Conservatives
The Prime Minister mentioned infrastructure during her conference address in the context of three core pledges forming the centrepiece of her speech: driving economic reform, lowering taxation and keeping “an iron grip on the nation’s finances.“
Stressing the need for regulatory change, Liz Truss expressed her dismay at “infrastructure projects being delayed for years, and years and years”, promising to “build roads, rail, energy and broadband quicker”.
On energy, the PM reiterated commitments to “opening more gas fields in the North Sea, delivering more renewables and nuclear energy… [and] our commitment to net zero.” She also reaffirmed her plans to cap consumer energy bills.
Truss hailed Conservative mayors for their investment efforts, highlighted the introduction of investment zones and promised to “show the world’s top investors there is nowhere better to invest than the UK” when the UK hosts next year’s Global Investment Summit.
The Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng echoed frustration at “glacially slow infrastructure delivery” and pledged to “speed up” completion of projects.
Over the course of the conference, the party also announced plans to build a new nuclear fusion plant and revive the Northern Powerhouse Rail.
The government’s Growth Plan, published prior to Conference season, contains a number of significant infrastructure commitments, among them “new legislation (the Planning and Infrastructure Bill) to accelerate priority major infrastructure projects across England.”
Labour
Energy was the big focus for the leader of the opposition, with the word used no less than 13 times in his conference speech.
Keir Starmer highlighted the extent of overseas ownership of UK energy assets, pledging to establish a publicly owned “Great British Energy [company] within the first year of a Labour government.”
The Labour leader also committed to scaling-up hydrogen, wind and solar energy capacity, should his party win power as part of a Green Prosperity Plan, stating that “clean energy is already cheaper than fossil fuels. Nine times cheaper. We just need more of it.”
Specific pledges included: “doubling Britain’s onshore wind capacity, trebling solar power, quadrupling offshore wind, investing in tidal, hydrogen, nuclear. Backing carbon capture. Committing to green steel production. New renewable ports. New gigafactories. And insulating 19 million homes.”
On the public investment side, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves committed to “creating a National Wealth Fund”, with a focus on investment in renewables, CCUS and clean steal.
Elsewhere, after criticising private providers, Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh stated that “Labour in power will bring our railways back into public ownership as contracts expire.”
SNP
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon kicked off her conference address with the announcement of 22 project allocations from the £500m Just Transition Fund, highlighting investments in green hydrogen, tidal technology and EV battery recycling.
She stressed that, should Scotland become independent, the SNP government’s “approach to borrowing with the new powers… [would] be responsible and for a purpose” – oil revenues and debt would be used to establish a “Building a New Scotland Fund”, with the aim of “delivering up to £20bn of investment in the first decade of independence.”
“A fund like this,” the SNP leader went on, “could support a massive programme to decarbonise housing, cut fuel bills… [and] invest in local renewable energy projects, helping communities own assets and wield more influence over their use.”
Commons Leader Angus Robertson also hailed the “green revolution that independence offers”, stating that SNP plans to invest in renewables could add £34bn and 385,000 jobs to Scotland’s economy.
He pointed to publication of a new report from the SNP Westminster group which makes several recommendations aimed at spurring investment in renewables, among them: reforming the transmission pricing system, introducing greater incentives to make anticipatory grid investments, and extending the contracts for difference scheme to include a broader range of renewable providers.
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats hosted their Conference in Spring. At the time, leader Ed Davey reiterated the party’s commitment to a Robin Hood Tax – a one-off levy on oil and gas companies which it claims would raise £5bn for “extending the Warm Homes Discount, doubling the Winter Fuel Allowance, and helping reduce bills in the long term by investing in insulation and energy saving.”
The Party’s 2019 manifesto commits to “a capital £50 billion Regional Rebalancing Programme for infrastructure spend across the nations and regions of the UK… £5 billion of initial capital for a new Green Investment Bank… [and] a programme of installing hyper-fast, fibre-optic broadband across the UK.”