Data centres currently use around 2-2.5% of UK electricity with projections of a fourfold rise by 2030. The connection queue holds projects demanding up to 73GW, nearly double peak winter demand, amid this summer's widespread drought. The Green Party called for a pause on approvals due to energy, water and carbon impacts while Labour rejects it as harmful to jobs, investment and national security.
Water and power dominated the discussion, but the chamber still rejected a temporary ban: No won by 300 votes to 192. The result was clear, though the winning side sounded more like a committee demanding safeguards than a room cheering unchecked expansion.
The floor’s strongest No case treated the problem as one of infrastructure and regulation, not prohibition: “No ban but water and power usage must be self generated.” Another highly respected voice warned that “The Grid is on its last legs”, while supporters of growth invoked jobs, investment, national security and the fear of being left behind in the AI race.
Yes voters were not arguing against data centres in principle. Their best-respected case wanted “a register or something” to show the national scale of local applications, while another said, “We need as a country to sort out the supply issues we have first” before allowing facilities to consume more scarce water.
The two sides largely talked past each other: No voters called water and power a management problem, with one saying, “That is a management problem, not a reason to halt growth”; Yes voters saw the projected expansion itself as the danger, insisting that “a fourfold expansion is frankly excessive”. Planning, brownfield sites, local jobs, AI-specific regulation and privately generated green power all surfaced, but without becoming a shared alternative to the ban.
For a self-selected online room, the verdict was less a licence to build than a demand to make expansion pay its own way. The ban failed; the conditions survived.
“I'm thinking ... let the data centres be built if they also provide their own GREEN power supply and GREEN backup with no connection whatsoever to the UK power grid. Also existing data centres have 10yrs to change to the same setup.”
YES case · Spargrass · 3 respects · read the thread ↓
“No ban but water and power usage must be self generated”
NO case · StuOH · 3 respects · read the thread ↓
Should new housing have 'cool roofs' to make them more energy efficient & help combat global warming? (E.G. LIGHT GREY)
Environment · 548 votes · 66% voted Yes
Should the government provide £65 million in new grants and adjustments to help farmers cope with drought?
Environment · 269 votes · 83% voted Yes
Should full ownership over our water shift back to public control, away from profit-driven private companies?
Environment · 272 votes · 82% voted Yes
Will Labour still be in power in 2030 to enforce the ban on new petrol and diesel cars?
Environment · 244 votes · 70% voted No
Does Andy Burnham's new government role for wildfires set the right spending priority?
Environment · 250 votes · 54% voted No
Is the climate change narrative a method to hinder capitalism?
Environment · 246 votes · 57% voted No
Should the government strengthen the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate to reach net zero faster?
Environment · 244 votes · 75% voted No
Will proposed prevention from human-induced (anthropogenic) climate change work?
Environment · 170 votes · 68% voted No
Every vote you cast builds your political profile — where you lean, worked out from real questions rather than fixed statements.
25 Opinions
Data centres are an important part of modern economic and digital infrastructure, even outside of their usage in the context of AI technology. With that in mind, a fourfold expansion is frankly excessive and places a massive energy strain onto the UK at a time in which we are already struggling to transition to green energy in the face of a climate crisis.
I'm thinking ... let the data centres be built if they also provide their own GREEN power supply and GREEN backup with no connection whatsoever to the UK power grid. Also existing data centres have 10yrs to change to the same setup.
Those banning data centres should be banned themselves from using Insta, Snap, Amazon, iCloud or any other service that uses a data centre. We might see fewer terminally online stupid opinions then.
Data centers are not new (everything in the Internet is stored in them) i would prefer having UK data centers running UK services rather than that data being sent overseas. But we have to take a pause on AI data centers specifically. We dont have enough regulation regarding AI and local people have genuine concerns they wish to be addressed first. Faster they cooperate with addressing local concerns the faster the ban can be lifted.
AI is going to transform the global economy over the next decade and the decisions we make now will determine our place in the world, we don't want to be left behind
No. Data centres use power and water. That is a management problem, not a reason to halt growth. Mismanaged water companies and NIMBY objections should not set national capacity. Ban the build and the investment, jobs and computing go abroad. Fix the grid and the leaks. Do not pause the country’s kit because local feeling objects.
Data centres are very welcome; but they must come with planning which minimises the impact on domestic supply of electricity. Transmission upgrades are needed and any reduction in the price of power to entice data centres in must not be at the cost of other bill payers. Joined up industrial thinking - who'd of thought it.
If we reject data centres then we will squander our gains in the AI race
They use too much electricity and water and they are using green fields to build them when they should use brown sites!
No, but nobody has actually explained how, or if, investing in data centres will improve national productivity. We could be risking our water and electricity supply so some kid can make faster Tiktoks or ask ChatGPT if they are really a boy.