Keir Starmer says insulating homes will be Labour’s ‘national mission’

Party pledges £6 billion a year insulation programme

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Insulating homes will be a Labour government's "national mission" Keir Starmer has said.

Speaking at the party's annual conference in Brighton the Labour leader said Britain had "least energy-efficient housing in Europe".

And a spokesperson for the party said following the speech that this would involve upgrading 19 million homes in a decade at an annual cost of £6 billion.

"If we are serious about climate change we will need to upgrade our homes. The Tories inherited plans from Labour to make every new home zero carbon," the Labour leader said during his address.

"They scrapped them and now we have a crisis in energy prices emissions from homes have increased and we have the least energy-efficient housing in Europe.

"So it will be Labour’s national mission over the next decade, to fit out every home that needs it, to make sure it is warm, well-insulated and costs less to heat and we will create thousands of jobs in the process."

Labour says insulation will save some households in the worst insulated properties £400 a year.

It comes amid concerns of surging heating bills over the winter as gas and fuel prices rise.