New homes in the UK could be built without solar panels, heat pumps and high-grade insulation if the Conservative party wins the next general election, under plans to scrap the future homes standard (FHS), according to an analysis of the party conference season by the Guardian.
Kemi Badenoch placed the removal of the FHS at the centre of her bid to become the next prime minister at the Conservative party conference, the report said.
The plan drew less attention than her inheritance tax announcement, but the Guardian noted it would affect a greater number of people. The UK requires roughly six million new homes, and building them without efficient, low-carbon energy sources would leave households facing higher bills for decades, the analysis stated.
The Conservatives cited estimates of £30,000 for new-build houses, though the Guardian reported the true cost is likely to be much lower. Fitting heat pumps, solar panels, batteries and insulation costs about £5,000 to £8,000 at the point of construction — a figure calculated in 2024 when energy prices were lower — and saves more than £1,300 a year on bills, a saving the analysis said is likely to be substantially higher now. Retrofitting homes after they are built would cost more than £20,000.
Jan Rosenow, a professor of climate and energy policy at the University of Oxford, told the Guardian: “Every home constructed today that runs on fossil fuels is a liability for the occupants. It also results in investor uncertainty and disrupts the supply chain that has been gearing up for this. What we need is less political point scoring and more long-term clarity.”
Housebuilders have been among the largest donors to the Conservative party, although the analysis noted this has declined in recent years. According to the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC), the construction industry is well prepared for the FHS and would have to implement the policy before the next general election, meaning scrapping it offers little benefit.
Simon McWhirter, chief executive of UKGBC, said: “The housebuilding industry has spent years preparing for the introduction of the FHS, investing in skills, supply chains and new products. Reversing course would … risk slowing progress towards building the homes that people want and need.”
The housebuilding measures form only part of a wider rollback of Conservative green policies, the report said. Despite sewage and farm pollution in the UK’s rivers and beaches and a sharp decline in wildlife, the party would abolish the Environment Agency and Natural England.
Robbie MacPherson, a Kennedy scholar at Harvard University and former head of the UK’s all-party parliamentary group on climate, said: “No winning political strategy, after years of fossil fuel-driven energy price spikes and a summer of climate breakdown, can include environmental regression. Voters won’t reward politicians who want to kill employment opportunities, spurn economic growth and fail to keep Britain safe.”
The Green party delivered an equally unexpected reversal, resolving last weekend to drop its long-standing opposition to nuclear power, according to the analysis. While renewable energy remains the party’s priority, Green MPs could now back new reactors in recognition of their possible role in low-carbon generation.
Paul Dorfman, a Bennett scholar at the University of Sussex and chair of the Nuclear Consulting Group thinktank, said: “The Green party has taken a wrong turn on nuclear and this will lose them significant grassroot support and votes. With 20-plus-year construction times, repeated delays and huge cost overruns, new nuclear diverts scarce resources from faster options. Renewables, storage, efficiency and stronger grids can deliver much more for every pound spent.”
The contest between the Greens and Labour in this week’s Holborn and St Pancras byelection is likely to be repeated at the general election, where the Greens could be the main challengers in urban Labour strongholds, the Guardian reported.
Responding to Sagal Abdi-Wali’s win for Labour, Ami McCarthy, head of politics at Greenpeace UK, said: “Abdi-Wali has shown that voters are putting their trust in Labour, but the Green party increased its share of the vote and remains a serious challenger. As extreme heat becomes a regular threat and droughts extend for much of the year, concern about climate change is on the rise and cannot be ignored.”
At the Labour conference, Andy Burnham referred only briefly to the climate, pollution crises and nature, the analysis said. He announced a publicly owned body to invest in the energy grid alongside the privatised National Grid, which has been criticised for slow progress on upgrades, and a community fund to plant 500,000 trees across England.
McCarthy said: “Voters will be comparing Labour with other parties that have a clear plan to lower energy bills and tackle the climate crisis rather than with the fantasies of the Conservatives and Reform. Labour has a clear plan but needs to deliver it – starting with a full-throated rejection of any scramble for fossil fuels in the North Sea.”
A decision on the future of the Rosebank and Jackdaw drilling sites was reportedly postponed because of the byelection, and McCarthy said it would “truly define this government’s legacy on climate”.
Campaigners warned that failing to recognise and address the damage caused to the UK by a summer of record heat and drought would prove costly. The analysis noted a record El Niño weather system is forming, intensified by global heating, and is likely to bring heatwaves, droughts and floods to major agricultural regions, pushing millions into hunger and driving up food prices globally.
Rosie Downes, head of campaigns at Friends of the Earth, said: “With El Niño bringing a wetter and stormier winter season to the UK, we desperately need to see some parties getting back in touch with reality. The government must translate its words into action that delivers for people and the planet.”
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