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Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn attends the launch of the party’s election manifesto at Birmingham City University on November 21, 2019 in Birmingham, England.
Christopher Furlong | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The Labour Party will introduce a windfall tax on oil businesses if it wins the U.K.’s upcoming general election, it said Thursday.
The pledge is included as a promise in the party’s manifesto. “We will introduce a windfall tax on oil companies, so that the companies that knowingly damaged our climate will help cover the costs,” it stated.
The main opposition party, led by Jeremy Corbyn, also said it would deliver “nearly 90% of electricity and 50% of heat from renewable and low-carbon sources by 2030.”
The manifesto works in previous recommendations contained in a report called “30 by 2030”, which Labour said would “put the UK on track for a net-zero-carbon energy system within the 2030s.” Labour said it wanted to build 2,000 new onshore wind turbines; 7,000 new offshore wind turbines; and “enough solar panels to cover 22,000 football pitches.”
The party added that new nuclear power “needed for energy security” would also be built.
On the relationship between the environment and publicly listed companies, the manifesto stated that a Labour government would “change the criteria a company must meet to be listed on the London Stock Exchange,” adding that any firm that failed to “contribute to tackling the climate and environmental emergency” would be delisted.
Voters in the U.K. go to the polls on December 12 in an election dominated by issues including Brexit, the National Health Service, the economy and the environment.