Our experiences over winter with energy insecurity and soaring bills served to demonstrate the precariousness of our domestic energy structure and the need for radical change.

And given the clear environmental challenges facing our planet that has seen extreme weather and climate disasters across Europe and further afield this summer, it’s imperative this transformation is geared towards a greener, cleaner future.

It’s welcome, therefore, that in the absence of adequate ambition from the Government to drive this change, the Labour Party’s proposals to make Britain a clean energy superpower offer the blueprint.

In the mission recently announced by Keir Starmer, there’s an opportunity through bold and decisive action to do more; in a plan for clean power by 2030 we can not only lower bills and introduce the green jobs of the future, but safeguard our energy security and demonstrate true leadership on the fight to tackle climate change.

A publicly owned energy company in the form of GB Energy will play a vital role in this effort, giving us the opportunity to invest in clean energy projects in cities, towns and villages across the country, and crucially share the returns on this investment with households.

And at the very heart of this ambition is Labour’s bold Local Power Plan that would see the biggest ever expansion of community and co-operative energy.

As a Labour and Co-operative candidate, I know our movement has long championed the community-owned energy sector, and working in partnership with the Labour Party we can finally realise our ambition of giving people a genuine stake and say in the green energy sector of the future.

But this is more than just a target; the Local Power Plan outlines the steps and, as importantly, the substantial investment the next Labour and Co-operative Government will make to achieve it.

Under Labour’s plan, up to a billion pounds a year will be invested in green energy schemes, with £400m earmarked specifically for community energy projects, creating up to a million new owners of energy right across the UK.

This is the scale of commitment required to truly unleash the potential of community power, and form the foundation our the radical shift in our existing energy structure we require.

In realising this ambition, we will put power back in the hands of people and communities, and ensure through a genuine stake and say that we can all benefit from the greener, cleaner energy of the future.