Prime Minister Andy Burnham unveiled Great British Grid at Labour’s party conference in Liverpool — a new publicly owned company that will build electricity grid connections and compete with Britain’s privately owned network operators. “I can announce today our plan for Great British Grid, a publicly-owned company that will work with the private sector and network companies,” he said.
GB Grid will sit under Great British Energy — the state-backed green investment company Labour founded in 2025 — which will pay for it out of its existing budget. GB Grid will build some connections itself and let businesses build their own, co-investing in those projects — an approach Burnham’s government says cut connection wait times in Ireland by about 11 months.
Burnham tied the move to Britain’s electricity costs, which he said are among the highest in Europe. “We have a cost crisis. We all know it. The price of energy is crippling for businesses, and British billpayers pay some of the highest energy costs in Europe,” he said. “Within ten years, I want our energy costs to be in line with other nations in Europe. That means we must reform a broken energy market so it serves the public interest.” Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh said GB Grid would “help speed up connections, unlock investment and boost economies across our nation,” adding that “the only way to bring down bills for good for homes and businesses is through clean power we can control.”
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Ofgem estimates the UK needs £70 billion in grid investment between 2025 and 2031. Delays are getting worse, too — the National Audit Office says the queue of projects waiting to connect keeps lengthening, calling the increase “significant.”
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GB Grid also tests what Burnham actually means by “public control,” the phrase he’s used to describe his approach to Britain’s privatized utilities. “I use that phrase advisedly,” he told the Times during the Makerfield by-election campaign, citing Greater Manchester’s buses — publicly controlled but still run day-to-day by private operators — as his model. “People then shorthand it as nationalisation; it’s not the same thing,” The Canary reported.
GB Grid follows that model — a new, publicly owned company that competes alongside National Grid and other private operators rather than replacing them.
During the contest for the Labour leadership, Burnham said his government should nationalize Thames Water, the heavily indebted utility serving London. As prime minister, though, he’s shelved the Special Administration Regime process that would have done exactly that. Officials pointed to the price tag — Thames Water would need roughly £2 billion to keep operating through next year — and the threat of lawsuits from rival bidders running their own rescue plan. Creditors, who have a separate £10 billion restructuring of their own in the works, were glad to see the SAR process dropped.
“People want public ownership, not just public control,” said Cat Hobbs, director of the campaign group We Own It. Critics argue that the distinction leaves ownership, and the profits, in private hands.
Burnham became prime minister in July, after Keir Starmer resigned amid sinking approval ratings and a surging Reform UK. He’s used his first Labour conference as leader to lay out the rest of his agenda for reworking Britain’s privatized utilities, alongside other cost-of-living measures.
