Holborn and St Pancras MP Sir Keir Starmer giving his leader’s speech at the Labour Party conference

SIR Keir Starmer said he could bring down people’s bills by setting up a publicly-owned energy company as he urged the nation to send him to Downing Street.

While a series of commitments he made when standing for the Labour Party leadership have since been cancelled, the Holborn and St Pancras MP detailed plans for “GB Energy” on the stage of the party’s annual conference in Liverpool – and with the public watching every word.

The so-called Prime Minister-in-waiting was covered in glitter by a democracy campaigner just before he embarked on his speech, possibly his last before his duel with Rishi Sunak at the next general election.

But it only led to national sketch writers and reporters delighting in his calmness in response. And while the conference was packed with corporate interests in the exhibition hall and at fringe sessions – and of course in those all important lunch meetings – Mr Starmer painted a mixed picture of how he would treat business if he wins power.

He would work with private interests to build more housing and said the NHS would be reformed, but he also added in his speech that there would be: “No more bonuses for people pumping sewage into our rivers. No more pensioners freezing while energy firms make record profits.  No more government contracts awarded via the back-door.”

Labour has been under pressure to explain how it would use its huge lead in the poll ratings to improve people’s everyday lives amid the cost of living crisis, and help ease the pressure from escalating bills.

This, he said, could be done with GB Energy.

The smallprint behind his speech is that Labour believes it can double the number of onshore wind farms – and quadruple those in the sea. There will be an attempt to triple the amount of power coming from the Sun.

“When an opportunity is there to be won, you have to take it,” he said.

“Clean British energy is cheaper than foreign fossil fuels. That means cheaper bills for every family in the country. Countries like America are using this gift to create manufacturing jobs the like of which we haven’t seen for decades.

“And they’re not the only ones. I say speed ahead with half a million jobs. Speed ahead with Great British Energy – a new energy company that will harness clean British power for good British jobs. “A company that will be publicly owned, conference, and that will be based in Scotland.”

Despite his comments on dirty rivers, there has, however, been no commitment to take the water supply into public ownership, as once suggested in his early days as leader.

Earlier in the week, shadow environment minister Ed Miliband said in a speech: “Some people will tell you that we don’t have public ownership of energy in Britain. “But of course, we do. It’s just by state-owned firms from other countries. France’s EDF, Sweden’s Vattenfall, Denmark’s Ørsted. Other countries own nearly half of our offshore wind, because they know it creates jobs and wealth for their countries. I say, if it’s good enough for them, why not us?”

He added: “Under Labour, the British people will own things again, build things again, profit as a country from these investments again. GB Energy will be owned by the British people, built by the British people.”