more hydro-electric dams (76%) and onshore wind farms (74%) too. While more of an unknown, two-thirds (66%) also favour constructing new bio-fuel refineries.
Britons are likewise consistent in their opposition to expanding fossil fuels – majorities oppose building new gas power stations (59%), shale gas wells (63%) and coal power stations (71%) – while being split 43% to 41% on the construction of new nuclear power stations.
As with any form of proposed construction, there’s a little bit of a catch – the British public are more likely to support building in principle compared to locally. Across the nine types of energy infrastructure polled, Britons were consistently less likely to support it being built locally – with the gap varying from three points less support for shale gas wells near them to 11 points lower support for a nearby nuclear power station.
Nonetheless, the green energy vs fossil fuels divide remains, with the majority of the public still saying they were in favour of any kind of renewable energy infrastructure being built in their local area – including more than two-thirds in favour of onshore wind turbines being built close by (68%) and three-quarters (75%) supporting a local solar farm.
There are, of course, some issues of practicality – two-thirds of Britons (66%) say they would support a hydro-electric dam in their local area, with 73% saying they would be likewise pro building an offshore windfarm near them. Needless to say, building those forms of infrastructure would not be possible near where those proportions of Britons live.
Public overwhelmingly more favourable towards renewables than fossil fuels
But how surprising should any of this positivity to expanding green energy production be? Britons have overwhelmingly positive views of all methods of renewable energy generation, with at least around three-quarters of the public having favourable views of all renewable methods we polled, compared to a majority holding an unfavourable view of all major fossil fuels.
Solar power is the most positively viewed electricity generation method, with 86% of Britons having a favourable view, though tidal energy, offshore wind and hydro-electric power are not far behind, on 82-84%. Onshore wind, bio-fuels and geothermal energy are all favourably viewed by around three in four Britons (74-77%).
While none are popular, natural gas is the least unpopular of the fossil fuels polled, with 37% of Britons having a favourable view compared to 50% an unfavourable one. The more specific shale gas, however, is only half as popular, commanding a positive view among less than one in six members of the public (15%), the lowest ‘favourable’ figure for any energy source. However, coal is the most actively disliked overall, with 70% having an unfavourable view.
As with most things, there is a degree of party-political differences in how Britons view these differing methods of energy generation, but the gaps are not especially significant when it comes to renewables. Excluding onshore wind, where there is a little bit of a split, at least seven in ten of all voter groups hold a positive view of the renewable energy methods we polled.
Labour, Lib Dem and Green voters tend to be most positive towards renewable energies, but Tory views are rarely particularly far behind. Reform UK voters are consistently the least favourable towards renewable energies, but even with the type they view least positively – onshore wind – six in ten (61%) still hold a positive view. In short, renewable energy methods are popular across the board.
Fossil fuels, though, are more divisive. While near uniformly unpopular among Labour, Lib Dem and Green voters, Conservative and particularly Reform UK supporters are more favourable towards non-renewable energies. More than a third of Reform voters hold a favourable view of shale gas (36%) and coal (42%), with a small majority (54%) positive towards oil and two-thirds (66%) favourable to natural gas. Nearly six in ten (58%) Conservatives similarly feel favourably towards gas.
But it is nuclear energy that most consistently splits parties down the middle. All five main UK parties have a significant contingent of pro- and anti-nuclear supporters. Nearly six in ten (57-58%) Conservative and Reform voters hold a favourable view, with three in ten (31%) holding an unfavourable view. Labour and the Lib Dems are more evenly split – Lib Dem voters dividing 48% to 44% in favour, Labour 46% to 43% against. Perhaps unsurprisingly given their long-standing connections to the anti-nuclear movement, the most opposition to nuclear energy is found among Greens, with 55% holding an unfavourable view, even if a bit more than one in three (37%) are positive.
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Photo: Getty
