James Goodfellow: Germany’s energy sprint shows five conference-ready pledges for the Tories | Conservative Home

The Office for Budget Responsibility now puts the price tag for reaching net zero at £803 billion, underscoring the need for urgent action. With the Conservative Party conference just a few months away, this is the moment to set out clear, practical steps to secure Britain’s energy future – without getting lost in endless debate. Germany, somewhat unexpectedly, is showing how energy security can be delivered swiftly, efficiently and effectively.

When Friedrich Merz became Chancellor on 6 May 2025 at the head of a CDU/CSU–SPD coalition he inherited an energy system already jolted into action by the gas crisis. The Scholz government’s LNG Acceleration Act let Germany build its first floating LNG terminal at Wilhelmshaven in roughly 194 days from site works to first gas in December 2022 – a pace that stunned sceptics. Merz has kept that crisis tempo alive: a second FSRU entered service at Wilhelmshaven this May, Brunsbüttel continues to ramp, and Baltic import capacity at Mukran/Lubmin is being expanded. Meanwhile, the UK still crawls through multi‑year consents. By the time a project breaks ground here you may struggle to remember who proposed it.

Here are five conference‑ready policy pledges Conservatives should adopt to strengthen Britain’s energy security, boost regional economies, and show we still have the seriousness to lead.

Germany did not tinker with the rulebook; it passed the LNG Acceleration Act and bundled procurement, environmental screening, and local engagement into one compressed timetable to get kit in the water. Britain is consulting on a Planning and Infrastructure Bill that aims to shave at least a year off approval times for major projects, yet average major infrastructure approvals have already drifted above four years and the pipeline is growing. A Conservative Critical Energy Infrastructure Act should go further: fixed legal deadlines for nationally strategic energy assets (LNG, hydrogen import, grid reinforcements), integrated environmental review from day one, and an emergency trigger when supply security is at risk. Faster and cleaner beats faster or cleaner. Voters will back speed if they trust the safeguards.

Bavaria’s conservatives have kept the nuclear question alive in Germany by arguing for new technologies, including Small Modular Reactors, even after the national phase‑out. That willingness to reopen a supposedly settled debate shifted public ground. Britain still has deep nuclear skills, and ministers have just picked Rolls‑Royce SMR with £2.5 billion backing and a “mid‑2030s” grid date. Conservatives should make a clear and decisive commitment to SMRs by pledging an SMR Delivery Act in the first King’s Speech if they win the next election. It should set out a clear plan: publish the preferred site within 18 months of taking office, run a simpler licence process that reuses the Navy’s existing nuclear-reactor quality-assurance records wherever possible, and set a UK content target so factories in Derby, the North‑West and south Wales build the modules. Break ground by 2030 and switch on first power early in the 2030s – proof that Britain still delivers complex engineering on time.

Empowering SME Supply Chains Across Britain

Germany’s Mittelstand is not a branding exercise; federal and Land programmes funnel finance, technical help, and procurement preference to the midsized firms that build kit, weld pipe, and service plants. Britain’s new Modern Industrial Strategy nods in that direction yet delivery is uneven and many areas still lack clear project pipelines. Conservatives should pledge a GB Supply Chain Standard: publish regional energy‑security procurement targets, offer matched capital grants for SMEs that re‑equip to make grid hardware or hydrogen equipment, or SMR components, and public list of approved firms so ministers can show voters where the contracts land. Start with Teesside’s carbon-capture industrial cluster, heavy‑engineering bases in the Midlands, and the emerging Solent industrial decarbonisation hub.

Germany defused years of local trench warfare by marking energy priority sites on the map up front – notably the coastal LNG locations fast‑tracked under the LNG Acceleration Act. Britain should copy that clarity. A Priority Energy Zones Bill would map pre‑approved corridors around ports, industrial clusters and major grid nodes where nationally strategic energy projects get automatic approval subject to design standards, wildlife safeguards and community benefit deals. This complements, not duplicates, the Government’s broader Planning and Infrastructure Bill and Industrial Strategy Zones by carving out a dedicated fast lane for energy security. Local fights shrink when people know where things can go and what they get in return. This would deliver effective, drama-free planning reform.

Good intentions do not pour concrete. The UK now has a Resilience Action Plan and a National Wealth Fund investing across clean energy and manufacturing, but funding lines are dispersed and opaque to voters. Conservatives should promise a National Resilience Fund with a published multi‑year spending plan covering grid upgrades, initial site works for the first SMR, hydrogen import conversions at ports, and local resilience grants for clusters that meet domestic content goals. Fold reporting into the annual resilience statement to Parliament so people can see pounds turning into projects.

Germany’s hands-on approach to energy security shows what practical governance can achieve. It is not about flashy promises or box-ticking. It is about using public money sensibly, backing British workers and businesses, and making sure the country is prepared for whatever comes next. That, at heart, is the Conservative case: spend sensibly, back British workers, keep the lights on.

If the party puts these ideas to work, they can go into conference season with a proper plan, not just a list of slogans. Britain has always had the ambition and the talent. Now is the moment to prove we have the bottle to deliver real action that builds a safer, more prosperous, and energy-independent country. That is exactly what voters expect from us.