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Tag: Ed Miliband

  • Ed Miliband – 2025 Speech to the Energy UK Conference

    Ed Miliband – 2025 Speech to the Energy UK Conference

    The speech made by Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero in London on 14 October 2025.

    Let me start by offering sincere thanks for Energy UK for hosting this conference.

    And I want to thank Dhara [Vyas] for your leadership over the last year as CEO, can you join me in giving this tribute.

    You are a brilliant champion of this industry.

    Coming here today I am once again reminded that it is an incredibly exciting time for the energy sector.

    Wherever you work, there is a sense of huge possibility for the future—and I want to thank you all for the work you are doing.

    And I am incredibly proud of everything we have achieved together over the last 15 months, it has only been possible because of our work together, including:

    Consenting record amounts of clean energy, enough to power the equivalent of more than 7.5 million homes—including just today Tillbridge solar farm, which alone will power hundreds of thousands of homes.

    We are ending the first come first served grid connections queue.

    Introducing the biggest reform of planning in a generation.

    Setting up Great British Energy.

    Investing in the biggest nuclear building programme in half a century.

    And kickstarting our carbon capture and hydrogen industries.

    None of this would have been possible without your advice, support and delivery.

    All these achievements speaks to a wider purpose, which I believe unites so many people in this room.

    Building our country’s clean energy future as part of a bigger vision of a fairer, more prosperous economy.

    Soon we’ll publish our Clean Energy Jobs Plan, which will show not just the hundreds of thousands of good jobs that already exist in this sector, but also the hundreds of thousands of new jobs we expect to be created by 2030. This making a difference.

    But of course, we also know that creating an economy for the many involves tackling the long-running cost of living crisis that so many people face.

    And that’s what I want to focus on today.

    We will be judged on the success of our mission in delivering for consumers, and rightly so.

    My case today is this:

    First, our exposure to fossil fuel markets remains the Achilles heel of our energy system, keeping bills high and giving us no long-term certainty over price.

    Second, that we face further challenges of historic under-investment in our energy system and growing electricity demand. The choice for the future is therefore what kind of energy system we want to build, not whether we want to build it at all. 

    Third, building clean energy is the right choice for the country because, despite the challenges, it is the only route to a system that can reliably bring down bills for good, and give us clean energy abundance.

    Fourth, as we build this new infrastructure, the government is determined to work with you to bring the benefits to families and businesses as quickly as possible.

    First, memories can be short in Westminster.

    But we should never forget the huge damage to family finances, business finances and the public finances caused by the energy shock we have been through in recent years—a shock that still reverberates today.

    And the reason for this damage is because the UK was and is so exposed to international fossil fuel markets due to our dependence on gas across the economy.

    Even today, wholesale gas costs for households are still 75% higher than before the energy crisis.

    If they were at pre-crisis levels, bills would be more than £200 a year lower than they are today for families.

    The same story applies to business.

    Industrial electricity prices soared at the start of the energy crisis and have remained stuck at high levels.

    So while it is true we have inherited a system of paying for network and other costs which is less weighted towards public spending than other countries, a large part of the issue facing industry in the UK is our exposure to fossil fuels.

    As UK Steel said earlier this year when talking about why energy intensive industries like theirs pay higher electricity prices in the UK than our European competitors:

    “The main driver of the price disparity is now wholesale electricity costs, driven by the UK’s reliance on natural gas power generation.”

    Going back further, this has been a long-standing weakness at the heart of the British economy and society, with half of our recessions since 1970 caused by fossil fuel shocks.

    And looking forward it remains a massive risk, particularly at a time of global instability.

    According to the Office for Budget Responsibility, if gas price spikes occurred even once every decade, it could cost the UK between 2 to 3% of GDP annually.

    So anyone who tells you we can solve the issues of energy security and affordability without addressing our reliance on fossil fuels seems to me to be ignoring the evidence before our eyes and this country’s painful recent experience.

    Second, this of course is not the only challenge we face in our energy system.

    In the years ahead, we expect a massive increase in electricity demand—around 50% by 2035 and a more than doubling by 2050.

    This is a massive opportunity for us.

    We want as a country to seize the opportunities of electric vehicles that are cheaper to run, new industries such as AI, and the benefits of electrification across the economy.

    But this task is made harder by the legacy of decades of under-investment in energy in this country to overcome.

    Whatever power sources they favour, people need to confront this reality.

    Much of the UK’s current nuclear fleet began operating in the 1980s and we haven’t brought a new nuclear power station onto the system since Sizewell B 30 years ago.

    At the same time, according to NESO, half the existing gas fleet has already been operating for over 20 years.

    To listen to some people talk, you would think there was a free pass to just carry on using unlimited gas from existing stations for the next few decades, but that is simply not the case.

    Of course, we could decide to stop building renewables and just rely on a whole new fleet of gas-fired power stations, but we need to be candid that this would involve the costs of building not just operating these plants.

    And the underinvestment we face isn’t just about generation:

    Much of the electricity grid was built in the 1960s and hasn’t been upgraded since.

    So the reality is there is no alternative to investment in both generation and the network to keep the power system running and seize the opportunities and meet the needs of the future.

    If the question therefore is not whether to build but what to build, the third part of my remarks is about why the government believes clean power is the right choice for the country.

    Let’s be absolutely clear what the cheapest sources of power are in this country, according to levelised cost estimates.

    Solar power and onshore wind.

    Strike prices for solar and onshore wind in our last auction, AR6, were nearly 50% cheaper than the levelised cost estimate to build and operate a new gas plant.

    Offshore wind, despite global cost pressures, was also cheaper than new gas.

    At a systems level, the prize of a renewables-based system, supported by nuclear and other technologies, is clear:

    It gets us off the fossil fuel rollercoaster, reducing our exposure as a country. Clean power 2030 will mean volatile gas sets the wholesale electricity price much less often than today.

    It is homegrown clean energy, which cannot be weaponised by dictators or petrostates, giving us much greater energy sovereignty.

    And it will significantly lower the wholesale costs of electricity, which will benefit heavy industry and has the potential to bring down consumer bills for good.

    At the same time, of course, wholesale prices aren’t the only costs paid for by consumers, and we need to fund investment in energy infrastructure—including in the upgrade that is now sorely needed because of previous neglect.

    In 2023 the previous government estimated four times as much transmission infrastructure needed to be built by the end of the decade as had been built since 1990.

    That network infrastructure is what is now being delivered under this government.

    Even taking this investment into account, the independent Climate Change Committee was clear in its Carbon Budget 7 advice:

    “As the electricity system decarbonises, with wind and solar displacing unabated gas, the underlying costs of electricity supply are expected to fall over time.”

    Of course, in this majority renewables system we are building, we will need a mix of energy technologies.

    That is why we are driving forward on renewables, nuclear, storage, CCUS, hydrogen, and gas will continue to play an important backup role for some time to come.

    Now as I have said, people are entitled to advocate for more fossil fuels and less, or even no more renewables as part of this mix.

    But here is the reality:

    They would leave us more exposed because we don’t control the price.

    They are more expensive to build and operate.

    They would leave us losing out in the global race for the jobs, investment and industries of the future.

    And they would drive a coach and horses through our efforts to tackle the climate crisis.

    That is why we believe that clean power is the right choice for the country.

    And the task ahead is to bear down on the costs of building, which face significant upward pressures, and work relentlessly to translate the lower wholesale costs of clean power into lower bills for consumers.

    As we face these challenges, we are looking at all the tools at our disposal:

    How public investment can help reduce costs, as we are doing through Sizewell C, for example.

    Using Reformed National Pricing to plan and build a more efficient system, which provides the right incentives to build the right generation in the right places. This is crucial to reduce constraint costs.

    And relentlessly focussing on value for money in each and every decision, as we have done for example by halving the subsidy for Drax power generation.

    And this approach will be what we apply to the upcoming auction round, AR7, and beyond, where delivering value for money is our top priority.

    We have made reforms to the auction to maximise competition between bidders and reduce the costs to consumers.

    And there are multiple pathways and technology mixes that can get us to clean power 2030.

    I want to be clear:

    We won’t buy at any price and if specific technologies aren’t competitive, we will look elsewhere.

    We will take the long-term decisions to secure the right amount of capacity at the right price for the country.

    In the coming weeks I will set the initial budget for AR7, working with the Treasury, and we will only go beyond it if it delivers clear value for money.

    As we drive towards clean power, we know that many are struggling with their bills now.

    And that takes me to the fourth part of my remarks about what we are doing to help families and businesses.

    This winter we are expanding the Warm Home Discount to give nearly three million more families on the lowest incomes £150 off their energy bills.

    We are increasing support for 7,000 energy intensive businesses.

    And we will shortly publish our Warm Homes Plan, kicking off Britain’s biggest programme of home upgrades in generations.

    Backed by £13.2 billion of public investment to upgrade up to 5 million homes over this parliament.

    The Warm Homes Plan will help families with the costs of solar, batteries, heat pumps and insulation to lower bills and tackle fuel poverty.

    In this room, we all know the potential this has to bring the benefit of clean electricity to people and lower their bills.

    This is something consumers with the means to do so are already taking advantage of.

    We want to spread those benefits much more widely so that this is not just a privilege for those who can afford it.

    Alongside this, we will reform the system of consumer protection and advice to help families make the choices that work for them and ensure the highest standards of installation.

    We also want to go further.

    That is why we will ensure new homes are built with solar and clean heating as standard.

    A common-sense policy which has been demanded by the public, championed by this industry, and will be delivered with the Future Homes Standard.

    And we don’t just want to stop at new homes.

    Solar power offers a cheap and quick way for people to generate their own energy and cut their bills by hundreds of pounds a year.

    Currently just 1.5 million homes—around 1 in 20—have solar panels installed.

    This is a massive opportunity to cut bills using the free resource of the sun.

    I am determined to extend this possibility to millions more families and I want to work with you to do it.

    So this is our plan: pursuing clean power by 2030 and bringing the benefits to families as quickly as possible to help with the pressures of affordability that so many face.

    The final point I want to make is this.

    There are two roads opening up for Britain, in a way that hasn’t been true for the last two decades.

    One road, a sprint to clean power—a partnership between industry and government.

    The other road, doubling down on our exposure to fossil fuels and turning our back not just on the progress in clean energy of the last 15 months but on the partnership of government and business over many decades.

    Going down this road would lose:

    The good jobs from the best economic opportunity of the 21st century.

    The energy security and sovereignty within our reach.

    And of course, our efforts on the climate crisis.

    Indeed, waving the white flag in the climate fight would mean we were rightly held in infamy by future generations.

    Now of course the breakdown of this consensus poses a challenge to our shared agenda.

    I am really confident we can persuade people that the road we have chosen is the right one.

    Because the country wants a positive vision and hope for the future and you are all in the hope business. I spoke to an apprentice at Sizewell C and he was buzzing about the opportunity and there will be many others.

    This country wants hope and optimism. 

    Because it is in our economic interests as a country.

    And because it is the answer to the affordability challenges that families and businesses face.

    I feel humbled to be Energy Secretary.

    Together I am determined we will make the right decisions in the months and years ahead to show the British people how our shared agenda can deliver for them.

  • Ed Miliband – 2025 Speech at Global Offshore Wind Conference

    Ed Miliband – 2025 Speech at Global Offshore Wind Conference

    The speech made by Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, at the ExCel Centre in London on 17 June 2025.

    Thank you, Jane [Cooper]. I just want to say how brilliant it is to be here today, it’s a real privilege. I read my old speech from a year ago, about 15 days before the general election, and it holds up reasonably well to history.

    I felt an incredible sense of excitement back then about having a chance to be Secretary of State, and today I feel an incredible sense of privilege. One of the reasons I feel that sense of privilege is because of all of you, because of the incredibly inspiring things you are doing for energy security, for jobs, around the country, and to tackle the climate crisis.

    I also want to pay tribute to Jane, you are doing an absolutely brilliant job championing this industry – you and the RenewableUK team are truly outstanding.

    Can I say at the same time we are delighted to have secured our superstar signing Dan McGrail as interim CEO of Great British Energy – it’s fantastic to have him and Juergen Maier both here, as well as my colleague Michael Shanks, Minister for Energy who many of you will have met and is doing an absolutely brilliant job, and it’s a privilege to work alongside.

    As I walked into the conference today and saw the banner ‘Mission: Possible’, I felt a real sense of excitement.

    Because when I look around the exhibition hall and this room, I feel that overwhelming sense of possibility, as the slogan suggests.

    Huge economic and industrial opportunities for Britain, huge chances to transform our country. Challenges of course, but as I say I am incredibly proud of this industry, and for 5 years we have worked together on a shared agenda.

    For energy security, lower bills, good jobs and climate.

    I think it is an inspiring and exciting vision of a new era of clean energy abundance for Britain, getting off the rollercoaster of fossil fuels – and we’re reminded by geo-political events all the time how important that is.

    And at the Spending Review last week we committed to the most significant programme of investment in homegrown clean energy in the UK’s history.

    On Tuesday, we announced the biggest nuclear building programme in a generation, creating jobs in Suffolk, Nottinghamshire and across the UK.

    On Thursday, investment in kickstarting carbon capture in Aberdeenshire and the Humber.

    On Friday, half a billion pounds of funding for Britain’s first hydrogen network to help drive industrial renewal.

    And today we go further with a genuinely transformative package of investment in offshore wind supply chains and jobs.

    I truly believe we are witnessing the coming of age of Britain’s green industrial revolution as we build this new era.

    I think it demonstrates above all what an active and strategic government working in the closest partnership with industry can achieve.

    So I want to talk today about the clarity of mission we’re seeking to provide, the way we’re breaking down the barriers to success – barriers you talked a lot with us about when in opposition – the role of catalytic public investment – which is partly about the announcement I’m making today – and then a bit about what I would ask from you as an industry.

    First, I know it has been a tough time for the industry.

    Offshore wind is not immune from the global economic challenges we have seen in the last few years, many of which remain present today.

    My response and my responsibility is to ensure that you have the clarity and certainty you need to make future investment decisions, because I know the biggest enemy of investment is uncertainty.

    We want Britain to be a safe haven for investment.

    That is why from day one we have offered a clear sense of direction, with our goals to deliver clean power by 2030 and accelerate to net zero across the economy.

    Just 6 months after we came to office we published our 2030 Clean Power Action Plan.

    Setting out for the first time the different pathways for deployment of different technologies.

    Offshore wind, onshore wind, solar, nuclear, batteries, hydrogen, CCUS.

    To give developers and investors clarity about the direction of travel.

    When we came to office we also took decisions around AR6 to make it a record-breaking auction.

    But we have also listened hard to the industry about how we can improve the auction process – particularly for fixed and floating offshore wind.

    And we will shortly confirm key decisions for the AR7 auction. I want to say to you very clearly, as far as that decision is concerned and all other decisions, my overriding priority is to give you confidence and certainty because I know these are essential ingredients for you to make the long-term investments we need.

    Second, for years clean energy projects have been held back by barriers and blockages.

    You told us we needed to deal with them.

    So over the last 11 months, that’s what we have gone about doing.

    On planning, we lifted the onshore wind ban within 72 hours of coming to office.

    We’ve introduced the Planning and Infrastructure Bill – the biggest reform of planning in a generation.

    And we’ve sped up planning decisions, including consenting enough clean energy to power the equivalent of almost 2 million homes.

    On grid, we’ve ended the first come first served connections queue which wasn’t serving our country well, prioritising the power projects we need.

    And we’ve brought forward plans to ensure communities benefit from hosting clean energy infrastructure.

    We’re also working with Defra on improving environmental consenting.

    On radar, we’ve worked with the Ministry of Defence to resolve funding issues that have plagued this sector for years.

    On skills, we’ve backed industry’s skills passport for oil and gas workers.

    And set up the Office for Clean Energy Jobs to ensure we have the skilled workforce we need and to do that planning with our colleagues at the Department for Education.

    In addressing these long-standing issues, we are trying to break down those barriers, which again get in the way of your investment and try to make progress step by step and demonstrating each day what a mission driven government means.

    My observation from the first 11 months in office is having this as one of the Prime Minister’s 5 missions makes all the difference in driving through Whitehall and working with others.

    Third, alongside clarity, certainty and breaking down the barriers we are delivering catalytic public investment to secure jobs and supply chains as part of our long-term industrial strategy.

    This is the right choice for Britain because we want those jobs, it’s also the right choice for our energy security and resilience – and the right long-term way I believe to deal with some of the pressures the industry faces.

    I think it’s fair to say we know that for too long governments have not focused enough on ensuring our success in offshore wind generation leads to the jobs our country needs.

    This government is different.

    There is a global race for these jobs, and we are determined to create them in Britain.

    You told us public investment could unlock funding from the private sector – and you’re right.

    With Great British Energy that is what we are committed to do.

    And today we are announcing a truly historic partnership between public and private investors.

    Hundreds of millions of public funding from Great British Energy crowding in many hundreds of millions more from the offshore wind industry and The Crown Estate.

    Enabling us to today announce a total of £1 billion of supply chain funding to bring offshore wind jobs to Britain.

    It’s designed, this fund, to turbocharge the brilliant work of the sector’s Industrial Growth Plan to invest in ports and factories, so we make turbine towers, blades, foundations and cables here in the UK.

    Helping to drive the clean energy rollout at home and capture a growing export market abroad – including seizing the opportunities of being an early mover in floating offshore wind.

    And this is just the start, with Great British Energy bringing together a wider group of public and private investors to build our offshore wind supply chains and I am incredibly excited about the work that Juergen and Dan are doing at GBE.

    Today I can also confirm we have released the results of the first Clean Industry Bonus round.

    Again here, you told us that the private sector would step up, if we showed the importance of building supply chains here in the UK, and again you were right.

    We were delighted by the response of developers to this scheme.

    Showing that when government leads with ambition, industry is ready to match it.

    We calculate that every pound of public money could unlock up to £17 of private investment.

    The Clean Industry Bonus unleashing the potential of billions of private investment in factories and ports from the North East to East Anglia to Scotland.

    When we talk about catalytic investment, this is what we mean.

    Public investment crowding in, not crowding out, the private capital we need.

    And giving you the confidence to build a long-term industrial base for Britain.

    So look, these are some of the steps we’re taking. Government doesn’t get everything right, but what we are seeking to do is deliver on the promises we made to you in opposition about how we can work together – a true partnership.

    Now often the industry asks me, how can we help you to deliver this mission? Let me just give you a few thoughts on that.

    On jobs, you have a crucial role in reversing decades of failure to invest in our industrial communities and creating a new generation of good jobs at decent wages.

    You have shown your commitment to building supply chains in Britain.

    And my ask of you is to ensure you deliver the 95,000 jobs this industry says it could support in the UK by the end of the decade.

    On trade unions, there is important work on union recognition in some renewables companies.

    But I want to be clear: this government considers trade unions as an essential part of a modern workplace and economy.

    So I ask you to recognise the huge value of partnering with trade unions in all parts of the industry.

    And finally, I would say this:

    I am one of your biggest champions because I know that this mission is the route to building a more secure energy system that can bring down bills for good.

    As we consider the multiple pathways to clean power, my mandate to Chris Stark as head of our 2030 Mission Control, is to deliver at least cost to billpayers and taxpayers and the most economic benefit to the country.

    So in AR7, AR8, AR9 and beyond, value for money for billpayers is our priority, recognising that while the market needs to make a return, we also need to deliver a fair price for consumers.

    Once again, this must be a partnership between us.

    We are doing everything we can, as I have set out, to help the industry continue its strong record in bringing down costs.

    And I urge you to continue to drive forward with innovation and competition to deliver for the country.

    Let me end with this before we get into questions.

    I think over the last 11 months we have shown that Britain is back in the race for the jobs and industries of the future.

    And above all we have shown one thing fundamentally, which is we are serious about delivering. When we said it, we meant it. When we said becoming a clean energy superpower would become one of the Prime Minister’s 5 missions, we meant it. I have my regular meetings with the Prime Minister about this issue and he is incredibly inspired by what you are delivering.

    What we’re seeking to do is have a plan to deliver.

    Clear and consistent leadership.

    Breaking down the barriers.

    Catalytic public investment.

    A true partnership between government, trade unions and industry.

    We believe this is how we build the age of clean energy abundance.

    This is how we boost our energy independence and bring down bills for families and businesses.

    This is how we seize the economic and industrial opportunity of our time.

    And this is how we face up to the greatest long-term challenge we face as a country and as a world, the climate crisis.

    My final thought is this: of course, the industry faces challenges that I am aware of. Nobody believed this was going to be easy, the kind of transformation we are talking about in our economy and in our energy system.

    The thing I feel above all, after 11 months in this role, is more of a sense of optimism about what we can achieve together, more of a sense of optimism that this is the right path for energy security, more of a sense of optimism that this can be the jobs driver of the 21st century for our country.

    Going round the country, there’s nothing more inspiring than seeing those jobs being created and the opportunity for young people doing apprenticeships and being part of this industry.

    I am more certain than ever this is the right path to tackle the biggest long-term threat to humanity, the climate crisis.

    Thank you so much for what you do for our country, thank you so much for your partnership with government.

    And I look forward to continuing to work together to do great things in the months and years ahead.

    Thank you.

  • Ed Miliband – 2024 Speech at Labour Party Conference

    Ed Miliband – 2024 Speech at Labour Party Conference

    The speech made by Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, on 23 September 2024.

    It’s great to be here in Liverpool.

    I want to start by thanking my brilliant ministerial team, Miatta Fahnbulleh, Phil Hunt, Sarah Jones, Michael Shanks and Kerry McCarthy.

    And let’s hear it for Charlie for his brilliant speech.

    I want to thank each and every one of you for the work you did at the election to sweep away the Tories that failed the British people over 14 long, wasted years.

    The governments of Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak.

    Consigned to the dustbin of history thanks to your hard work.

    And lets thank our leader Keir Starmer who led us out of the wilderness and to election victory.

    But friends, we fought that election, not for ourselves, but with one simple idea: things can, and must be better for the British people.

    We must build a country that puts working people first once again.

    And just look at what your Labour government has been able to do on energy in a few short weeks.

    The onshore wind ban in place for 9 years under the Tories, swept away in 72 hours under Labour.

    Cheap, clean solar power, blocked for years under the Tories, unlocked in the first week of a Labour government.

    Offshore wind trashed under the Tories, roaring back under Labour with the most successful renewable auction in history.

    That’s the difference a Labour government makes.

    And I’ll tell you something else that has changed.

    Now this may surprise you, but the last Tory government believed in public ownership of our energy infrastructure, but only if it was by foreign governments.

    We believe the British people have the right to own and benefit from our natural resources.

    And friends, we’re making it happen

    Great British Energy, demanded by this conference, at the heart of our manifesto, overwhelmingly backed by the public now being delivered by your Labour government.

    That’s the difference a Labour government makes.

    And friends, my message today is this:

    We’ve only just started.

    Of course, the country faces hard times.

    There is no doubt the Tories have left Britain in a complete mess.

    But hear me when I say this – because we are Labour, tough times mean we don’t lower our sights, we raise them.

    Why? Because for every family in poverty, every young person denied opportunity, every community locked out of prosperity, the challenges they face after 14 years of the Tories demand more ambition from us not less.

    So our inheritance is a call to greater action and a decade of national renewal.

    And at the election, there was an argument about our country’s future.

    The Tories and their friends on the right said we should turn away from the climate and clean energy.

    We said no, and we won the argument.

    And I’ll tell you why. Because the British people know that our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower is the way to put energy policy back in the service of working people.

    For social justice, economic justice, climate justice.

    So as Charlie said, the Tory energy failure has left us exposed as a country with the British people paying the price.

    At the mercy of global fossil fuel markets.

    That is why energy prices will rise once again on October 1st.

    And there is only one way for us to fix the Tory mess: our mission for clean power by 2030.

    Onshore wind, solar power, offshore wind, nuclear, tidal, hydrogen, carbon capture.

    An armoury of clean power.

    While the Tories left us weak and vulnerable, this Labour government will break the power of the petrostates and dictators over our energy policy.

    In words that will sound familiar, we can, we must, we will Take Back Control of our energy.

    And we will bring this opportunity to your area with our local power plan for local neighbourhoods.

    Solar panels on your local school, housing estate, community centre.

    Turbines.

    Batteries.

    Thousands of projects across Britain.

    Tackling fuel poverty.

    Led by Labour local authorities.

    That’s the difference a Labour government makes

    And we’ve only just started.

    We all know that the poorest people in our country often live in cold, draughty homes.

    Many rent from private landlords, below decent standards.

    Friends I say it is a Tory legacy.

    It is a Tory scandal.

    It is a Tory outrage.

    This Labour government will not tolerate it.

    So I can tell you today: we will end this injustice.

    Decent standards for private rented homes.

    Warmer homes, lower bills.

    That’s the difference a Labour government makes.

    And because being Labour means in tough times we raise our sights and don’t lower them, I can today announce that we will go further.

    With Angela Rayner, we will ensure that every family living in a council house, every family living in social housing of any kind will have a right to these standards too.

    Over 1 million people lifted out of fuel poverty.

    That’s the difference a Labour government makes.

    And our mission, our energy policy, is about delivering economic justice too.

    Clean energy is the biggest economic opportunity of our time.

    But for years, our country has been failed by the Tory fly-by-night, short term, free market nonsense that failed British workers.

    But friends, no more.

    Under this Labour government, as Rachel Reeves so brilliantly said this morning, industrial policy is back.

    We care about what we make, where things are made and who makes them.

    And I promise you this: I will use every lever we have to win jobs and build new industries for Britain.

    Great British Energy, the National Wealth Fund, the British Jobs Bonus.

    And let’s spell out what this future means: jobs building carbon capture and storage.

    Jobs Manufacturing electrolysers for hydrogen.

    Jobs constructing the next generation of nuclear power stations.

    Jobs manufacturing for floating wind.

    Using the skills of our North Sea workers, and to decarbonise our country.

    A plan to re-industralise our country.

    That’s the difference a Labour government makes.

    And here’s another difference:

    There can no longer be the belief, as there was under the Tories, that these new industries could be a union-free zone.

    As I said to the energy companies on day 1 of my appointment: decent pay, good conditions, workers and unions must be at the heart of these new industries we build.

    That’s the difference a Labour government makes.

    And just as we will do right by today’s generations in our energy policy, so we will do right by past generations that powered our country.

    Across Britain, hundreds of thousands went down the mines.

    Too often they paid the price in ill health, and even with their lives. I know it from my own constituency.

    We owe them the greatest debt.

    But we know there is unfinished business.

    The scandal of the mineworkers’ pension scheme.

    And so this Labour government will honour the promise in our manifesto to finally deliver justice to mineworkers and their families.

    That’s the difference a Labour government makes.

    Social justice, economic justice and climate justice too.

    The greatest moral obligation we have is to do right by our children, our grandchildren and the generations to come.

    The Tories used to say that because Britain was just 1% of global emissions, that was somehow an excuse for inaction.

    And under them, Britain shrank and deserted the global stage.

    We say: never again.

    We can only keep future generations safe if we show global climate leadership.

    Using the power of our example at home to demand that others act too.

    That’s why later this week, Keir and I will be representing you on behalf of the British government at the United Nations, with one clear message.

    Britain is back in the business of climate leadership.

    Getting serious about shifting away from fossil fuels.

    Demanding every major company must have proper climate plans.

    The first major country to set the goal of clean power by 2030.

    Just as we were the first government in the world to deliver a Climate Change Act in 2008.

    That is what we mean by climate leadership.

    That’s the difference a Labour government can make and will make.

    Social justice.

    Economic justice.

    Climate justice.

    And my friends as we face the big challenges of today, tough times, let’s take inspiration from the Labour governments of the past, on whose shoulders we stand today.

    Think for a minute of what they achieved in their time despite all the difficulties they faced.

    In 1945, our party, Labour, created the NHS despite inheriting a country ravaged by war.

    In 1964, our party, Labour, built the future, despite a legacy of 13 Tory wasted years.

    In 1997, our party, Labour, created the minimum wage, rebuilt the NHS and established Parliaments for Scotland and Wales, after 18 years of decline and division.

    There is a lesson here, those who went before us did not lower their sights, they raised them.

    Now this is our chance, in our time, to write a new chapter in the history of our great country.

    That is our obligation to the British people.

    Every day in government a chance to change Britain.

    And I want to end on a more personal note.

    I lost the General Election in 2015.

    In tough times you sustained me. You kept me going. And now you have given me the chance to serve.

    I will not let you down.

    Friends, Labour is back.

    Britain is back.

    And we have indeed only just started.

    Thank you.

  • Ed Miliband – 2024 Speech at the Energy UK Conference

    Ed Miliband – 2024 Speech at the Energy UK Conference

    The speech made by Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, at One Great George Street, London on 17 September 2024.

    Thank you, Emma [Pinchbeck] for that incredibly kind introduction and for your thought leadership and public advocacy.

    And thank you to Energy UK for hosting this important conference.

    I wanted first to thank all of the companies gathered here for the work you do for our country.

    [political content removed] it is an absolute privilege for me to have the chance to work with you in government.

    Now unusually for a cabinet minister, as you know, I’m in a job I’ve done before.

    It’s a rare privilege to go back to a job you first did 16 years ago and seek to learn from experience and maybe even do it better.

    I would recommend it if you’re thinking about it.

    The more serious reason for mentioning my previous role is back in 2008, a few months into my role, I gave a speech about the strategic framework that would underpin our approach. That’s what I want to do again today 16 years on, including specifically by reflecting on what has changed since then to learn lessons for the future.

    In my experience, this strategic framework really matters for government because it sets out the direction of travel providing a clear routemap for business and a plan for the country.

    First, this is my argument today, back in 2008, debates were shaped by the energy trilemma – the trade-offs between affordability, security and sustainability.

    The trilemma helped promote the idea that while fossil fuels might not offer sustainability, they did offer security and affordability to the country.

    Our mission today is shaped by the reality that, for Britain, this old paradigm has disintegrated.

    The experience of the last 2 and a half years has shown us that fossil fuels simply cannot provide us with the security, or indeed the affordability, we need – quite the opposite.

    Second part of my case is that the trilemma has been replaced by a clean energy imperative: the drive to clean energy is right not just on grounds of climate, which we all knew back then, but also energy security and affordability.

    As the Climate Change Committee puts it very well, “British-based renewable energy is the cheapest and fastest way to reduce vulnerability to volatile global fossil fuel markets.”

    The lesson for this government is that we must build a new era of greater energy independence on the foundation of clean energy.

    Third part of my remarks is about proceeding from that is strategic framework as a government, the context is that, compared to 2008, it is much clearer how enormous the challenge of the energy transition is, but it’s also clearer the opportunities that there are for job creation and growth.

    So I will come, at the end, to reflect on our approach for the government to the task ahead and how we can work with business to meet it.

    First part of my remarks is with what Britain has been through in the last 2 and a half years:

    The worst cost of living crisis in a generation, driven by the unprecedented energy shock that followed Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

    It has been a disaster for business, family finances, the economy and the public finances – and it still casts a long shadow.

    Typical energy bills nearly doubled in the space of a year.

    Millions struggled with fuel poverty and many still face enormous debts.

    Inflation soared and growth sputtered.

    And the government was forced to spend the eye watering sum of £94 billion to support households with the cost of living, almost as much as our defence budget over the entire period.

    And the crisis isn’t over.

    Bills will rise again next month due to the latest gyrations of global gas prices.

    Now it’s our view as a government that no country should experience a crisis of the scale, the one we have been through, with such devastating effects, and simply carry on as it did before.

    We must learn the lessons.

    And the central lesson of the crisis for Britain is that we paid a heavy price because of our exposure to fossil fuels.

    Yes Britain has made progress on the rollout of renewables, but we still depend on gas to generate more than a third of our electricity and to heat more than four out of five of our homes.

    The decline of North Sea production since the 2000s now means more than half of that gas comes from abroad.

    But what matters even more, and this is the critical point, is that whether the gas comes from the North Sea or is imported, it is sold at the same price on the international market.

    Britain is a price-taker not a price-maker.

    So every therm of gas we bought, wherever it came from, shot up in price in response to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

    This is the fundamental point not understood in policy debates.

    And so as long as we are dependent on fossil fuels, no matter where they come from, we will be stuck on the rollercoaster of volatile international markets.

    We simply won’t have control over our energy bills and any politician that pretends we will is trying to fool you, because these markets are in the grip of dictators and petrostates.

    What’s more, we know that from Russia’s war in Ukraine to conflict in the Middle East, we live in an age of heightened geopolitical risk.

    So Britain remains exposed to another surge in prices and indeed the Office for Budget Responsibility has warned about this and the potential cost to billpayers and taxpayers.

    Dependence on fossil fuels leaves us deeply vulnerable as a country.

    The government’s view is we cannot go on like this.

    The second part of my case is that in place of the trilemma, there is now a clean energy imperative: the answers to security, and affordability, as well as sustainability, all now point in the direction of investing in clean energy at speed and scale.

    The sustainability case is clear because we know it is the use of fossil fuels that is driving the climate crisis.

    But the security case too is stark—and I think has been too often underplayed.

    It has been put well by my Irish counterpart Eamon Ryan who I met last week, who rightly says: “No one has ever weaponised access to the sun or the wind.”

    Homegrown clean energy from renewables and nuclear offers us a security that fossil fuels simply cannot provide.

    The energy is produced here, consumed here and is not subject to the same volatility of international markets.

    And it is on affordability that the most transformative development of recent years has taken place: the dramatic drop in the price of renewables.

    This is a genuinely transformative change since I was Energy Secretary in the 2000s. Since 2015 alone, despite recent global cost pressures, the price of both onshore wind and solar has still fallen by more than a third.

    The price of offshore wind has halved.

    And the price of batteries has fallen by more than two-thirds.

    This means, on the basis of the prices in our recent auction, renewables are the cheapest form of power to build and operate. I could not have said that back in 2008.

    And the price of fixed offshore wind in the auction was around 5 to 7 times lower than the price of electricity, driven by the price of gas, at the peak of the energy crisis.

    Cheap, clean renewables offer us price stability that fossil fuels simply cannot provide.

    That means that if we are serious about energy security, family security, economic security and national security, we need the greater energy independence that only clean energy can give us.

    Of course, there will be a transition that will take time, and oil and gas, including from the North Sea, will continue to play an important role in our economy for decades to come.

    This is the crucial point, what our whole mandate is about for clean power by 2030…

    But the lesson I draw is that the faster we go, the more secure we become.

    Every wind turbine we put up, every solar panel we install, every piece of grid we construct helps protect families from future energy shocks.

    This is an argument that we need to have as a country – what Emma said is right – because the converse is also true.

    Every wind turbine we block, every solar farm we reject, every piece of grid we fail to build makes us less secure and more exposed.

    Previous governments have ducked and dithered and delayed these difficult decisions, and here is the thing: it is the poorest in our society who have paid the price.

    My message today is we will take on the blockers, the delayers, the obstructionists, because the clean energy sprint is the economic justice, energy security and national security fight of our time.

    And that’s why, and I couldn’t have said this in 2008, one of the Prime Minister’s 5 driving missions is to make Britain a clean energy superpower:

    Delivering clean power by 2030. And accelerating to net zero across the economy.

    Driving to homegrown clean energy not just in the power sector but when it comes to how we heat our homes, fuel our transport and power our industry.

    And I just want to say to this audience – it’s really important that the mission driven government approach means that this is a whole of government mission, led from the top by the Prime Minister and the Chancellor and indeed championed by the Foreign Secretary, who is giving a speech later on today about his commitment to tackling the climate crisis.

    This then is the strategic paradigm for policy under this government.

    The good news is that the clean energy imperative that I described, in particular the fall in the costs of renewables, has accelerated how quickly we can make the transition compared to what we imagined back in 2008.

    It is important to say this: the world has consistently outperformed projections for the global deployment of renewables, an illustration of our ability – time and time again – to do more than we think is possible, mission impossible.

    But it’s also true to say that much else that we have learnt since then suggests the challenge is greater.

    Of course, we knew in 2008 that we faced the task of transforming our economy more profoundly than at any time in more than 200 years.

    But the task is now more urgent, and the stakes higher.

    Climate change is no longer a future threat but a present-day reality.

    And the world is way off track from where we need to be to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees.

    Indeed the prospects are truly frightening.

    And for Britain of course, in 2008 we were aiming for an 80% reduction in emissions by 2050. That was one of the changes that I made when I became Secretary of State.

    Since 2019, it’s been net zero.

    At the same time it’s clearer the challenges are greater, so the opportunities are more clearly greater too.

    This is a chance to create hundreds of thousands of good jobs and drive investment into all parts of the UK.

    That is why our clean energy mission is at the heart of our growth mission.

    And we have huge strengths to draw on.

    Our status as an island nation, with our unrivalled potential for offshore wind.

    The unique geology of the North Sea, which has capacity to store 200 years of our carbon emissions.

    The rooftops of our great towns, villages and cities to harness the sun.

    Britain’s considerable nuclear expertise and our skilled workforce who have a huge role to play in powering our clean energy future, with a new generation of nuclear, such as Sizewell C and SMRs.

    And significant opportunities in hydrogen, tidal and other technologies.

    These are exciting possibilities.

    With Britain’s dynamic businesses, world-leading universities, and our skilled scientists, technicians and engineers.

    I genuinely say we should be incredibly optimistic about what we can do together for our country.

    This is much more at the centre of our economic strategy than it was then.

    We need to face facts, however.

    Britain is not on course to meet the challenges or maximise the opportunities.

    The Climate Change Committee progress report published 2 weeks after we came to office said we were way off track to meet our 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution: with just one-third of the emissions reductions required backed by credible plans.

    And I’m afraid, this is something we need to work on together, Britain has underdelivered on promises of clean energy jobs.

    Germany has almost twice as many renewable jobs per capita as Britain.

    Sweden almost 3 times as many.

    Denmark almost 4 times as many.

    As other countries race ahead to lead in the industries of the future, Britain must not be left behind.

    This government was elected to both rise to the challenges more effectively and seize the opportunities more effectively too.

    And that’s what I want to focus on in the last part of my remarks.

    And I want to say something about how the role of government can contribute: as architect of the clean energy system, as the driver of the dynamism and as the guarantor of fairness in the transition.

    First, on government as architect, 5 days into my job, I appointed Chris Stark, formerly of the Climate Change Committee, to head up 2030 Mission Control in my department.

    Mission Control is about a new way of working, bringing together the relevant players across government and industry to plan and deliver.

    The task I have given Chris is to set out a plan for 2030 clean power, at least cost to billpayers and taxpayers, maximising the economic opportunities for Britain.

    I genuinely believe the absence of a plan is one of the reasons for our inheritance and why our country has been left so exposed.

    Of course, the energy transition is fraught with uncertainty but unless there is a line of sight for businesses and investors, you just won’t have the confidence to invest the hundreds of billions that Emma talked about in her speech.

    So as a first step, Chris and I have asked the Electricity System Operator, the NESO, to provide advice on the pathway to 2030 clean power, including where infrastructure should be sited, to maximise speed and minimise costs.

    Their expert advice will inform our 2030 plan.

    Second, having a plan is merely the first step because the next test is whether you are willing to make the decisions to meet it.

    For too long, investment in clean energy has been held back by inertia across the board: on planning, grid, supply chains and skills—and because of the failures of government.

    I guess I should say here, to some businesses in the room, on the basis of past experience, the state as driver of dynamism might sound like an oxymoron.

    You might indeed laugh.

    We intend to try and shatter your disillusion.

    In 2 months or so, we’ve already lifted the onshore wind ban.

    Consented nearly 2GW of nationally significant solar.

    And delivered the most successful renewables auction in British history.

    I want to give you another concrete example of mission-driven government in action. I want you to think of your frustrations.

    For 15 years, offshore wind has been plagued by a long-running dispute over defence radar.

    A week before the AR6 auction, I was warned that unless we resolved the funding of this radar it could drive up auction prices, leading to higher costs for consumers.

    Working with the Treasury and the Ministry of Defence we resolved the auction issue and reassured developers.

    That was mission drive government in action. That was us armed with the Prime Minister’s commitment and mission to work with the rest of government.

    We won’t always get it right but this a sign of how we intend to proceed.

    This is a government in a hurry to deliver our mandate from the British people.

    Third, if the transition is to succeed, government must act as a guarantor of fairness.

    As somebody who believes this country suffers from deep injustice, I am determined that we do not go from an unequal, unfair, high carbon Britain to an unequal, unfair clean energy Britain.

    We must, in this transition, tackle fuel poverty, create good jobs, clean up our air, improve access to nature and quality of life.

    And I passionately believe we can.

    Our Warm Homes Plan will fund energy efficiency and clean heating to upgrade homes and cut fuel poverty.

    Great British Energy’s Local Power Plan will deliver the biggest expansion of support for community-owned energy in British history and ensure benefits flow directly to local communities, part of our commitment that where communities host clean energy infrastructure, they should benefit from it.

    We will also stand up for billpayers by reforming Ofgem to make it a strong consumer champion.

    And this winter we are committed to working with suppliers, and across government to help those who are vulnerable.

    And this role for government, in guaranteeing fairness, applies as much to workers.

    I know from my own constituency, a former mining community, that for decades the demand for good jobs has not sufficiently been met.

    We have the greatest opportunity in a generation to meet this demand and I am determined we will.

    Great British Energy will work with business to invest in frontier technologies to help us lead as a country.

    Our National Wealth Fund will strengthen our supply chains.

    The British Jobs Bonus will help reward those who invest in our industrial heartlands and coastal communities.

    And we are determined to ensure a fair transition for every industry, including our North Sea communities.

    Our North Sea workers have huge talents which can continue to serve us in oil and gas as well as industries like CCUS, renewables and hydrogen.

    And we need your help to undertake this transition in the right way.

    Understanding your responsibility to build the supply chains for new industries in Britain because we do care where things are made.

    Embracing the voice of workers and a role for trade unions as fossil fuel industries have traditionally done.

    And acting together with us to ensure no worker, no community is left behind.

    People will judge us on whether this transition delivers fairness, and rightly so.

    To sum up our approach working with you: government as architect, driver of dynamism and guarantor of fairness, working in the closest partnership with business to make this transition a success.

    Let me end my remarks where I began.

    It’s an absolutely enormous privilege to be working with business and indeed civil society on the most important challenges facing our country and our world.

    I confess I am at one and the same time energised by the task and also conscious of the deep responsibility it carries.

    We know the stakes of action versus inaction.

    We know we can only deliver energy security, lower bills and good jobs for today’s generations if we become a clean energy superpower.

    And we can only deliver climate security for future generations, including Emma’s daughter, by showing global climate leadership, built on the power of our example. That is the summary of what this government is setting about doing.

    And when the Prime Minister talks about mission-driven government, this is what he means.

    The people in this room are what he means.

    Working together with government for:

    Energy independence.

    Lower bills.

    Good jobs.

    And a healthy environment we can pass on to future generations.

    I have absolute faith that together we can do great things for our country and our world.

    I am still in politics because of how much I care about this fight.

    And I look forward to working with you all in the months and years ahead.

  • Ed Miliband – 2024 Statement on Energy Infrastructure Planning Projects

    Ed Miliband – 2024 Statement on Energy Infrastructure Planning Projects

    The statement made by Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, in the House of Commons on 18 July 2024.

    This statement confirms that it has been necessary to extend the deadlines for decisions on the following four applications made under the Planning Act 2008:

    The Mallard Pass solar farm development consent order for the construction and operation of a solar farm energy generation development on land in Lincolnshire, South Kesteven and Rutland by Mallard Pass Solar Farm Ltd. The Secretary of State received the examining authority’s report on 16 February 2024, and the previous deadline for a decision was 13 June 2024.

    The Sunnica solar farm development consent order for the construction and operation of a solar farm and battery storage energy generation development on land in Cambridgeshire by Sunnica Ltd. The Secretary of State received the examining authority’s report on 28 June 2023, and the previous deadline for a decision was 20 June 2024.

    The Gate Burton energy park development consent order for the construction and operation of a solar farm and battery storage energy generation development on land in Lincolnshire by Gate Burton Energy Park Ltd. The Secretary of State received the examining authority’s report on 4 April 2024 and the previous deadline for a decision was 4 July 2024.

    The North Lincolnshire green energy park development consent order for the construction and operation of a combined heat and power enabled energy generating development, with an electrical output of up to 95 MWe, incorporating carbon capture, associated district heat and private wire networks, hydrogen production, ash treatment, and other associated developments on land at Flixborough industrial estate, Scunthorpe by North Lincolnshire Green Energy Park Ltd. The Secretary of State received the examining authority’s report on 15 August 2023, and the previous deadline for a decision was 18 July 2024.

    Under section 107(1) of the Planning Act 2008, the Secretary of State must make a decision on an application within three months of the receipt of the examining authority’s report unless exercising the power under section 107(3) of the Act to set a new deadline. Where a new deadline is set, the Secretary of State must make a statement to Parliament to announce it. Prior to taking decisions, the Secretary of State decided to set new deadlines for the applications as follows:

    Mallard Pass solar farm: 22 July 2024.

    Sunnica solar farm: 22 July 2024.

    Gate Burton energy park: 22 July 2024.

    This is due to the general election as no decisions are taken during a pre-election period. This is the first opportunity I have had to update the House on these cases.

    The decisions for those cases extended to 22 July have now been taken. In the case of the North Lincolnshire green energy park, the new deadline is 18 October 2024 to allow for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to consider the evidence gathered by its review into the role of waste incineration capacity in the management of residual wastes in England.

    The Department will always endeavour to issue decisions ahead of the deadlines above, wherever possible.

    The decision to set the new deadline for the North Lincolnshire green energy park application is without prejudice to the decision on whether to grant or refuse development consent.

  • Ed Miliband – 2024 Statement on the Clean Energy Superpower Mission

    Ed Miliband – 2024 Statement on the Clean Energy Superpower Mission

    The statement made by Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, in the House of Commons on 18 July 2024.

    With permission, I would like to make a statement about the Government’s mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower. This Government were elected two weeks ago. Since then, we have lifted the onshore wind ban in England, which had been in place since 2015; consented more than 1.3 GW of solar projects, powering the equivalent of almost 400,000 homes; established the 2030 mission control centre in my Department under Chris Stark to plan and deliver our mission; and established under the Chancellor a national wealth fund to create good clean energy jobs across our country. We are just getting started.

    We are moving at this pace for one overriding reason: the urgency of the challenges we face. We have the challenge of our energy insecurity, laid bare by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and paid for by the British people in the worst cost of living crisis in generations. We have the challenge of an economy that does not work for working people, with too few good jobs at decent wages. We have the challenge of the climate crisis—not a future threat, but a present reality. This Government have a driving philosophy: homegrown clean energy can help us tackle all those challenges, including crucially energy security. Today the Climate Change Committee publishes its progress report to Parliament. I thank the interim chair Piers Forster and the interim chief executive James Richardson for their excellent work.

    The Committee says in its report:

    “British-based renewable energy is the cheapest and fastest way to reduce vulnerability to volatile global fossil fuel markets. The faster we get off fossil fuels, the more secure we become.”

    It is right. That is why making Britain a clean energy superpower is one of the five missions of this Government, delivering clean power by 2030 and accelerating to net zero across the economy.

    Today, the committee’s report also lays bare the truth about the last Government. Despite achievements, which I am happy to acknowledge, the report is coruscating about the lurch of recent years. It says that

    “last year…the previous Government signalled a slowing of pace and reversed or delayed key policies.”

    It goes on:

    “the…announcements were given with the justification that they will make the transition more affordable for people, but with no evidence backing this claim.”

    It concludes that

    “the country is not on track”

    to hit our 2030 international target of 68% emissions reductions. Indeed, it says:

    “Our assessment is that only a third of the emissions reductions required…are currently covered by credible plans.”

    That is our inheritance for a target to be achieved in just five years.

    I will respond formally to the committee in the autumn and, as part of that, I have asked my Department to provide me with a thorough analysis of its findings, but I can tell the House today that we will hold fast to our 2030 clean power mission and our nationally determined contribution, because it is the right thing to do for our country.

    Today, I set out our next steps. First, onshore wind is one of the cheapest sources of power that we have. To those in the House who claimed they were protecting communities with the onshore wind ban, let us be clear: they have undermined our energy security and set back the fight against the climate crisis. That is why in the first 72 hours of this Government we lifted the ban, which today I confirm formally to the House. Under the onshore wind ban, the pipeline of projects in England shrank by 90%.

    Over a year ago, the last Government’s net zero tsar Chris Skidmore, whom I pay tribute to, made a recommendation of an onshore wind taskforce to drive forward projects. The last Government ignored it; we will implement it. The taskforce will work with developers to rebuild the pipeline of projects.

    Secondly, solar power is among the cheapest forms of power that we have. My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister and I are determined that we have a rooftop revolution. We must use the rooftops of our country for solar far better than we do at the moment. That is why the Deputy Prime Minister and I are clear that rooftop solar should play an important role, where appropriate, as part of the future standards for homes and buildings. The solar road map—we have been waiting for it for 18 months—will be published soon, with greater ambition. I have reconvened the solar taskforce to deliver that objective.

    As we face up to the challenge of the energy transition, we must also plan for how we use land in this country to ensure a proper balance between food security, nature preservation and clean energy. After dither and delay under the previous Government, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary will publish a land use framework working in tandem with our spatial energy plan.

    I also assure the House that communities will continue to have a say on any proposals in their area. It is important for this Government that where communities host clean energy infrastructure, they should directly benefit from it. But we will not carry on with a position where the clean energy we need does not get built and the British people pay the price.

    Credible external estimates suggest that ground-mounted solar used just 0.1% of our land in 2022. The biggest threat to nature and food security and to our rural communities is not solar panels or onshore wind; it is the climate crisis, which threatens our best farmland, food production and the livelihoods of farmers. The Government will proceed not on the basis of myth and false information, but on evidence. Every time, the previous Government ducked, delayed and denied the difficult decisions needed for clean energy, that made us less secure, raised bills and undermined climate action. No more.

    Thirdly, offshore wind will be the backbone of our clean energy mission. Allocation round 5, overseen by the last Government, was a catastrophe for the industry, with no offshore wind contracts awarded. The upcoming round is a critical test. We will get this crucial industry back on its feet. By the beginning of August, I will report back on the budget for AR6 to ensure that as much clean, home-grown energy as possible gets built while ensuring value for money.

    Our fourth step is the Great British Energy Bill announced in the Gracious Speech. I am extremely proud that this is the first Bill for decades that will enable us to establish a UK-wide publicly owned energy generation company. The truth is that there is already widespread public ownership of energy in Britain, but by foreign Governments. We have offshore wind farms in the UK owned by the Governments of Denmark, France, Norway and Sweden through state-owned companies. Those Governments know that a publicly owned national champion is part of a modern industrial strategy and generates a return for taxpayers, crowding in, not crowding out, private investment. For too long, Britain has opted out and lost out. Today, we say: no more.

    Great British Energy, headquartered in Scotland, will invest in home-grown clean energy to increase our energy independence, create good jobs with strong trade unions and tackle the climate crisis. It will invest in technologies such as nuclear, offshore wind, tidal, hydrogen and carbon capture, and ensure a just transition for our oil and gas communities. GB Energy will also oversee the biggest expansion of community energy in British history through our local power plan. The Government believe in the ownership of British assets by the British people, for the benefit of the British people. Following the people’s verdict at the general election, I hope that this is a patriotic mission that the whole House can get behind.

    I have seen 19 years of debates on climate and energy in this House. The clean energy transition represents the biggest transformation of our economy for 200 years, and it is massively challenging. We have been at our best as a country, and as a House, when we have worked together for the sake of the national interest. I pay tribute to people of all parties who have been champions of this agenda over the past 14 years: Baroness May, who legislated for net zero; the right hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Ed Davey), who oversaw the growth of offshore wind; Caroline Lucas; and on the Labour Benches, my friend Alan Whitehead.

    One of my early decisions was to re-establish the role of the Secretary of State as the lead climate negotiator in my Department, because we can only protect future generations with strong action at home and leadership abroad. Next week in London I will host the President of this year’s COP29 in Azerbaijan. He will be joined by the Presidents of COP28 and COP30. I have invited the President of COP 26, Lord Sharma, who presided with such distinction, to join our discussions. This is a sign of how I intend to go on—working with people of all parties and none in this national endeavour. That is what the British people have a right to expect of us. As the Prime Minister rightly says, “Country first, party second.” That is more true on this issue than any other. This Government will act at pace and work with anyone who shares our mission. I commend this statement to the House.

  • Ed Miliband – 2023 Speech at Labour Party Conference

    Ed Miliband – 2023 Speech at Labour Party Conference

    The speech made by Ed Miliband, the Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, in Liverpool on 9 October 2023.

    I want to thank my shadow ministerial team Sarah Jones, Kerry McCarthy, Jeff Smith and Alan Whitehead and it is a pleasure to follow my friend, our brilliant Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.

    We meet here with confidence that there is a spirit of change in the air.

    We meet here with the conviction that we Labour are on the side of the British people once again.

    We meet here with the belief that we can bring the long dark night of Tory rule to an end.

    Listening to the Tories last week it’s clear that they just don’t get the fundamental struggles people are facing.

    A deeply painful cost of living crisis; A deeply entrenched economic crisis; And a deeply dangerous climate and nature crisis.

    And Rishi Sunak has a desperate and dishonest new line.

    That if we dither and delay in tackling the climate crisis we can somehow solve our economic problems.

    But friends, he’s wrong. He’s dead wrong.

    Their record says it all.

    Your energy bills have rocketed because they didn’t build a clean energy future and that left us exposed to Putin’s war

    They banned onshore wind and energy bills went up.

    They cut energy efficiency and bills went up again.

    And just last month they trashed offshore wind, the crown jewels of British energy and bills will stay UP for years to come.

    Every time they turn their back on a clean energy future, they leave us exposed to global fossil fuel markets, at the mercy of dictators and petrostates, and they drive up bills and make us more insecure.

    And even as you’re paying record bills, they still refuse a proper windfall tax on the oil and gas companies.

    So what the Tories call ‘green crap’ is not the cause of the cost of living crisis.

    It’s a crap government that will never stand up for working people.

    And when Rishi Sunak tells renters they should be forced to live in damp, cold homes and landlords don’t need to insulate them, that won’t cut bills, it will raise them.

    When he tells the world that Britain is backing off the global clean energy race, that won’t encourage businesses to create jobs and invest, it will drive them away.

    The Tories’ climate culture war is not just anti-planet.

    It’s anti-security, anti-prosperity, anti-worker, anti-business, anti-jobs, anti-future, anti-young people, and it’s anti-Britain.

    We’re not going to let these Tories cancel our country’s future.

    Now Sunak tries to spin that he’s still committed to tackling the climate crisis but look at the people celebrating what he’s done.

    Jacob Rees-Mogg, Liz Truss, and to top it all, Donald Trump congratulated him.

    The British people don’t want a pound shop Republican Party.

    They don’t want an energy policy written by Truss and Trump.

    Let’s send these Tories to where they belong.

    Let’s recycle them from government to opposition.

    And chuck them into the 7 dustbins of history.

    And let me say this: give me the integrity, decency and values of our leader and my friend Keir Starmer against the weakness of Rishi Sunak any day of the week.

    And I am proud that Keir’s 2030 mission is for the greatest investment in homegrown energy in British history.

    We’ll double onshore wind.

    We’ll treble solar.

    We’ll quadruple offshore wind.

    We’ll invest in nuclear and hydrogen and carbon capture and tidal power.

    That’s the new Britain we can build together.

    And with a Labour government, Britain will finally have what the Tories have refused for 13 years— a proper warm homes plan.

    Saving hundreds more off your bill.

    Creating tens of thousands of good jobs.

    Lifting millions out of fuel poverty.

    Insulating 19 million homes.

    And who will make this happen?

    Labour local authorities.

    That’s the new Britain we can build together.

    Tory energy policy has failed and let’s face it, Tory trickle-down economics has failed too.

    So we’re going to do things differently.

    Now some people will tell you we don’t have public ownership of energy in Britain.

    Of course, we do.

    It’s just by state-owned firms from other countries.

    France’s EDF, Sweden’s Vattenfall, Denmark’s Orsted.

    Other countries own nearly half of our offshore wind because they know it creates jobs and wealth for them.

    If it’s good enough for them why not us?

    Under Labour, the British people will own things again, build things again, profit as a country from these investments again.

    GB Energy, owned by the British people, built by the British people for the benefit of the British people.

    That’s the new Britain we can build together.

    A key industry of the future is floating offshore wind.

    But just get this: under the Tories our largest floating wind farm wasn’t built in Britain.

    It was built in Spain, assembled in the Netherlands and then was towed into place off the Scottish coast.

    I say: not under Labour.

    GB Energy will invest in floating wind so Britain can lead the world.

    And as Rachel said this morning, we will ensure we have the grid we need and rewire our country.

    Power for Britain, wealth for Britain, jobs for Britain.

    That’s the new Britain we can build together.

    And this is about a partnership to build the future: public investment unleashing private investment.

    Our national wealth fund will invest, alongside the private sector, in our ports, hydrogen and saving our steel industry and communities.

    And unlike with the Tories, this won’t be crumbs of help after change has blown through communities.

    It’s a proper plan to build our future prosperity for every part of Britain.

    Our British Jobs Bonus.

    £2.5bn of public money to crowd in and direct the tens of billions of private investment.

    To our industrial heartlands, to our coalfield communities, to our coastal communities, to our oil and gas communities.

    Not simply leaving it to the market but planning our clean energy future to tackle the inequalities that scar our country.

    That’s the new Britain that we can build together.

    As an MP for a coalfield community, I know we must have a managed, just and worker-led transition.

    And we will.

    Let me say to oil and gas workers: We will use existing oil and gas fields for decades to come and we will do whatever it takes so that you can be the people to build our clean energy future: in offshore wind, in hydrogen, in carbon capture.

    No community left behind or left out.

    No more shutting out of trade unions as we build this future.

    No more power in this country without jobs in this country.

    That’s the new Britain we can build together.

    And under Labour, we will use our energy policy as a tool of economic justice.

    Why should only the wealthy have solar panels when they provide cheap, clean energy and cut bills?

    So GB Energy will invest £1 billion a year to develop local, renewable power owned by local people.

    Thousands of projects across Britain.

    Cutting bills, tackling fuel poverty and creating profits not for energy giants but for local communities.

    That’s the new Britain we can build together.

    In the 20th century through North sea oil, Britain exported to the world.

    In the 21st century, with Labour, Britain will be an energy superpower once again, exporting clean power to the world and controlling our economic destiny.

    British families and businesses never again held to ransom by Putin.

    So the next Labour government will legislate for an Energy Independence Act for Britain.

    That’s the new Britain we can build together.

    Now, fifteen years ago the Labour government passed the climate change act, a beacon to the world.

    So many people that I meet internationally say: we need Britain back leading again.

    Not a country missing in action on the most important issues our world faces.

    Under Labour, Britain will be leading again.

    Holding other countries to account with the power of our example.

    Tackling the cost-of-living crisis, building a new economy and showing leadership on the climate crisis.

    That’s the new Britain we can build together.

    There is so much to fight for in the months ahead.

    There is a mood for change in the air.

    But a mood is not enough to guarantee victory.

    As we saw last week, the Tories and their friends will fight dirty and desperate to hold onto power.

    Let us resolve here today.

    If these Tories want a fight about who can tackle the cost-of-living crisis, we say – bring it on.

    If these Tories want a fight about who can ensure energy independence for our country, we say – bring it on.

    If these Tories want a fight about who can stand up for working people, we say – bring it on.

    And if, after 13 years of failure and 5 Prime Ministers, these Tories dare to have a fight, about who can really change Britain, we say bring it on.

    We are ready to fight.

    We are ready to lead.

    We are ready to govern.

    We are ready to change Britain.

  • TWITTER TIMELINE ARCHIVE : Ed Miliband

    TWITTER TIMELINE ARCHIVE : Ed Miliband

  • Ed Miliband – 2022 Speech on Energy Security

    Ed Miliband – 2022 Speech on Energy Security

    The speech made by Ed Miliband, the Shadow Business and Energy Secretary, in the House of Commons on 29 November 2022.

    I thank the Secretary of State for his statement, and can I take the opportunity to welcome him to his new role? We support new nuclear, and I welcome the announcement on Sizewell. The Climate Change Committee tells us that nuclear should play a role as part of the balanced pathway to net zero. In his reply, could he tell us the timetable for Sizewell’s final investment decision and when we expect it to be up and running? I also welcome the return of the delayed Energy Bill, which should never have been paused by the Government.

    As for the rest of the statement, I am bound to ask: is that it? Alongside nuclear, we need a sprint for cheap, clean, home-grown renewables, and I have to say to the Secretary of State that, given the chaos, confusion and embarrassment of the Government on onshore wind, I find it extraordinary that he did not clear that up in the House today. Let me remind the House of some facts. The ban on onshore wind in England that they put in place in 2015 has raised bills for every family in this country by £150 each, and keeping the ban in place up to 2030 would mean customers paying £16 billion more on bills compared with a target of doubling onshore wind. Let us be clear: opposing onshore wind waves the white flag on our energy security and raises bills for families.

    The only reason we are debating this issue is not that the public do not support onshore wind—they do, by 78%, according to the Department’s own polling—but that dinosaurs on the Government Benches oppose clean energy, and David Cameron and every leader since has indulged them. The problem is that the Secretary of State, who prides himself on being a truly modern man, is part of the fossilised tendency. He was part of the lobbying effort against lifting the ban in April. He said onshore wind was an “eyesore” and created “problems of noise”, and he urged the then Prime Minister to “largely” reject it. I may have had some issues with his predecessor, the right hon. Member for North East Somerset (Mr Rees-Mogg), but the Secretary of State’s position is making the Victorian of the Tory party look positively on trend, because the right hon. Member for North East Somerset after all called for the consenting regime for onshore wind to be brought into line with other infrastructure. Can the Secretary of State clear up once and for all what his position is on onshore wind? Will he now act in the national interest, properly end the ban and finally bring the consenting regime in line with other infrastructure?

    On solar, it is the same problem. The Prime Minister spent the summer saying he wanted to block solar, echoed by the Environment Secretary in the last couple of weeks. Blocking solar risks preventing the equivalent of 10 nuclear power stations-worth of power being built, so will the Secretary of State rule out the plans of the previous Environment Secretary to further block solar power on land?

    On energy efficiency, frankly this Government should be ashamed of their record, with the green deal fiasco, the green homes grant fiasco and energy efficiency installations running 20 times lower than under the previous Labour Government. Can the Secretary of State tell us from his announcement, which I am afraid contains no new resources, in what year the 19 million cold, draughty homes below energy performance certificate band C would be brought up to that level of decency under his plan? We would do it in a decade. Can he confirm that, at the current rates of installation, under this Government it would not happen till the next century?

    We have seen five Energy Secretaries since 2019. To overcome the bills crisis we face and to tackle the climate crisis, we need ambition, consistency and going all in on the green energy sprint. I am afraid we have not had these things from this Government. All we have had is inconsistency, dithering and a Government looking over their shoulder at their own Back Benchers. The Secretary of State has a lot of work to do to convince the country that that is going to change, and if he does not, it means that this Government will land us with higher bills and more energy insecurity, and will fail to take the leadership we need in tackling the climate crisis.

    Grant Shapps

    I do not think the right hon. Gentleman was in the Chamber earlier for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy questions, but I did point to a quote from him back in 2010, when he said it was “pie in the sky” that the then new Conservative Government would get to 40% renewables by 2020. What happened? By 2020 we had got to 43.1% renewables. That is our record of delivery when it comes to renewables, so I do not think we need to take too many lectures from the Labour party, or from the party that five minutes ago did not support new nuclear power. It failed to commission any of it during its time in office—13 years, was it?—but now that we are getting on with it, all of a sudden it seems to have swapped sides.

    On wind power, both offshore and onshore, I do not think the right hon. Gentleman recognises the fact that the strike prices in the contracts for difference are now lower for any version of power production at all when it comes to offshore wind. These turbines are now so large that they cannot even be constructed onshore. They are so big that the turbines cannot be carried by road; they have to put offshore.

    Edward Miliband

    How big are they?

    Grant Shapps

    How big are they? It is convenient that the World cup is on because the right hon. Gentleman will be able to envisage this. Single turbines are seven football pitches in scope, as they turn. They are not buildable onshore, which is one of the reasons why the cheapest way to build them offshore to produce energy offshore is to build these mammoth turbines, which go together in groups of 200 or even up to 300. However, I am sure he knows all of this and that, rather than discussing the actual solutions, he likes to throw up the chaff.

    Since the right hon. Gentleman has mentioned onshore, I just want to note that the energy White Paper and the net zero strategy have both said exactly the same as we have been saying this week, which is that onshore can happen where it has local consent. I do not know why this local consent principle is so difficult for him to understand. There it is: we are delivering on the renewables, on the nuclear, on the energy independence and sovereignty that this country needs, and there is nothing from the Labour party.

  • Ed Miliband – 2022 Comments on BP’s Profits

    Ed Miliband – 2022 Comments on BP’s Profits

    The comments made by Ed Miliband, the Shadow Energy Secretary, on Twitter on 1 November 2022.

    Today’s BP profits are damning evidence of the failure of the Tories to levy a proper windfall tax.

    Rishi Sunak should be hanging his head in shame that he has left billions of windfall profits in the pockets of oil and gas firms during an energy crisis.