‘Ed Miliband goes rogue – he had ONE job, and wilfully sabotaged it’ | Personal Finance | Finance
It must provide the nation with a safe, secure power supply at the lowest possible cost. This should be beyond debate. Unless you’re Ed Miliband.
As winter approaches, millions of vulnerable Britons will be forced to choose between heating their homes or living in the cold. They’ll think twice before turning on the light or poking the thermostat. These are basic needs.
For industry, cheap energy could mean the difference between making a profit and going bankrupt. It really is that simple. Unless you’re Ed Miliband, of course.
To meet his brief, any competent energy secretary should use every reliable power source available. Wind, solar, nuclear, oil and gas all have a place in the mix.
Most importantly, home-grown energy; The kind we don’t have to import at eye-watering costs.
Unlike some of Miliband’s critics, I believe climate change is a real threat. But pursuing illusory, impossible net zero targets will only make Britain poorer and colder. Unfortunately Ed Miliband sees it differently.
His priority is not to keep the lights on and bills low, but to promote the ideological net zero transition no matter the cost or consequence. He acts as if he is no longer responsible. He will not listen except to those who agree with him.
He certainly wasn’t listening to Ineos boss Sir Jim Ratcliffe. The billionaire industrialist said he joined a video call with Miliband to ask why Labor had banned new drilling in the North Sea, but was told bluntly: “I’m sorry but that’s my policy. I’m not prepared to participate.”
What reason might Miliband have to reject the debate, unless he knew it was damaging the country’s energy backbone and couldn’t justify it?
No serious government would appoint a minister whose job seems to be to cripple its own energy supplies for some abstract purpose. But that is exactly what Miliband is doing in the North Sea.
Oil and gas exploration companies are retreating in the UK as unexpected taxes leave no profit margin. Production is falling, exploration licenses are being blocked, jobs are being destroyed, the economy of the city of Aberdeen is being devastated. It’s a scandalous situation.
But Miliband no longer bothers to explain himself. In his wild-eyed, arm-waving speech at the Labor Party conference, he chose to rant about Elon Musk rather than anyone else. Who cares about Elon Musk while you’re shivering in your living room?
Miliband once promised Labor would cut household energy bills by £300. Instead it increased by £200; More will come. The total increase could reach £900.
Conservative critics say Miliband’s green taxes alone have added £165 to energy bills.
It also pays wind farms £1bn a year to stop producing electricity, spends £8bn on useless quango Great British Energy and devotes £22bn to carbon capture and storage, a technology that has never worked anywhere before and may never work. Who gave him all this money?
Meanwhile, Britain is importing ever more fossil fuel energy at high prices just to keep the lights on.
Sir Keir Starmer was desperate to sack Miliband in the latest cabinet reshuffle but lacked the courage. Miliband has gone rogue. It is impossible to restrain him.
We now have a secretary of energy who is actively sabotaging the job he is paid to do and undermining the nation he is supposed to serve.
As long as he remains in office, Britain will grow colder and poorer, and no one can possibly think that’s a good idea. Except for one man. Fanatic Mr Miliband.
