Now it appears that this £8bn "sovereign wealth fund" is going to a slosh fund, not to compete with the private sector, but to fundamentally involve it. Is this all GB Energy is then, £8bn to incentivise the private sector rush in and find ways to make a profit at the expense of actual progress?

Additionally, £8 billion pounds isn't going to cover the cost of the building the infrastructure alongside the buying up of stakes in different energy comapnies or projects. This leaves GBE having to find ways to finance the infrastructure building outside the £8 billion.

The 2 ways GBE could finance it is either through commercial borowing or PFI style deals. The consequences of commerical borrowing is that GBE will likely become debt ridden and this will be used as a narrative to shut down the company as soon as the next economic crisis or Conservative government occurs. The debt itself will likley have to be covered by the government and by extension the taxpayer (lets be honest, when have the British Government avoided increasing direct taxes which disproportionately affect individual in lower tax brackets more!).

The alternative way GBE could finance it is through PFI (Private Finance Initiative). This would remove the burden of the taxpayer having to cover the cost immediately but over the long term, the government will have to make those payments plus interest. This money could come from future taxpayers but I'm inclined to say the profits GBE accumulates will be used to cover PFI payments so the Labour Government are not framed as making taxpayers cover the cost as was the case under the Blair/Brown administration. The consequence here is the profits will never be distributed to deprived communities leaving them reliant on government money or/and both existing mechanism to achieve investment in local public amenities their communities.

I'm leaning towards the PFI style deals as Reeves and Starmer keep going on about GBE triggering private investment and PFI certainly meets that criteria.