Sir Keir Starmer is preparing to push Britain for significantly tougher net zero commitments as part of negotiations to rejoin the EU’s internal electricity market, a move that has sparked accusations from critics that the government is giving up control of Britain’s energy policy.
The prime minister and Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, are negotiating with Brussels for closer alignment with the EU’s electricity trading system, which treats the bloc’s 27 member states and Norway as a single, integrated electricity market. Britain left the system after Brexit in 2021.
However, EU officials have made clear that a UK re-entry would require signing up to the bloc’s broader renewable energy and decarbonisation framework. That would mean committing not only to cleaning up electricity generation, but also to accelerating decarbonization in heating, transport and industry.
In fact, the UK would have to double its existing net zero target. The EU currently requires 42.5 percent of all energy consumption to come from renewable sources by 2030, with a goal of reaching 45 percent. In Great Britain the current figure is around 22 percent.
The potential involvement was revealed in a technical document quietly published on the Cabinet Office website. It says any electricity deal should include “an indicative global target for the share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption in the UK”, comparable to that of the EU, to ensure a “level playing field”.
Shadow Energy Minister Claire Coutinho said the move would amount to handing decision-making power back to Brussels. She warned that UK ministers could be forced to press ahead with emissions cuts “regardless of the impact this has on people’s energy bills or the competitiveness of our businesses”.
The issue comes as Labor continues its wider push to reset relations with the EU, with some MPs calling for a return to the customs union, a position Starmer has so far ruled out.
Proponents of closer alignment argue that re-entry into the internal electricity market would bring tangible benefits. Britain already relies heavily on imported electricity via undersea interconnectors connecting the UK to France, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark. At times almost a fifth of Britain’s electricity is generated overseas, with dependence even higher in London and the South East.
Outside the EU market, UK energy traders cannot use automated cross-border trading systems and must purchase electricity and interconnection capacity separately. According to industry estimates, this process adds up to £370 million in avoidable costs per year.
Barnaby Wharton, head of grid policy at Renewable UK, said better integration into European markets would improve efficiency and reduce costs for consumers by smoothing supplies during periods of low wind or solar power.
However, critics argue that the EU’s renewable energy targets are unrealistic due to their scale for the UK within the required timeframe. Electricity only accounts for around 20 percent of the UK’s total energy consumption, while heating, transport and industrial processes make up the majority. Oil and gas still provide around three-quarters of the UK’s total energy needs.
Energy analyst David Turver said the EU targets were effectively “unachievable” without drastic cuts in overall energy consumption and warned they could risk higher bills or industrial decline if enforced too aggressively.
A Cabinet Office spokesman said the published text was part of an ongoing process and would form the basis for further negotiations next year. They stressed that closer electricity cooperation could reduce costs, strengthen energy security and encourage investment, but declined to comment further while talks continue.
