Andy Burnham has backed island calls for community energy companies to be given priority access to the national grid. Speaking in the Commons for the first time the new Prime Minister said he supported my efforts to get community windfarms first in the queue for connections to the grid. Since being elected in 2024, I have been pressing for reform of grid connections and for community-owned companies to be pushed up the queue for connections to the 1.8GW Minch interconn

Community-owned windfarms should be given priority connection to the national grid and communities entitled to take a 20 per cent stake in any onshore or offshore developments in their area, a powerful Commons committee has demanded. I welcome a report from the Commons Energy Committee where I am a sitting member, which has backed my calls for local communities have a far greater role in the renewable energy transition. The report provides a blueprint to transform communi

I welcome a major Labour government announcement that will give communities across the UK the power to control and benefit from their own energy projects. Labour’s £1billion funding for the Local Power Plan represents the largest public investment in community energy in British history, putting power directly into the hands of local people while ensuring profits generated by clean energy stay in the communities where they are produced. Announcing the Local Power Plan in t