Ed Miliband’s energy madness – can’t believe a word this muppet says | Personal Finance | Finance
Ed Miliband is an expert at driving people crazy. He almost sees it as a badge of honor. Critics are dismissed as frothing right-wingers or Big Oil drivers whose arguments don’t even deserve to be heard. Miliband puts his fingers in his ears and continues. Actually, it’s worse than that. He has turned energy policy into another front in the never-ending political culture war, pushing ever more extreme ideas to inflame Labour’s left-wing base.
The collateral damage doesn’t seem to bother him. Businesses were destroyed. Jobs were lost. Tax revenues are collapsing. This is the price Britain pays for Miliband’s ideological crusade. Miliband was ripped apart by the country’s most respected independent energy expert. Professor Dieter Helm of Oxford University is not a frothing right-winger. He is a serious, sober analyst who has been advising governments for decades. Even that was enough.
Helm issued an urgent warning that Labour’s green transition does the opposite of Miliband’s promises. It weakens energy security rather than improving it. It left Britain terribly vulnerable at a moment when global tensions were rising and the world was heading towards World War Three.
Helm’s decision on Labor’s energy policy is devastating. Far from building resilience, Miliband leaves Britain economically weaker and strategically vulnerable. Even this sober academic cannot resist mocking Miliband: “The Iran war showed that the emperor of the clean energy superpower has no clothes.”
He also mocks Miliband’s promise that the switch would cut bills, making a dismissive reference to his now “legendary claim” that households would save £300. But here’s the biggest problem. Which Miliband completely ignores.
Despite huge spending on renewable energy sources, the UK still relies on gas to keep the lights on. Wind and solar energy are intermittent. When the wind drops or the clouds roll in, the system still needs reliable support. This is reserve gas.
But while Miliband is blocking new developments in the North Sea, he is also crushing domestic production with punitive taxes. Britain will be burning gas for decades to come, but we are becoming increasingly reliant on imports rather than producing gas ourselves.
This means loss of business, loss of investment and loss of tax revenue. Helm underlines another harsh truth. The UK currently has the highest industrial electricity prices in the developed world. Energy-intensive industries are taking a hit. Refineries in Grangemouth and Hull closed. Fertilizer plants, fiberglass production and much of the steel industry have been downsized or closed.
This means fewer skilled jobs, more imports and a weaker economy. High energy costs are destroying competitiveness and undermining industries that support Britain’s overall economy, including defense manufacturing. Frankly, Miliband doesn’t care.
Helm also points out Britain’s worrying lack of resilience. There are almost no gas tanks in the country. A single pipeline supplies around 30% of the UK’s gas from Norway. Consider whether this should be cut. Wind farms can even cripple our defense systems.
Helm is not an enemy of renewable energy. It supports low-carbon energy and the transition to cleaner energy. But he understands something that Miliband refuses to acknowledge. A modern economy needs safe, affordable and reliable energy. Britain has none of this. And Miliband still doesn’t care.
Energy bills remain painfully high. Industry is shrinking. The country’s energy security has been hit. Miliband refuses to listen. There comes a point when rational discussion goes off track. So I’ll just call it what it is. He’s such a puppet.
