Labour would hand power to ‘every community’

Mrs Nandy instead said the party wants to ‘democratise’ the energy market and that every community in the country should be able to own their own clean energy power station.

The announcement is in stark contrast to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s views during his leadership campaign, in which he stated his preference of bringing the big six energy suppliers into public ownership.

Mrs Nandy outlined her desire to work with government on a local level in order to create a clean energy boom.

She said: "There should be nothing to stop every community in this country owning its own clean energy power station.

“Our city and county regions can lead the world. They can point the way towards a safer, brighter, more secure future. To be the light on the hill for all of us who care about the cost of our energy – to our family budgets, our businesses and our environment.”

Mrs Nandy, who is the Labour MP for Wigan, used the example of Nottingham Council, who introduced Robin Hood Energy, the first local authority-owned not-for-profit energy supply company since 1948, earlier this month.

The cuts to subsidies for solar and wind projects were also criticised by Mrs Nandy.

She said: “The Tory manifesto promised to cut carbon emissions as cheaply as possible. But what have they done instead? Ruled out using more of the cheapest low-carbon power available to us, from wind farms, even where there is strong local support.”

“Pulled the rug out from under the British solar industry just at the moment that solar power is on the cusp of offering cheap, subsidy-free energy. Wasted billions on an energy efficiency plan that failed to insulate the homes of our pensioners and poorest families.”