Sir Keir Starmer is preparing to push Britain into significantly stricter net zero commitments as part of negotiations to rejoin the EU’s internal electricity market, a move that has triggered accusations from critics that the government is surrendering control over UK energy policy.
The Prime Minister and Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, are in talks with Brussels over closer alignment with the EU’s electricity trading system, which treats the bloc’s 27 member states and Norway as a single, integrated power market. Britain left the system following Brexit in 2021.
However, EU officials have made clear that re-entry would require the UK to sign up to the bloc’s wider renewable energy and decarbonisation framework. That would mean committing not just to cleaning up electricity generation, but to accelerating decarbonisation across heating, transport and industry.
In effect, Britain would need to double its existing net zero ambition. The EU currently requires 42.5 per cent of total energy consumption to come from renewable sources by 2030, with an aspiration to reach 45 per cent. The UK’s current figure stands at around 22 per cent.
The potential commitment was revealed in a technical document quietly published on the Cabinet Office website, which states that any electricity agreement should include “an indicative global target for the share of renewable energy in the gross final consumption of energy in the United Kingdom”, comparable to that of the EU to ensure a “level playing field”.
Shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho said the move would amount to handing decision-making power back to Brussels. She warned that UK ministers could be forced to pursue emissions reductions “regardless of what it will do to people’s energy bills or the competitiveness of our businesses”.
The issue comes as Labour continues its broader push to reset relations with the EU, with some MPs urging a return to the customs union, a position Starmer has so far ruled out.
Supporters of closer alignment argue that rejoining the internal electricity market would bring tangible benefits. Britain is already heavily reliant on imported power via subsea interconnectors linking the UK to France, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark. At times, close to a fifth of UK electricity is generated overseas, with even higher reliance 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 interconnector capacity separately, a process the industry estimates adds up to £370 million a year in avoidable costs.
Barnaby Wharton, head of grid policy at Renewable UK, said better integration with European markets would improve efficiency and lower costs for consumers by smoothing supply during periods of low wind or solar generation.
Critics, however, argue that the scale of the EU’s renewable targets makes them unrealistic for the UK within the required timeframe. Electricity accounts for only about 20 per cent of Britain’s total energy use, while heating, transport and industrial processes make up the majority. Oil and gas still supply roughly three-quarters of total UK energy demand.
Energy analyst David Turver said the EU targets were effectively “unachievable” without drastic reductions in overall energy consumption, warning that they could risk higher bills or industrial decline if imposed too aggressively.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said the published text was part of an ongoing process and would form the basis of further negotiations next year. They stressed that closer cooperation on electricity could cut costs, strengthen energy security and support investment, but declined to comment further while talks continue.
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Starmer set to align UK with tougher EU net zero targets under electricity market talks