Now Red Ed Miliband wants everyone to eat less meat and dairy to hit his legally binding climate targets (maybe he should start with those pesky bacon butties!)

Families will have to cut back on meat and dairy to meet tough new climate targets imposed by Ed Miliband.

The Energy Secretary has signed up to a legally binding target to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions by 87 per cent by 2040.

To achieve this, government advisers say households need to replace boilers with heat pumps, switch to electric cars and consume 25 per cent less meat and a fifth less milk.

The target proposed by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) is one of the most ambitious in the world.

While Labor has not yet said how it would achieve such a target, it would restrict what future governments can do.

The CCC has previously recommended that Heathrow Airport should not be expanded as it would breach previous Carbon Budgets, five-year caps on greenhouse gas emissions under the 2008 Climate Change Act.

Mr Miliband, who was photographed trying to maintain his dignity while eating a bacon sandwich in 2014, agreed to the latest such budget proposal despite the UK being responsible for less than one per cent of global emissions.

The deal also comes despite a major backlash over Net Zero policies from the Conservative Party and Reform England, who have promised to scrap the targets if they come to power.

The CCC sets out a ‘pathway’, detailing its recommendations to the Government, to achieve the target of families consuming less meat and dairy products.

Meat consumption will need to fall by a quarter from 2019 levels by 2040, while dairy products will need to fall by 20 percent.

Achieving this will require going beyond current trends, which means the Government will need to persuade families to cut back, it said.

More families will need to switch to electric cars and replace boilers with heat pumps, which they say will result in lower bills despite current prohibitive installation costs.

But CCC said families can still fly near today’s levels.

A commitment to reduce greenhouse gases by 87 percent from 1990 levels is vital to achieving Net Zero by 2050; The Conservative Party and Reform have vowed to scrap this target.

A Labor source said: ‘This is a fight we are happy about and the politics are strong for Labour.

Businesses want certainty, polling on climate action remains strong and the long-term benefits outweigh any costs.

‘Fundamentally this is about energy security, investment and Britain’s future competitiveness.’

The CCC’s seventh Carbon Budget for 2038-42 introduces a legally binding cap on emissions for a period of five years.

The legislation is expected to be introduced soon, with a parliamentary vote expected before the end of the month.

But there are concerns that this will be a straitjacket that binds the hands of subsequent governments.

Shadow Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho said the targets would make households ‘leaner, poorer’ and increase bills.

‘The fact that in the final days of the Labor government they will try to push a new Net Zero target that will make us weaker, poorer and make everyone’s energy bills even higher shows that they do not put the national interest first,’ he said.