Latest news with #Miliband
New Statesman
10 hours ago
- Business
- New Statesman
Ed Miliband keeps winning
Photo byIt's been a cheery couple of weeks for Ed Miliband. Despite a raft of negative briefings in the weeks prior to the spending review, Miliband's Department for Energy Security and Net Zero ended up being one of Rachel Reeves' biggest winners. Alongside the cancellation of a previously trailed cut to the Warm Homes Plan, DESNZ received a 16 per cent increase in spending power (more than any other department). And now, following a period of internal wrangling with the Number 10 and the Treasury, the former Labour leader has announced the extension of the Warm Homes Discount, a policy which offers a £150 energy bills discount to those on low incomes. Insiders tell me it is something the Energy Secretary has been working on behind the scenes for months. Energy bills – and the government's pledge to cut them by £300 before the end of the parliament – will be a key metric of Labour's success at the next election. Frustration over the slow pace of reduction, alongside fury over the Winter Fuel Payment, were big issues on the doorstep during the locals (it wasn't a good night for Labour). In the wake of voting, one insider close to Miliband pointed to the Warm Homes Discount – which was first introduced in 2011 – and questioned why the government did not make more of it following the decision to cut Winter Fuel. It is, after all, a means-tested benefit intended to support not just elderly people, but millions of households on low incomes to reduce their energy bills. The extension announced on Thursday will see a further 2.7 million households eligible to receive this benefit; over 6 million households will now be able to access the discount. It will be paid for via a deal which the government has struck with the energy regulator, Ofgem. Currently, energy bills include the socialised costs of energy companies' unpaid debts, the government has done a deal to reduce the overall debt burden on energy companies. This accompanies the recent cut to the Energy Price Cap, which comes into effect in July, meaning a double whammy of energy bill reductions. All of this suggests that despite speculation that Keir Starmer might be about to make an about-turn on support for net zero, the Prime Minister is firmly staying put. Not only has Miliband's funding been bolstered, but his department has been responsible for some of the government's most recent positive news: 100,000 new jobs at Sizewell C, solar panels for newbuild homes, schools, and hospitals, and now the extension of the Warm Homes Discount. And Starmer has made clear that, in directly taking on Nigel Farage, he won't look to ape the Reform UK's net zero scepticism but will seek to prove how the green transition can help low-income, marginalised communities, as well as slashing the UK's carbon emissions. That Starmer is staying close to Miliband is unsurprising. The PM has, after all, always been environmentally minded (he is a pescatarian, did you know?). Perhaps his most famous case as a human rights lawyer was representing two Greenpeace Activists against McDonalds in the 1997 McLibel trial. Starmer, who's former Kentish Town home is a short walk from Miliband's ends in Dartmouth Park, was also encouraged to run to be an MP in 2015 by his predecessor as Labour leader. The pair have a shared political history; it's easy to speculate that Starmer feels some loyalty there. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Connections aside, it's clear Starmer sees the electoral benefit of his Energy Secretary's clean power drive, particularly after the disastrous Winter Fuel Payment saga and the government's subsequent U-turn. Reducing the UK's reliance on imported natural gas and other fossil fuels will lead to lower energy bills; a result on which Starmer's premiership will be heavily judged (and to some extent, already is). And in this new turbulent international climate – the arguments for energy security remain; Miliband was the first to make them. After months of underestimation from his detractors, the Energy Secretary and his agenda are safe, for the time being. It all now rests on the success of his delivery. Related
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
We will win the fight on net zero, says Ed Miliband
Ed Miliband has pledged to beat the critics of his net zero policies by creating thousands of new jobs in the UK's declining industrial regions. Speaking on Tuesday at an offshore wind conference in London, the Energy Secretary said Britain was on the brink of a 'green industrial revolution' that would boost employment and bring down household bills. It follows growing criticism from the Conservatives and Reform UK over the cost of Britain's spending on renewables, which has added at least £200 to the average domestic power bill. Mr Miliband said: 'We are witnessing the coming of age of Britain's green industrial revolution,' he said. 'We are building this new era of clean energy abundance, helping deliver new jobs, energy security and lower household bills through our Plan for Change.' It followed an announcement that a new public company set up by Mr Miliband last year to boost green initiatives, known as Great British Energy, was investing £300m in offshore wind supply chains. The investment will target former industrial areas like Teesside, Scotland, South Wales and East Anglia and is expected to create new green jobs. It is aimed at countering critics who point out that too much of the kit needed for Britain's energy transition is being manufactured abroad – meaning it is failing to generate jobs or skills for British workers. Unite the Union, which supports the Labour Party, has published reports suggesting only 20pc of UK wind farm equipment is made in the UK. A separate report from Robert Gordon University put the UK content at 25pc. A separate report from RenewableUK and the Offshore Wind Industry Council suggests there are now 40,000 people working in the UK's offshore wind industry with a separate study showing another 15,000 work in onshore wind – a total of 55,000 people. The total could reach 90,000 by 2030, says the report. As part of the jobs and investment plan, the Crown Estate is to invest a further £400m and the offshore wind industry a further £300m – making a total of £1bn – in offshore wind manufacturing, including producing turbine blades, cables and the platforms needed for floating wind farms. Mr Miliband has become increasingly outspoken over the potential benefits of the green policies he espouses. Earlier this month he repeated his pre-election pledge that household energy bills would fall by £300 by 2030 because of green energy. On Tuesday, he launched a direct attack on his political opponents, saying: 'The forces that want to take us backwards, the forces that oppose net zero, will have to reckon not just with the Government; they will have to reckon with all these companies that are creating jobs.' Richard Tice, energy spokesman for Reform UK, said: 'Mr Miliband is taking a big risk with the UK's electricity supplies and significantly increasing the risk of shortages. It even puts us at risk of blackouts – not seen here since the days of the 1970s miners' strikes. 'It's interesting his pledges to bring bills down all cite 2030 which is the year after the likely date of the next general election – by when he will have been thrown out of office.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Minister address national security fears over China's involvement in UK energy
The Energy Secretary insists protecting UK's security is "non-negotiable" as a number of Chinese firms exhibited at a high-profile London conference on offshore wind power Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has sought to allay fears over China 's involvement in Britain's booming offshore wind farm industry. Critics are concerns about Chinese firms' dealings on national security grounds. Mr Miliband insisted: 'National security is a non-negotiable for us. This government will never compromise on that, so any investment will be looked at through that lens.' He was speaking at the Global Offshore Wind conference in London, whose sponsors include China's CNOOD-Wenchong Heavy Industries and Dajin Heavy Industry. Mr Miliband dismissed links between Chinese involvement and a new climate agreement with Beijing. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero insisted it 'does not reference investment or commercial opportunities between the UK and China'. 'It is completely negligent to not engage with the world 's largest climate emitter,' Mr Miliband insisted. It came as a £1billion pot was announced to turbo-charge investment in the UK's offshore wind sector, promising thousands of new jobs. The government's new Great British Energy is providing £300million of upfront investment - announced in April - which it is hoped it will lead to the same in match funding from industry. The Crown Estate has also committed £400m. Mr Miliband said the "unprecedented" collaboration would help deliver clean energy jobs, energy security and lower bills, with investment in areas such as Teeside, Scotland, South Wales and East Anglia. The government believes it will unlock thousands of jobs, kickstarting growth in coastal communities and industrial towns. He hit back at critics of Labour 's net zero drive, with a number of green levies added to household energy bills. Nigel Farage 's Reform UK is among opponents, and this month suggested some Welsh coal mines could be reopened. 'The forces that want to take us backwards have to reckon not just with the government, but with all the companies that are creating these jobs,' Mr Miliband said. 'If you think about where we are clean energy and net zero, there is a fight, and we going to win this fight, partly because of all the jobs these companies are creating with us working in partnership with them. "It represents a coming of age of the green industrial revolution. We know that offshore wind offers a chance for a long-term reduction in wholesale prices and that is the backbone, the absolute foundation, for bringing bills down.' Jane Cooper, deputy chief executive RenewableUK, organiser of the Global Offshore Wind conference, said: 'A concerted focus from industry and government on growing the offshore wind industry's supply chain in the UK could deliver an extra 10,000 jobs between now and 2035, boosting the UK's economy by £25billion. 'Our sector is stepping up, working closely with the Energy Secretary and the Crown Estate to create new opportunities for manufacturing high-value goods like turbine towers, blades, foundations and cables, and providing high quality jobs building, operating and maintaining offshore wind farms.' Firms exhibiting at the conference backed the UK as a place to invest. Benj Sykes, UK country manager for Orsted, said: 'The long-term fundamentals for our sector are only getting stronger.' However, it comes a month after the Danish firm halted work on one of the UK's biggest offshore wind farms. Orsted blamed the rising costs of its Hornsea 4 project, higher interest rates and the increasing risk of not finishing the project on time. In addition to the £1billion funding, which has not yet been allocated to specific projects, the Government has announced it will allocate up to £544million from its "clean industry bonus". The bonus scheme provides funding to offshore wind developers for prioritising investment in some of the UK's most deprived communities and in cleaner supply chains, with companies pledging to invest in regions such as Scotland, the North East and East Anglia. Up to £200million has been allocated to clean energy facilities such as electrical equipment and heavy steel products in the North East, unlocking up to £4billion in private sector investment, while up to £185million will go to Scotland, unlocking up to £3.5 billion for ports and wind farm components. The East of England will get up to £20million from the bonus, and Northern Ireland has been allocated £25million, with industry estimating the cash could support up to 14,000 jobs and drive up to £9 billion of private funding into the regions over the next four years. The funding for the clean industry bonus would be paid for through bills, adding less than £2 a year over the next four years, officials said.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Conflict in Iran is exposing the true cost of North Sea decline
For years, Labour's proposed ban on new drilling in the North Sea has been one of the party's most eye-catching policies. The pledge not to issue new oil and gas licences is based on 'science', according to Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, amid projections that licensing any new fields globally would be incompatible with net zero targets. In its election manifesto, Labour also argued that allowing more extraction from the North Sea 'will not take a penny off bills, cannot make us energy secure and will only accelerate the worsening climate crisis'. It was a premise that was questioned by some experts but won praise from others, as well as from environmental campaigners. But now, with a fresh conflict raging in the Middle East the policy is coming under scrutiny again, with critics warning that it leaves Britain more exposed to geopolitical crises. It's no secret that the North Sea is in decline. Whether Labour presses ahead with a ban on new licences or not, Britain's oil and gas output will continue to fall. But while that fall is inevitable, the rate of decline is not. The independent Climate Change Committee estimates that there will be demand for between 13bn and 15bn barrels of oil and gas in the UK over the next 25 years. Under current policies, less than one third of this overall demand is expected to be met by domestic production. That is equivalent to about 4bn barrels, with an estimated 3bn that could be exploited left underground. The balance would come from foreign imports. Mr Miliband has said boosting production would bring no material benefit to consumers because oil and gas prices are set by international markets and the output of the North Sea is too small to make a difference. But while many economists agree up to a point, some say this argument misses the importance of energy security. 'As long as you are a big importer, it doesn't make sense to reduce your production,' says Bjarne Schieldrop, analyst at SEB Research. 'What you need to do is to reduce your consumption as fast as possible. Energy has become more politically sensitive in recent years, with Russia using energy as a weapon. 'So actually, security of supply is extremely important. It's not just about the price.' Simon French, chief economist at Panmure Liberum, adds that if Britain and Europe produce more oil and gas collectively, they will be less dependent on supplies shipped from the Middle East in a crisis. In a global supply crunch, it is still unlikely that the UK would be at risk of shortages given its ability to outbid poorer countries for shipments when prices rise. However, French adds: 'Why would you leave yourself so exposed to doing that, when you potentially have the opportunity to divert your own domestic supply and give yourself more strategic resilience?' Producing more oil and gas domestically also brings other benefits in a crisis. In a scenario where the Iran-Israel conflict spreads, one of the biggest worries will be the prospect of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz seizing up. Around one fifth of the world's oil passes through this vital trade artery. 'If it's disrupted for any protracted period of time, then either global demand needs to fall substantially – which means a pretty deep recession – or the price of oil has to go up to ration it,' says French. In such a time, Britain would face higher oil and gas prices like every other country. But as a producer, it would also benefit from higher tax revenues, giving the Government more firepower to boost the flagging economy. For example, when the invasion of Ukraine sparked an energy crisis across Europe in 2022, the UK's tax take from company profits also jumped from £2.6bn to £9.8bn, providing valuable cash for schemes to support households with their bills. 'If the Exchequer feels that it needs to cap the price of energy, as it did previously, it rather helps if you're getting higher corporation tax receipts from the North Sea,' adds French. Another factor to consider is the impact the Government's windfall tax and licence ban will have on decommissioning, the process of safely retiring spent or uneconomical oil and gas wells. Analysts at Wood Mackenzie and Stifel have both argued that Labour's policies will speed up the rate of closures. This could make life harder for Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, because oil and gas firms can offset decommissioning costs against their corporation tax bills. As a result, squeezing the North Sea may deal a double whammy to tax receipts by cutting output and accelerating decommissioning. This is partly because oil and gas firms continuously drill new wells alongside old ones to improve the economic viability of their portfolios as a whole. Without the ability to keep drilling new wells, it becomes harder to continue drilling old ones economically. 'If you were to continue to licence, then that extends the life cycle of some fields, and therefore decommissioning comes later in the fiscal horizon,' says French. 'So you would start to rebuild more fiscal headroom than you might otherwise have – and one thing the Chancellor definitely needs, going into the autumn, is more fiscal headroom.' Mr Miliband's claim that cutting domestic oil and gas production is good for the planet may also be in doubt. This is because unless Britain also slashes demand for these fuels substantially, it will simply have to import larger quantities from abroad. And that could actually end up generating higher carbon emissions overall, if we continue to rely on larger and larger amounts of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US and the Middle East. According to Rystad Energy, LNG can be up to 10 times more carbon intensive than pipeline gas. This is because while the emissions from burning it are the same, it requires energy to cool LNG to -160C and transport it by ship around the world. The analysis, reported by the BBC, found that piped gas from Norway generated around 7kg of CO2 per barrel, compared to an average of 70kg for LNG imported to Europe. Accelerating the decline of the North Sea may mean the UK also ends up with fewer green jobs. Academics at Robert Gordon University warned that oil and gas jobs were disappearing faster than new clean energy roles were being created as a result of the slower-than-expected deployment of wind farms. Whereas the offshore wind sector may only generate 29,000 jobs by 2030, some 58,000 disappear from oil and gas in the worst-case scenario. Paul de Leeuw, director of the university's Energy Transition Institute, said earlier this month: 'You have to wait pretty well to the back end of this decade before there's enough capacity in the renewables sector to take all the people coming out of oil and gas. 'It's a timing issue.' To avoid heavy job losses, researchers said Mr Miliband needed to either attract a larger share of turbine manufacturing to the UK or reverse his ban on new North Sea drilling licences to temporarily boost oil and gas production. For example, the report found that even if Mr Miliband hits his clean power targets, he could boost the number of green jobs in 2030 by boosting oil and gas production. Production of 500,000 barrels per day leads to just over 150,000 jobs – whereas production of 700,000 barrels creates around 200,000 jobs. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is consulting on a plan for the North Sea and says it envisions large numbers of jobs coming from offshore wind as well as more nascent industries such as carbon capture and hydrogen production. A spokesman for the department was approached for comment. Sign in to access your portfolio
New Statesman
4 days ago
- Business
- New Statesman
Ed Miliband's quiet victory
Photo by Dan Kitwood / Getty Images The headlines about who's up and who's down in the Cabinet following Chancellor Rachel Reeves' spending review have all been written. Wes Streeting (securing a 3 per cent annual increase in NHS funding), up; Angela Rayner (handed £39bn over ten years for an affordable house-building programme), up; Yvette Cooper (Home Office spending to be cut by 1.7 per cent), down. One frontbencher long expected to be joining the Home Secretary's coop of fiscal confinement was Ed Miliband. But that did not come to roost. Beneath the headlines, a new narrative is emerging: that the Energy Secretary is an unexpected winner of Rachel Reeves's first spending review. Miliband will be relieved that the Spending Review reaffirmed Labour's £8.3bn manifesto commitment for the state-owned clean energy company, GB Energy. But some give and take between Reeves and Miliband was clearly needed to wrangle that. The Chancellor, giving billions towards nuclear projects – including £14.8bn on building the Sizewell C plant, £2.5bn on a cluster of small nuclear reactors, and the same amount on developing experimental 'fusion' technology – hands Miliband key responsibility over Britain's transition to clean power. (These sit alongside established funding commitments to insulate homes – £13.2bn – and additional funding given for two new carbon capture projects.) But there is also some take – effectively £2.5bn worth from Miliband's purse strings. Great British Energy will share its £8.3bn budget with the previously separate government body that was tasked with managing domestic nuclear projects (Great British Nuclear); they will now co-exist as sister bodies, with the newly-minted Great British Energy – Nuclear overseeing the new projects. Cue the headlines of Great British Energy being 'nuked'. (The party line is that it is a long-trailed 'alignment'; though this was perhaps expected of responsibilities, not necessarily of budgets.) But, following the Spending Review, the prevailing mood at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) is positive. Particularly considering the previous speculation about tensions between Miliband and Reeves, and the relationship between economic growth and Britain's net zero commitment. This had reached a head after the Chancellor's decision to approve an expansion of Heathrow airport in January, despite private (but never publicly expressed) concerns from the Energy Secretary. Perhaps Miliband was picking his political battles. His department's settlement from the Spending Review has the biggest amount of capital spending behind it. Alongside Rayner, Miliband was rumoured to have stormed out of a meeting with the Chancellor over proposed cuts earlier in the Spending Review negotiation process. From this wrangling has come the most significant programme of investment in clean energy in a generation. 'We are renewing Britain,' Reeves declared during her statement in Parliament on Wednesday (June 11), 'but I know that too many people in too many parts of our country are yet to feel it.' There are few Cabinet members who will face this dilemma more acutely than Miliband, who, in an energy-fragile world, will be in the firing line if Britons do not 'feel' better about how much their bills are. Especially given that pre-election, Miliband and Labour promised to lower energy bills by £300, and to also help industry with their costs. (Bill for consumers have gone up by nearly £300 since the election.) And while the investments announced in the Spending Review will go some way to reducing them in the medium-to-long term, like most of the benefits of the capital investment projects Reeves is using to butter up the electorate, it mainly promises 'Jam tomorrow'. Many factors, some out of Miliband's control, will influence the government's success in not only lowering bills, but the 'energy security' that he has promised Britain. Will there be enough skills in the current and future workforce to meet demand? Is the private sector confident enough to engage in public-private partnerships with the government? And perhaps most pressing, given the rise of Reform: how will the government's new planning measures impact the building of key energy infrastructure amid a growing anti-net zero zeal and the party's new leadership of ten councils? All of these questions will have an impact on Miliband's guiding cause (and measure of his success): energy prices. Some of the answers could become clearer by the government's infrastructure and industrial strategies, expected later this month. It 'will need to provide more details on how the UK industry's energy bills will be cut, as they are the highest in Europe,' the Green Alliance think tank noted in its post Spending Review analysis. 'The [Spending Review] contained no indication of any funding allocated for this [specific] purpose, which is cause for concern.' Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Coming out of the Spending Review in a comparatively good stead for a regularly undermined policy area – famously referred to as 'Green crap' by David Cameron – Miliband and DESNZ can claim success. But while the Energy Secretary has won the political battle, he has not yet won the war over Britain's clean energy future. This article was originally published as an edition of the Green Transition, New Statesman Spotlight's weekly newsletter on the economics of net zero. Related
