The Prime Minister says there are ‘trade-offs’ to be made between increased development and better services
Sir Keir Starmer has warned that opposition to the Government’s plans to build more pylons across the countryside would force him to put taxes up.
The Prime Minister said burying new electricity cables underground “costs much more money” which would have to be raised from taxpayers.
Speaking during a trip to New York he said that voters would have to accept “trade-offs” including more development in return for better services.
Sir Keir made the remarks after using his Labour conference speech earlier this week to say he was willing to take “unpopular” decisions in the pursuit of growth.
He has backed plans to construct a massive new line of pylons across Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex to connect North Sea wind farms to the grid.
The Prime Minister was asked whether campaigners against the scheme were right to accuse him of “throwing rural communities under the bus”.
He said: “No they’re not. That section of my speech was intended to be an honest levelling with the country, which is to say: ‘If you want XYZ, then we’ve got to face up to the fact that there are a number of consequences for that’.
“If you want lower energy bills, we’re going to have to have pylons above the ground. Yes, there is the option to put them below the ground [but] it costs much more money.
He added that “most people feel they’re already paying too much tax, and I don’t think many would put their hand up to pay more”.
A report by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) previously found that it is five times more expensive to use underground cabling.
Sir Keir’s remarks come amid another major row over a proposed East Anglia pylon project which has caused significant controversy over the years.
Many of the constituencies it passes through were previously Tory strongholds but flipped to Labour in July’s landslide election.
That means the Prime Minister is now facing opposition from his own backbenchers to the scheme, which locals have warned would ruin the areas it passes through.
‘Areas of considerable natural beauty’
Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, the new MP for Suffolk Coastal, has attended anti-pylon protests in her constituency and Ben Godsborough, for South Norfolk, has also expressed opposition.
Weeks before the election, Dame Nia Griffith, now a minister in the Wales Office, said in Parliament that there was “huge concern that enormous pylon projects will spoil areas of considerable natural beauty”.
She also warned that pylons “take up space on agricultural land” and said she wanted “to take our communities with us” in the transition to renewable energy.
Before the election, Tory ministers were considering plans to introduce incentives, such as money off energy bills, for communities near new pylons.
They were an attempt to address local opposition which has often seen energy projects snagged in the planning process for years or even decades.
It is not yet clear whether Labour will press ahead with the plans or simply change planning laws so that it can override local objections.
Sir Keir said that as well as pylons, some neighbourhoods would also have to accept living near new housing developments and prisons.
The Prime Minister insisted that increased building was the only way to address the lack of capacity in the justice system and the housing crisis.
He added: “Of course, we will consult with people, there are always options. But I do want to be clear – these are serious trade-offs that we’re going to have to make and we’re going to have to take those decisions.
“I think we just shied away from these trade-offs for too long. We’ve got to be serious about it.”
