In a lengthy speech today, Starmer said the missions will form the backbone of Labour’s manifesto and be ‘measurable’ to track progress. A recurrent message was planning for the long term and ‘fixing the fundamentals’ to avoid the challenges of the ‘here and now’.

“We go round and round in circles with sticking plaster politics,” he said. “With energy, freezing the bills this year – you’ll come back and say ‘are you going to freeze them next year and the year after?’ The answer is we do have to do that, but we need a better answer for energy security and bills in future – and that’s why running towards renewables, and having clean energy by 2030 is so important.”

On the thorny issue of funding, he said, “Where we put money in, we will have it fully costed and set that out. If we work in this way, it will be a catalyst for unlocking private sector money – it isn’t all about how much money from the Treasury is needed to make these missions work but how can we create conditions for public and private sectors to work together. Reform has to be part of the answer.”

Starmer didn’t elaborate on plans for a state-owned Great British Energy company to drive renewable policy, which he announced last September, but today’s references to clean energy had direct echoes to the unveiling of his Green Prosperity Plan, which aims to turn the UK into a ‘green growth superpower’.

“Clean energy is already cheaper than fossil fuels. Nine times cheaper. We just need more of it,” he said at the time.

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Despite the broad brush vision and absence of policy details, Starmer’s and Labour’s commitment to growing clean energy will encourage industry should the party make it into power.

Rachel Reeves, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, has also previously spoken on the potential that hydrogen has in securing jobs for the future, referencing the development of a “thriving hydrogen industry” in Great Britain.

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