One year of Labour: what has Keir Starmer’s government achieved so far?

One year on from Labour’s landslide victory, a lot has changed. 

But through all this, the need for bold climate action is stronger than ever.

Labour made some big promises on this before the election. But even if you’re following the news closely, it can be hard to pull back from the daily headlines and see the big picture.

That’s why experts from Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth have teamed up to create a year one report card for Keir Starmer’s government. After 12 months in charge, how is the government doing overall?

On track for success?

Judging a government after a year is like judging a football team halfway through the first half – it isn’t entirely fair. Doing big things takes time, and even bold action today can take a while to show results. 

But it’s still important to see what they’re prioritising, and make sure things are on track. 

So we’ve rated the government’s progress in four areas, matching the ones we used to rate the manifestos before the election. You can read right through, or skip to the bits you’re most interested in:

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⚡️ Climate and energy

The government has made a strong start on clean energy. In the past year, it has:

• Scrapped rules that made it impossible to build wind turbines on land.
• Changed planning rules to favour renewables.
• Approved lots of new solar farms.
• Funded a record number of new clean energy projects. 
• Worked to speed up grid connections, so more clean power can flow into the system.
• Launched Great British Energy – a new publicly-owned company with £8.3 billion to invest in wind, solar, and other clean energy projects.

There’s also good news on cutting out fossil fuels:

• The government kept its promise to stop giving out new licences for oil and gas drilling at sea – that’s a huge win. 
• It also published strong environmental standards that previously-approved new oil and gas fields must meet in order to get the final go-ahead. For the first time, this will force oil companies to account for the climate impact of their product.
• But it still hasn’t hasn’t banned onshore oil and gas. 

There are signs of longer-term ambition too. At the COP29 climate talks in Baku, the Prime Minister pledged that the UK would cut its emissions by 81% by 2035. That’s more ambitious than the last government’s target, and stronger than many other countries’ plans. 

On the other hand, the government is spending billions on nuclear power, carbon capture and new roads, while neglecting quicker and cheaper ways to cut carbon, like insulation, heat pumps, buses and cycle lanes (see the Homes and transport section for more details).

What’s coming up?

Look out for a new climate plan before the end of October, showing in detail how the UK will hit its targets.

• The plan should give local councils and mayors a clear job to do – and a legal duty to act – in the upcoming English Devolution Bill. 
• And it must include proper funding to help poorer countries deal with climate change and protect nature.

🦔 Nature and environment

The government is doing far less to protect nature than it is on climate. 

Its current plan to spend £7bn is nowhere near enough. To meet 2030 nature targets and support global efforts, it needs to raise its ambition fast.

Worse still, ministers keep saying that nature rules are holding back growth – without offering any evidence. 

The government’s proposed changes to the planning system are now one of the biggest threats to wildlife in England. If they go ahead, protected places like chalk streams and ancient woodlands could be at risk.

The good

This heavy-handed approach to planning rules has overshadowed some of the good work it has done. The government has:

• Started cracking down on water companies that pollute rivers and beaches with sewage.
• Banned the use of bee-harming pesticides.
• Announced a ban on destructive bottom-trawling in 41 of England’s marine protected areas. (Destructive fishing still isn’t banned in all protected areas, and that needs to change).
• Started setting up a deposit-return scheme to cut plastic pollution from drinks containers.
• Given the green light to the first legal release of beavers. 
• Set up a UK-wide tree-planting taskforce.
• Announced the first of three new national forests.
• Boosted protection for peat moorlands.

International action

Looking beyond the UK, the government hasn’t yet ratified the Global Ocean Treaty – a key step to protecting the world’s oceans. 

If it doesn’t act soon, the UK could miss its chance to help bring the treaty into force.

The government is also dragging its feet on tackling forest destruction overseas. 

UK imports of cattle, soy, palm oil, cocoa, coffee and rubber are driving the loss of over 1,000 hectares of forest each month, but companies still aren’t made to check their suppliers for links to this destruction.

🚌 Homes and transport

Homes

The energy crisis showed just how exposed we are to unstable global gas prices. Millions of us live in cold, draughty homes, and when energy costs suddenly shoot up, many can’t afford to heat them properly.

Labour promised to spend £6 billion a year on insulation and clean heating like heat pumps. That would have made a real difference, but the government later cut this down. They’ll now spend around two and half billion a year.

There is some good news. Labour has said it will make sure all social housing and private rented homes meet a decent energy efficiency standard (EPC C) by 2030 – a key step that will reduce bills for millions.

The government has avoided big moves like banning new gas boilers. But without policies like that, the funding on offer will have to be bigger to make real progress.

Transport

On transport, there’s some good news. Transport is now the UK’s biggest source of climate pollution, and to hit legal climate targets, more journeys need to shift to public transport, walking and cycling. 

The government’s record includes:

• Broadly sticking with the plan to stop the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030. But the tweaks they’ve made to the rules for hybrids could lead to higher emissions for longer.
• Taking back control of the railways, and bringing bus services under local control. But the £750 million a year promised for buses won’t be enough to restore the level of service people had in 2010.

But at the same time, they’re:

• Approving expansion at Luton and London City airports, and backing growth at Heathrow and Gatwick too. Planes create a lot of climate pollution, and the idea that new fuels will fix this any time soon is wishful thinking.
• Planning to spend £24 billion on new roads – money that would be better spent helping people drive less.

⚖️ Justice and democracy

Climate change and environmental damage are deeply unfair. The richest people and companies have caused most of the problem. But it’s the poorest – both in the UK and around the world – who are hit hardest. From rising bills to extreme weather, they face the biggest risks.

Fixing this will cost money. We need to cut pollution and adapt to rougher weather. That means public spending – but it shouldn’t come from struggling families. It should come from the polluters.

The government has made some moves – it raised the windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas profits to 38%. But it could go further. There’s plenty of money available – the real problem is the government’s reluctance to make polluters and the wealthy pay. It’s still refusing to charge higher taxes to very frequent flyers. The government is also not considering wealth taxes, despite their potential to raise over £60 billion in a single year.

Right now, climate funding is falling short. The UK’s plan to prepare for extreme weather got a scathing review from the Climate Change Committee. And funding for poorer countries to address and adapt to climate change has been slashed. 

At the same time, the government has not cancelled the vast majority of UK arms licenses to Israel – despite vast evidence of war crimes being committed by the Israeli government in Gaza.

It’s no wonder more people are protesting – including through direct action.

Harsh anti-protest laws

The last government passed harsh laws to crack down on protests. It became so extreme that global democracy group Civicus ranked the UK alongside countries like Hungary for restricting basic rights.

In the past year, we’ve seen protest organisers arrested for speaking out against the UK sending weapons to Israel, a police raid on a Quaker meeting house, and proposed laws that will make protest even harder. Thankfully, some harsh sentences against climate activists have been reduced after legal appeals backed by Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.

And this month, the Court of Appeal ruled that new protest rules brought in by the last government were illegal – a major win by rights group Liberty.

Labour used to oppose these anti-democracy laws. But now they’re in power, they’ve embraced them. That’s shameful.

Conclusion

There are already some bright spots on the government’s record, particularly on energy, public transport and electric vehicles. 

But there are plenty of dark clouds too: planning laws, airport expansion, harsh anti-protest rules, not enough funding for important stuff, and a reluctance to make polluters pay for the damage they’ve caused.

It’s clear that Labour need to raise their game – and together we’ll keep pushing them to do better.