Labour has swiftly moved to scrap the de facto ban on onshore wind originally introduced under the Conservatives in 2016.

Government policies over the past decade have mostly hampered the roll-out of onshore wind power in the UK. In 2015, then-Prime Minister David Cameron instituted an effective ban on the infrastructure after pressure from Conservative MPs worried about the impact of wind turbine damage on rural communities.

The Cameron government updated the National Policy Planning Framework to include footnotes that meant new onshore wind projects were blocked if they faced a single objection. Critics of the rule said it led to higher bills for households and delayed net zero efforts.

In its manifesto, Labour committed to entirely decarbonising the UK’s electricity grid by the end of the decade through a broad roll-out of renewable energy infrastructure. This includes a goal to double onshore wind energy by 2030 alongside a tripling of solar power and quadrupling offshore wind.

Announcing...