Latest news with #Miliband
The Sun
a day ago
- Politics
- The Sun
Eco loon Ed Miliband sent aide on gas-guzzling 46-hour trip to Brazil to check out hotel despite green drive
ED Miliband's Net Zero department sent a health and safety inspector on a lavish 10,000-mile round trip – to check the hotels were up to scratch. At least one civil servant got gas-guzzling flights to Brazil and back to scout out the British delegation's accommodation for an upcoming summit on climate change. 3 3 3 The taxpayer-funded expedition was branded a 'jolly in the jungle' while the Energy Secretary was accused of hypocrisy for sending his staff 10,000 miles by plane. Civil servant John Gaunt posted sightseeing snaps on social media of his 'incredible experience' in the northern Brazilian city of Belem. He was carrying out 'H&S checks' on local hotels ahead of the UN's COP30 summit in November. Mr Gaunt, who is thought to have travelled from Heathrow via Lisbon, said he 'never dreamt I'd be travelling this far'. He added: 'Sometimes life deals you a good hand.' He revealed the journey there took 23 hours, with the same expected on the way back. The official was merely following orders, but critics attacked Mr Miliband's department for the trip which is estimated to have clocked up 11,500kg of carbon emissions. The UK also has an embassy and officials based in the South American country. Mr Miliband has previously come under fire for racking up a £40,000 bill on domestic flights during Labour's first six months in power. The former party leader has long campaigned to constrain aviation as part of his finger-wagging green drive. He has also vowed to block airports such as Heathrow expanding if they do not meet the UK's emissions targets. Last night Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice blasted: 'In an effort to 'save the planet', Jet Ed sent a civil servant to Brazil to do a job that could've been completed with a simple Google search. 'His lunatic obsession with Net Zero seems to give him the moral superiority to waste your money. Ed Miliband won't turn Britain into a 'clean energy superpower', he'll put UP energy bills, destroy jobs and we'll have blackouts says Julia Hartley-Brewer 'The flying green hypocrite has spent over £40,000 on flights in just six months, racked up a carbon footprint more than 12 times that of the average Briton, and outspent his Tory predecessor tenfold. "All this travel to promote an agenda that will do nothing to reduce global carbon emissions, while raising energy bills for hardworking Britons and further damaging small businesses and economic growth.' Shadow Energy Secretary Andrew Bowie said: 'Red Ed's jetsetting civil servants have just been exposed for their jolly in the jungle. As per usual, it's one rule for them and another for hardworking families being asked to tighten their belts. Labour need to start practicing what they preach because it's plane hypocrisy.' UN COP conferences have been criticised as a waste of time, often ending in weak deals. Oil-rich nations are accused of using them to push their agendas rather than tackle environmental concerns. Tory ex-COP President Alok Sharma was nicknamed 'Airmiles Alok' due to his extensive international travel for climate talks. A Department for Energy and Net Zero spokesperson said: 'It is in Britain's national self-interest to attend international summits. 'Any carbon footprint is dwarfed by the carbon prize of delivering our agenda. The health and safety of our staff, while attending these events, is paramount.'
Ya Biladi
2 days ago
- Business
- Ya Biladi
UK snubs Xlinks' Morocco-UK power project over focus on homegrown energy
The British government is reportedly halting formal negotiations with Xlinks, the company behind an ambitious £25 billion (310 billion dirhams) renewable energy project designed to import solar and wind power from Morocco to the UK via a 4,000-kilometre undersea cable. According to British media, Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband has decided not to move forward with discussions over a 25-year price guarantee agreement with the company. Government sources cited a desire to prioritize «homegrown» energy, a position Miliband reiterated during a speech at the Climate Innovation Forum, part of London Climate Action Week, on Wednesday. In his remarks, Miliband said the UK government has a «hard-headed determination to get off the rollercoaster of fossil fuel markets with cheaper, clean, homegrown energy that we control». Sensing hesitation The decision, expected to be confirmed in a ministerial statement later on Thursday, comes despite strong investor interest in the project. Notably, Xlinks Chairman Sir Dave Lewis, the former CEO of Tesco, had already anticipated a possible government pullback. «If the UK government does not agree to support the project, we will switch our focus to another country», he warned earlier this year. Moreover, the company requested in May a temporary pause in its application for a Development Consent Order (DCO), a legal requirement for major infrastructure projects in the UK, while awaiting a decision on its Contract for Difference (CfD) bid, which would determine the electricity sale price. It is worth noting that the Morocco–UK Power Project aims to deliver 3.6 gigawatts (GW) of dispatchable, clean energy from solar, wind, and battery facilities in Morocco to the UK. The project is expected to reduce UK carbon emissions by 10% and cut wholesale electricity prices by 9.3%. In 2022, the project was included in the UK's strategic energy vision and recognised as a project of national significance in 2023.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Government to support banks and large firms in setting out their climate plans
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has announced the Government will support banks and large companies in developing their climate transition plans. Speaking at the Climate and Innovation Forum during London Climate Action Week on Wednesday, Mr Miliband said the Government is 'determined to make the UK the sustainable finance capital of the world'. Transition planning means businesses develop a road map that outlines how they intend to adapt and transform their operations, strategies and business models to align with their climate goals. Publishing credible plans is seen as a key part of a firm's ambition to reduce its impact on the planet as well as any climate-related risks, helping to provide confidence and long-term clarity to investors. Government support for transition planning comes as part of its efforts to stimulate billions of pounds a year in private investment in net zero sectors and its ambitions for the UK to become a clean energy superpower. The UK is already seen as a world leader in sustainable finance and many top companies have voluntarily developed comprehensive plans. But many have yet to release what is considered a credible plan or publish one altogether. Campaigners have long been calling for the Government to make publishing transition plans mandatory for firms as a way to drive meaningful climate action and attract investment. Mr Miliband said: 'Through our clean energy superpower mission and industrial strategy, we can win this global race and accelerate investment into these sectors – growing the economy, turbocharging the transition to net zero and delivering on our Plan for Change. 'Our plans will transform our leading financial services sector into a global hub for green investment.' Justin Madders, minister for competition and markets, said: 'We want to work with businesses to develop a 'common sense' sustainable reporting framework that is transparent, clear and proportionate for those investing in the UK. 'These measures will enhance competition in the sustainability assurance sector, helping to deliver on our Plan for Change and kickstart economic growth.' The Government announced that it will take forward recommendations from last year's Transition Finance Market Review, which explored how ministers could support firms to access the capital needed to decarbonise and deliver on climate goals. This included advising the Government to launch a consultation on requirements for outlining corporate transition plans. But the Government also said the design of any future requirements will be aligned with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's commitment to reduce regulatory compliance costs by 25%. Alok Sharma, chairman of the Transition Finance Council, said: 'A clear message from the Transition Finance Market Review was that high-quality disclosure and information are vital for investors and a pre-condition to a flourishing sustainable and transition finance market. 'The UK can become the pre-eminent global financial centre for raising transition finance, but this is a time-limited opportunity, and that is why it will be vital to move quickly from consultation to implementation.' The Government said it will publish three consultations. The first will explore how to take forward its commitment on transition planning, the second will focus on new sustainability reporting standards that can provide clear comparable information on companies to investors and the third will look at how to develop a voluntary registration regime for the providers of assurance of sustainability reporting. Alistair Phillips-Davies, chief executive at SSE, said: 'As an early adopter of climate transition plans, we've seen first-hand how they can build investor confidence and accelerate progress toward net zero.' Rachel Solomon Williams, executive director of the Aldersgate Group, said: 'Using the feedback from these consultations to develop clear financial guardrails will help strengthen the transparency, interoperability, and credibility of climate-related financial disclosures.' Ian Bhullar, director of sustainability policy at UK Finance, said: 'The financial services industry backs proportionate, internationally aligned sustainability reporting.' The Government cited a recent survey of financial institutions conducted by South Pole, which found that 84% of UK-based financial institutions find companies with transition plans more attractive to invest in.
New Statesman
20-06-2025
- Business
- New Statesman
Ed Miliband keeps winning
Photo byIt's been a cheery couple of weeks for Ed Miliband. Despite a raft of negative briefings in the weeks prior to the spending review, Miliband's Department for Energy Security and Net Zero ended up being one of Rachel Reeves' biggest winners. Alongside the cancellation of a previously trailed cut to the Warm Homes Plan, DESNZ received a 16 per cent increase in spending power (more than any other department). And now, following a period of internal wrangling with the Number 10 and the Treasury, the former Labour leader has announced the extension of the Warm Homes Discount, a policy which offers a £150 energy bills discount to those on low incomes. Insiders tell me it is something the Energy Secretary has been working on behind the scenes for months. Energy bills – and the government's pledge to cut them by £300 before the end of the parliament – will be a key metric of Labour's success at the next election. Frustration over the slow pace of reduction, alongside fury over the Winter Fuel Payment, were big issues on the doorstep during the locals (it wasn't a good night for Labour). In the wake of voting, one insider close to Miliband pointed to the Warm Homes Discount – which was first introduced in 2011 – and questioned why the government did not make more of it following the decision to cut Winter Fuel. It is, after all, a means-tested benefit intended to support not just elderly people, but millions of households on low incomes to reduce their energy bills. The extension announced on Thursday will see a further 2.7 million households eligible to receive this benefit; over 6 million households will now be able to access the discount. It will be paid for via a deal which the government has struck with the energy regulator, Ofgem. Currently, energy bills include the socialised costs of energy companies' unpaid debts, the government has done a deal to reduce the overall debt burden on energy companies. This accompanies the recent cut to the Energy Price Cap, which comes into effect in July, meaning a double whammy of energy bill reductions. All of this suggests that despite speculation that Keir Starmer might be about to make an about-turn on support for net zero, the Prime Minister is firmly staying put. Not only has Miliband's funding been bolstered, but his department has been responsible for some of the government's most recent positive news: 100,000 new jobs at Sizewell C, solar panels for newbuild homes, schools, and hospitals, and now the extension of the Warm Homes Discount. And Starmer has made clear that, in directly taking on Nigel Farage, he won't look to ape the Reform UK's net zero scepticism but will seek to prove how the green transition can help low-income, marginalised communities, as well as slashing the UK's carbon emissions. That Starmer is staying close to Miliband is unsurprising. The PM has, after all, always been environmentally minded (he is a pescatarian, did you know?). Perhaps his most famous case as a human rights lawyer was representing two Greenpeace Activists against McDonalds in the 1997 McLibel trial. Starmer, who's former Kentish Town home is a short walk from Miliband's ends in Dartmouth Park, was also encouraged to run to be an MP in 2015 by his predecessor as Labour leader. The pair have a shared political history; it's easy to speculate that Starmer feels some loyalty there. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Connections aside, it's clear Starmer sees the electoral benefit of his Energy Secretary's clean power drive, particularly after the disastrous Winter Fuel Payment saga and the government's subsequent U-turn. Reducing the UK's reliance on imported natural gas and other fossil fuels will lead to lower energy bills; a result on which Starmer's premiership will be heavily judged (and to some extent, already is). And in this new turbulent international climate – the arguments for energy security remain; Miliband was the first to make them. After months of underestimation from his detractors, the Energy Secretary and his agenda are safe, for the time being. It all now rests on the success of his delivery. Related
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
We will win the fight on net zero, says Ed Miliband
Ed Miliband has pledged to beat the critics of his net zero policies by creating thousands of new jobs in the UK's declining industrial regions. Speaking on Tuesday at an offshore wind conference in London, the Energy Secretary said Britain was on the brink of a 'green industrial revolution' that would boost employment and bring down household bills. It follows growing criticism from the Conservatives and Reform UK over the cost of Britain's spending on renewables, which has added at least £200 to the average domestic power bill. Mr Miliband said: 'We are witnessing the coming of age of Britain's green industrial revolution,' he said. 'We are building this new era of clean energy abundance, helping deliver new jobs, energy security and lower household bills through our Plan for Change.' It followed an announcement that a new public company set up by Mr Miliband last year to boost green initiatives, known as Great British Energy, was investing £300m in offshore wind supply chains. The investment will target former industrial areas like Teesside, Scotland, South Wales and East Anglia and is expected to create new green jobs. It is aimed at countering critics who point out that too much of the kit needed for Britain's energy transition is being manufactured abroad – meaning it is failing to generate jobs or skills for British workers. Unite the Union, which supports the Labour Party, has published reports suggesting only 20pc of UK wind farm equipment is made in the UK. A separate report from Robert Gordon University put the UK content at 25pc. A separate report from RenewableUK and the Offshore Wind Industry Council suggests there are now 40,000 people working in the UK's offshore wind industry with a separate study showing another 15,000 work in onshore wind – a total of 55,000 people. The total could reach 90,000 by 2030, says the report. As part of the jobs and investment plan, the Crown Estate is to invest a further £400m and the offshore wind industry a further £300m – making a total of £1bn – in offshore wind manufacturing, including producing turbine blades, cables and the platforms needed for floating wind farms. Mr Miliband has become increasingly outspoken over the potential benefits of the green policies he espouses. Earlier this month he repeated his pre-election pledge that household energy bills would fall by £300 by 2030 because of green energy. On Tuesday, he launched a direct attack on his political opponents, saying: 'The forces that want to take us backwards, the forces that oppose net zero, will have to reckon not just with the Government; they will have to reckon with all these companies that are creating jobs.' Richard Tice, energy spokesman for Reform UK, said: 'Mr Miliband is taking a big risk with the UK's electricity supplies and significantly increasing the risk of shortages. It even puts us at risk of blackouts – not seen here since the days of the 1970s miners' strikes. 'It's interesting his pledges to bring bills down all cite 2030 which is the year after the likely date of the next general election – by when he will have been thrown out of office.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
