
Politics latest: Starmer to visit deck of aircraft carrier in vow to protect trade routes
Ed Miliband has committed £300m to building offshore wind farms.
The minister for energy security and net zero confirms that British Energy, the publicly owned company, has been given the cash to improve offshore wind supply chains.
Speaking to Sky News, he says: "There is a huge opportunity here: jobs for engineers and welders, and construction workers.
"It's part of our whole argument, which is this clean energy transition is an unprecedented economic opportunity, probably our biggest opportunity to contribute to economic growth.
"We want Britain to be the safe haven for the world for global investors to come here and we think we have a good chance of that happening."
Challenged on whether Chinese firms will be part of the supply chain for new wind farms, Miliband says "China is part of our global supply chains".
It comes after concerns were expressed that some Chinese manufacturing could be being performed by slave labour.
He adds: "Absolutely, we don't want to use slave labour.
"What we're doing, though, is building up our British manufacturing base.
"This is really, really important, and this wasn't done in the past. We care about making, buying and selling things in Britain. And this investment today is part of this.
"But I'll be honest with you, it won't happen overnight", he adds.
The former Labour leader added that the government will make a "calm and considered decision" on whether to shake up the UK's energy market and move towards different prices for different areas of the UK.
Miliband is reported to be considering zonal pricing, which some newspaper reports have said could lead to higher bills in the South East of England, while other areas may get cheaper energy.
Asked about the move on Sky News, he said: "We're still looking at the details of this, which is something we've got to really get right, and we are studying in detail the effect."
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