A practical British third way for energy: secure baseload power, sovereign supply chains, and an energy system built for the demands of the next industrial revolution.
Our Position
Britain’s energy is too expensive, too dependent on hostile nations, and unprepared for the demand surge that artificial intelligence is about to bring. Two ideological extremes — fully green or fully fossil — both fail this country. The first hands the People’s Republic of China a stranglehold over British infrastructure through its monopoly on batteries, solar panels, and rare-earth processing. The second ignores environmental reality and the strategic value of a domestic nuclear industry.
GB Freedom Party rejects both extremes. Our energy policy is grounded in three principles:
- Energy security comes first. No power source that depends on a single hostile country is acceptable for critical national infrastructure.
- Cost is driven down through baseload. Households and businesses cannot subsidise expensive intermittency forever. Reliable always-on power lowers system costs for every consumer.
- Britain must make things again. Energy infrastructure is national infrastructure. Where strategically critical, it should be designed, built, and serviced by British workers in British factories.
The Demand Surge Nobody Is Planning For
Artificial intelligence is about to transform global electricity demand at a pace and scale that current UK energy policy does not acknowledge.
| AI Energy Demand | Now (2025) | By 2030 | By 2040 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Global data centre electricity (TWh) | 460 | 1,000-1,500 | 2,500-4,000 |
| Share of global electricity | 1.5% | 3-5% | 6-10% |
| Single large AI training run | 50 GWh | 500 GWh | 5,000+ GWh |
| Power per data centre (MW) | 50-100 | 300-500 | 1,000+ |
Sources: International Energy Agency, Goldman Sachs, McKinsey Global Institute, SemiAnalysis.
A single large AI data centre already requires 300 to 500 megawatts of continuous power — a small city’s worth of electricity, twenty-four hours a day. By 2040, the largest facilities will exceed one gigawatt each. This demand cannot be met reliably by intermittent renewables. Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta have already concluded as much and are signing direct nuclear power-purchase agreements for their own facilities. Britain cannot afford to be the country unable to host this infrastructure.
Five Policy Commitments
1. A Rolls-Royce Nuclear Backbone
GB Freedom Party will commit to 20 GW of new nuclear capacity by 2040, delivered through three workstreams:
- Completion of Sizewell C on a hard delivery timetable.
- Greenlighting of two further large-reactor sites with streamlined planning consent.
- A fleet of 15 to 20 Rolls-Royce Small Modular Reactors built in British factories and deployed at sites across the country.
Nuclear fuel is sourced from Australia, Canada, Kazakhstan, and Namibia — friendly or neutral nations with diversified supply chains. Britain retains processing capability at Springfields in Lancashire. Nuclear is the only zero-carbon technology that delivers reliable baseload power without dependency on Beijing.
2. Domestic Gas as Strategic Insurance
GB Freedom Party will:
- Resume North Sea oil and gas licensing.
- Extend the operational life of producing fields where economically viable.
- Approve shale gas exploration where geology is suitable, with rigorous environmental safeguards that satisfy local communities.
- Maintain gas-fired power stations as flexible peaking and backup capacity.
We will rebuild Britain’s strategic gas storage from the current 6% of annual demand to a minimum of 15%. Germany stores 27%; the EU averages 25%. Six per cent does not constitute a strategic reserve.
3. The 40% Supply-Chain Rule
China currently controls more than 80% of global battery cell production and over 98% of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery capacity. It dominates the rare-earth processing and solar manufacturing on which Western renewables depend. Continuing to build wind, solar, and battery installations on Chinese supply chains is not energy independence — it is energy outsourcing.
GB Freedom Party will introduce a 40% supply-chain rule: no single country may supply more than 40% of the critical components of any new energy installation. Until British or allied-nation manufacturers can meet that threshold, new wind, solar, and grid-scale battery deployment is paused. Existing renewable infrastructure runs to the end of its design life. Replacement capacity comes from nuclear or gas.
4. AI Energy Zones
Whichever nation can guarantee cheap, reliable power for AI infrastructure will capture the data centres, the skilled jobs, and the tax revenues of the next industrial revolution. Britain is currently losing this race.
GB Freedom Party will:
- Designate AI Energy Zones adjacent to existing and planned nuclear sites, with fast-track planning consent and reduced business rates.
- Offer data centre operators 15-year fixed-price power contracts for facilities built in Britain.
- Pair every new SMR deployment with a co-located data centre campus.
- Create a single cross-departmental delivery body uniting energy, planning, and digital infrastructure.
Microsoft alone has committed over $80 billion to AI infrastructure spending by 2026. That investment will go where the power is. We intend it to come here.
5. Rebuild Strategic Manufacturing
Britain shipped its factories abroad. We will direct strategic industrial investment to rebuild domestic capacity in the technologies that will define the next half-century:
| Sector | Commitment |
|---|---|
| Nuclear fuel | Expand Springfields. Invest in advanced fuel manufacturing. Keep the expertise in Lancashire. |
| SMR assembly | Rolls-Royce factories in the North of England. Thousands of skilled jobs in places that need them. |
| Batteries | Back the Faraday Institution. Build gigafactories with non-Chinese supply chains. |
| Rare earths | Fund allied-nation projects in Australia, Canada, and Greenland. Build domestic processing capacity. |
| Grid technology | Transformers, cables, and smart-grid systems made in Britain, for Britain. |
This is not protectionism. It is industrial policy of the kind every serious country is now pursuing. The United States Inflation Reduction Act has demonstrated that directed investment in strategic manufacturing capacity works. China has done the same for two decades. Britain has fallen behind through inaction.
The Energy Mix We Will Deliver
| Source | Today (2025) | Target (2040) | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nuclear | 15% | 40% | Baseload + AI infrastructure |
| Natural gas | 38% | 20% | Flexible backup and peaking |
| Wind (onshore + offshore) | 29% | 25% | Supplementary (existing fleet) |
| Solar | 5% | 5% | Distributed (existing fleet) |
| Hydro and other | 3% | 5% | Tidal, biomass, pumped storage |
| Hydrogen (nuclear-produced) | 0% | 5% | Industrial heat and transport |
This mix delivers four outcomes simultaneously:
- Energy independence. No single-country dependency exceeds 20% for any critical component.
- Lower costs. Nuclear baseload at scale brings system costs down for every household and every business.
- Reliability. Continuous power for AI infrastructure, industry, and homes — without exposure to weather or political shocks.
- Lower emissions. Cutting gas from 38% to 20% delivers a meaningful reduction without the fantasy of eliminating fossil fuels overnight.
What This Means for Kent
Kent is uniquely placed to benefit from this strategy. The county already hosts the Dungeness nuclear site, currently in decommissioning, and sits close to potential SMR locations across the South East. AI Energy Zones paired with new nuclear capacity could bring thousands of skilled jobs to the region. Offshore wind in Kent waters continues to contribute. Lower energy costs would revive local manufacturing and reduce every household’s bills.
Kent built the power stations and the shipyards that made Britain an industrial nation. With the right energy strategy, it can do so again for the age of artificial intelligence.
Policy Summary
- 20 GW of new nuclear capacity by 2040, including 15-20 Rolls-Royce Small Modular Reactors
- Resume North Sea licensing; rebuild gas storage to a minimum of 15% of annual demand
- 40% supply-chain rule on all new energy infrastructure — pause new wind, solar, and battery deployment until British or allied-nation manufacturers can supply them
- AI Energy Zones with fast-track planning, reduced business rates, and 15-year fixed-price power contracts
- Strategic industrial investment in nuclear fuel, SMR assembly, batteries, rare-earth processing, and grid technology
- Target energy mix by 2040: 40% nuclear, 20% gas, 25% wind, 5% solar, 5% hydro and other, 5% hydrogen
Sources and Background Reporting
Primary sources: International Energy Agency — World Energy Outlook 2025; Goldman Sachs — AI Infrastructure Report; McKinsey Global Institute; SemiAnalysis; Rolls-Royce SMR Programme; UK Nuclear Industry Association; National Grid Future Energy Scenarios; Department for Energy Security and Net Zero — Energy Security Strategy.
Background reporting: The evidence base for this policy is set out in detail in the four-part Kent Local News investigation into the global energy supply chain: Part 1 — The Cost of Going Green · Part 2 — The China Question · Part 3 — The AI Demand Surge · Part 4 — A Path Forward.
