Ed Miliband is ‘not fit for purpose’ and will not address his critics.
The Energy Secretary is not associated with this topic. He dismisses the criticism as a conspiracy by the right-wing press or greedy oil companies, accusing him of “nonsense and lies”. And it’s true that some attacks go down to the personal level. This is politics. But Miliband must respond with facts. He doesn’t.
Instead, he makes tall, sweeping claims about the success of his policies while ignoring the realities on the ground. They say that despite all the evidence, covering the UK with wind turbines and solar panels, while preventing new oil and gas exploration, will cut bills and boost energy security. Now he has been challenged by someone who cannot be dismissed as a right-wing eccentric, who has branded his net zero charge as “not fit for purpose”.
No, it’s not Nigel Farage. Or Tory shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho. This is former Labour PM Sir Tony Blair. Who knows what Miliband is really like, and he doesn’t like it. This morning he has latched onto Miliband’s approach, and not for the first time. His think tank, the Tony Blair Institute, has published a report arguing that Labour should scrap Miliband’s green energy strategy to focus on what really matters, which is making energy affordable.
The report says their accelerated renewables will drive up electricity prices and hollow out the industry while doing nothing to slow climate change. It also means wasting £1.5 billion a year on paying wind farms to switch off supply according to demand in the strips. The report’s conclusion is clear: “In a country responsible for less than 1% of global emissions, this is not climate leadership – this is climate theatre.”
Read more: Tony Blair’s think tank criticizes Ed Miliband’s energy plan
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Crucially, it calls on Miliband to scrap the 38% windfall tax on oil and gas and lift the ban on new North Sea licences. By doing so, the UK could produce 7.5 billion barrels and add £165 billion to the economy. Even ambitious net-zero scenarios require oil and gas beyond 2050. Instead of producing it, we will import it at huge cost and with higher emissions.
The report says our energy bills will keep rising unless Miliband relents. But Miliband will simply proceed, ignoring the costs and risks and attacking the conspiracies instead.
That’s why he draws such fire. Their refusal to connect with economic reality drives people crazy. Watch him speak while punching the air and rolling his eyes, and critics conclude he’s delusional. His policies certainly are. I am not saying that. The exact term has been used by the UK’s leading energy expert.
Oxford professor Dieter Helm says aspects of Miliband’s 2030 electricity decarbonisation target are based on an “illusion”, arguing that the timetable ignores the practical constraints and full cost of renewable energy.
Professor Helm disputes claims that net zero will cut bills, warning that it could instead lock in higher costs. Miliband doesn’t care. He refused to get engaged. He will simply trumpet the truth and continue with childish policies that could cost the country hundreds of billions of pounds.
Today, Miliband’s spokesperson responded to Blair’s report by once again claiming that Miliband’s clean energy mission is the only way to cut bills forever, deliver energy security and create thousands of jobs.
This is even more unverifiable nonsense. This will drive us towards Chinese technology, as well as jeopardise existing oil and gas sector jobs, and will hardly produce any green.
And he wonders why people say his plans are confusing and not fit for purpose. This is not a petty viewpoint or a right-wing conspiracy. This is common knowledge. Which Miliband certainly doesn’t have.
