Labour's Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Miliband, has published draft 'National Policy Statements' for consultation, setting out how Labour will overhaul Britain’s energy system.

The plan, aimed at creating faster and fairer planning decisions on new energy infrastructure,  will provide the UK with an energy infrastructure fit for the future - allowing the country to exploit new technologies to create create green jobs and economic growth into the UK’s future low carbon energy sector.

The threat of climate change means that Britain needs to make a transition from a system that relies heavily on high carbon fossil fuels, to a radically different system that includes nuclear, renewable and clean coal power. In doing so Britain will also benefit from greater security of energy supply and prosperity as we rely less on imported fossil fuels.

Labour’s Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Miliband, said:

“The threat of climate change means we need to make a transition from a system that relies heavily on high carbon fossil fuels, to a radically different system that includes nuclear, renewable and clean coal power.

“Change is also needed for energy security. In a world where our North Sea reserves are declining, a more diverse low carbon energy mix is a more secure energy mix, less vulnerable to fluctuations in the availability of any one fuel.

“In exploiting new technologies we can also lock green jobs and growth, not carbon, into the UK’s future energy sector.

“The current planning system is a barrier to this shift. It serves neither the interests of energy security, the interests of the low carbon transition, nor the interests of people living in areas where infrastructure may be built, for the planning process to take years to come to a decision.

“That is why we are undertaking fundamental reform of the planning system which will result in a more efficient, transparent and accessible process.

“And our new policy framework for clean coal will drive the development of CCS which will be essential for reducing the impact of coal-fired power stations on the environment."