Ed Miliband – 2021 Comments on Power Cuts in North

The comments made by Ed Miliband, the Shadow Climate Change and Net Zero Secretary, in the House of Commons on 6 December 2021.

Communities in the North have been badly let down, not just by the power networks but by central government in its crisis response and its oversight of the system.

Last Wednesday in the House of Commons Kwasi Kwarteng said the overwhelming majority of those still without power would have it restored by Friday. Yet this has not happened.

People are being left in the most appalling circumstances but there has been an absence of government leadership. Communities in the North with their power cut off are being treated like second-class citizens.

After storms in 2013, power companies and the government said lessons would be learned. But clearly not enough was done to do that, and now working people and businesses are paying the cost for the Government’s failures.

Instead of a cosy government-led process, overseen by BEIS, we now need a proper, independent inquiry into the performance and failures of power companies, regulator and Government to make sure our country and communities are never left this vulnerable again.