The Energy Secretary gave a cast-iron promise Net Zero targets won’t slip – and told Reform UK’s anti-Net Zero leader: “Bring it on. Theirs is the ideological, extreme position”
ED Miliband says he’s “100%” up for a fight with Nigel Farage over Net Zero – and insists Keir Starmer is fully behind him.
“Bring it on, I say,” the Energy and Climate Change Secretary told the Sunday Mirror during a visit to a solar farm in Hull.
Mr Miliband insisted the PM backs the government’s Net Zero pledges – and gave a “cast-iron” guarantee that targets for decarbonisation “absolutely” will not slip.
Mr Farage, the Reform UK leader has, alongside deputy Richard Tice, eyed up the government’s Net Zero targets as a wedge issue – bidding to stoke a backlash by branding them “luncay” and claiming they’ll ramp up the cost of living.
“Honestly, the truth is that if he wants to have a fight arguing for expensive, insecure fossil fuels against cheap, clean renewables creating good jobs for the country and protecting our kids and future generations – bring that fight on,” Mr Miliband said.
“Theirs is the ideological, extreme position. Ours is the mainstream sensible position.
“And if he wants to bring his dogma to this argument, fine. Be our guest and we’ll win the argument. And I honestly believe the public are with us.”
Polling suggests he’s right – a huge majority of voters not only back policies to fight climate change, but specifically support the UK’s target of dramatically reducing the UK’s carbon emissions by 2050.
But Mr Miliband is acutely aware that to hold onto that support, he needs to demonstrate the benefit of his policies to taxpayers.
And the 11,000-panel solar farm Mr Miliband visited in Hull was a prime example.
It powers nearby Castle Hill Hospital entirely during the summer months – saving the NHS as much as £200,000 a month on their energy bills.
“Here’s the way I think about this,” he said. “The public are with if you can combine action to create clean energy with tackling the cost of living crisis – and that is absolutely at the heart of our mission.
“Our mission is about cutting bills for people, cutting costs for people and transitioning to clean energy – not about raising people’s bills.”
He added: “We want this to work for people economically. This only works if it works for people economically. That’s our guarantee.”
Mr Miliband said the government’s clean energy mission was about “so much more” than climate change.
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“It’s about creating good jobs for people, it’s about lower bills, it’s about energy security,” he said. “It’s about avoiding the absolute disaster of what happened when Russia invaded Ukraine and people’s bills went through the roof.”
And despite rumours of Cabinet disagreements, Mr Miliband says Keir Starmer is just as up for the Net Zero scrap with Farage and co as he is.
“Absolutely,” he said. “He said the other day the clean energy mission is in the DNA of his government. He really cares about this agenda, because of his duty to future generations and also, crucially, because he sees it as a route to good jobs.”