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The UK-wide poll of 5,149 people, conducted this month by Opinium, found that the percentage is even higher among swing voters who supported the Conservatives in 2019 and are currently planning to switch to Labour (88%).
Three-quarters of respondents said they would see any failure to secure investment in renewable energy and factories to manufacture green tech such as wind turbine components as a missed opportunity for the UK. This rose to 83% of Conservative to Labour swing voters.
Increasing investment in renewable energy has similarly high levels of public support (71%), but only 40% of people believe the Conservative government has even partially delivered on this.
About a third of voters (32%) and 45% of Conservative to Labour swing voters said the Tories have become less proactive in securing investment in green industries under Rishi Sunak, with over three quarters of them (78% and 77% respectively) less likely to support the Conservatives as a result.
A significant proportion of voters (31%) believe the Conservative party has been less focused on unlocking investment in renewable energy than on oil and gas in the last six months, and most of these voters (67%) have a less favourable view of the Conservatives as a result.
“This new polling demonstrates very clearly that people see the success of green industries as vital to the UK’s economic growth. New green industries like offshore wind are bringing tens of thousands of new jobs and billions of pounds of investment to communities across the UK, as well as low-cost clean power,” said RenewableUK director of strategic communications Nathan Bennett.
“Although we welcome the prime minister reiterating his support for green industries in his net zero speech, this has to be backed up with tangible measures to make the UK a more attractive market for green investment, or we will see factories and jobs which could have been in the UK go overseas. This polling shows not only that there is a wealth of public support for new incentives to secure renewable energy projects and manufacturing, but that people would be disappointed if we fail to secure these investments."
He added: “It would seem that the government’s failure to secure new offshore wind projects in this year’s clean power auctions and their lack of a response to the measures being offered to the USA and the EU to attract investment in renewables have been noticed by a significant proportion of the public, who now think ministers have been less focused on securing renewable energy investment under Rishi Sunak.
“It’s not too late for the prime minister to restore market confidence and the UK’s leadership in offshore wind, but the government is clearly going to have to bring forward new measures to achieve this.”
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