King’s Speech: UK government pursues ‘energy independence’

Gareth Phillips and Chris Sawyer of Pinsent Masons were commenting after a new Energy Independence Bill was trailed in the King’s Speech on Wednesday.

The bill – expected to be introduced over the coming months – reinforces the government’s pledges to put “clean energy” at the heart of Britain’s energy security and decarbonisation agendas, while seeking to curb energy-related costs for people and businesses.

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According to a background briefing paper (129-page / 2MB PDF) published alongside the speech, the bill will contain measures designed to “reform market, planning and regulatory frameworks to accelerate the deployment of clean power including offshore wind, hydrogen and smart grid technologies”.

The bill will further aim to “reduce unnecessary delays” associated with improving electricity grid infrastructure in Britain. Reforms to land access rules and networks consenting will be pursued as part of that objective, the government said.

New powers will also be provided for in the bill to ensure “a more strategic approach to planning and building energy infrastructure”, it added.

In tandem with those measures, the government, with the bill, intends to ban the issue of new licences for enabling exploration for new oil and gas in UK waters in law – a move that would strengthen its existing policy on the issue. It also intends to ban onshore fracking and prohibit new coal licenses from being issued under the bill.

Some limited further oil and gas operations will be possible under new ‘transitional energy certificates’ (TECs), which the government is legislating for under the bill. The powers of the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) will also be expanded and its strategic aims reframed through the introduction of a new statutory objective to consider workers, communities and supply chains in its decisions.

Aberdeen-based Chris Sawyer, who specialises in oil and gas projects at Pinsent Masons, said: “Although these measures are consistent with previous communication such as in the North Sea Future Plan published in November 2025 and the published criteria for TECs published in April 2026, the enactment of these measures in primary legislation will make it more difficult for future governments to unwind these moves should they wish to change relevant policy. These moves are concerning in terms of energy security and the UK’s requirement for imported oil and gas."

Gareth Phillips, an expert in renewable energy projects at Pinsent Masons, attended the All-Energy conference in Glasgow this week where he said the government, via energy minister Michael Shanks, had reiterated its energy policy.

“The minister was clear that whilst the government supported production from existing fields, new exploration did not form part of the UK’s energy future, and government wished to secure future governments’ commitment to a decarbonised energy system,” Phillips said.

“The bill, in combination with other measures, such as the bringing forward of allocation round eight of the government’s ‘contracts for difference’ renewables auction to 20 July 2026, will enable the UK to go further and faster to deploy clean energy production, particularly through wind and solar, making best use of all of the country’s natural resources, in achieving decarbonisation and energy security. This will be reassuring to those developing renewable energy projects, who have encountered significant delay in the planning process and NESO’s grid connection reform,” he added.

Gillian Harrington of Pinsent Masons, who supports the energy industry with employment law compliance, said reforms concerning offshore workers’ employment rights have also been trailed with the government’s plans for its Energy Independence Bill.

“Currently, employees working offshore in the Renewable Energy Zone do not automatically qualify for the same UK employment rights as those working in the oil and gas sector within 12 nautical miles from UK Shores and the UK Continental Shelf. The proposed legislation seeks to address this disparity by extending employment rights and protections to offshore renewables workers, bringing them in line with their oil and gas counterparts.”

“In practice, however, many employees already working in the Renewable Energy Zone may be entitled to equivalent UK employment rights where they can demonstrate a sufficiently strong connection to the UK. On that basis, the practical impact of the proposed extension may be more limited than anticipated. The more significant factor in renewables recruitment is likely to remain the gap in salaries and benefits compared to the oil and gas sector. Addressing that gap would arguably do more to draw workers into renewables than legislative alignment alone,” she said.

Other features of the Energy Independence Bill will include measures to reduce the costs consumers face if they generate excess power from solar panels or other energy sources at home and export that power to the grid. The bill will also allow consumers to benefit from “discounted energy at times of excess generation”, according to the government, which further plans to establish a Warm Homes Agency via the bill to oversee the implementation of its warm homes plan.

A separate bill – the Nuclear Regulation Bill – is planned to implement the recommendations of the nuclear regulatory review, which reported in November 2025. Among other things, the review found that the current regulatory environment around nuclear developments was overly complex, proposing a merger of the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator and Office for Nuclear Regulation and the creation of a single, unified decision-making body, the Commission on Nuclear Regulation, to act as a one-stop shop which can oversee regulatory decisions in the sector.

An Electricity Generator Levy Bill is also to be introduced to the UK parliament to increase the rate at which the electricity generators levy (EGL) applies, from 45% to 55%, as well as extend its duration beyond its current expiry date of 31 March 2028. The EGL is a temporary tax on exceptional revenues derived from electricity generation from certain sources. The government has not yet confirmed how long it intends to continue with the EGL beyond March 2028.