Ed Miliband has warned that “this has got to be a moment of change” for the Labour government and that the Cabinet + MPs were “on the precipice” yesterday as the party wobbled on Starmer. He said they “looked at the alternatives.” Every now ‘loyal’ Cabinet minister is looking forward to pulling the weak PM in their policy direction…
Miliband said claims he wanted to stand himself were “baloney” and ruled out a future leadership challenge (“Yes, yes. I’m not going to run, yeah.“) repeating that his previous time leading the party had “innocculated” him. Miliband refused to comment on the briefing war between Streeting and No10, telling them to “move on”…
No10 sources have long suspected Miliband of plotting a kingmaker role and/or the Chancellorship for himself anyway. The Energy Secretary said the point of this government was to shift from the rule of the “rich and powerful” and that it had not yet done so enough, adding that policy mistakes like Winter Fuel were damaging. The soft left is driving the bus now…
The latest No10 shake-up continues with the imminent departure of Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald, has long been viewed as a blocker. Starmer still grappling for survival after failing for so long to fix the machinery of government…
A month after Labour was elected in 2024, Ed Miliband announced his new “Clean Energy Superpower Mission Board” to “keep a laser focus across government on delivering clean, cheap energy to homes and businesses.” Only problem is no one seems to have the energy for it…
In a written response to Tory MP Charlie Dewhirst, DESNZ admitted that they actually don’t have any other ministers committed to being on the board. Energy minister Michael Shanks said:
“The Clean Energy Superpower Mission Board is chaired by the DESNZ Secretary of State, the Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP. The board does not have a fixed list of internal or external members, rather we engage with other government departments, external organisations and industry experts depending on the issues for discussion.”
That’s despite crows from the department that ministers from across government would meet to ensure a “relentless focus” on delivering clean power by 2030 and “accelerating towards net zero.” A Tory source added:
“Ed Miliband is making it up as he goes along. His Green taskforce appears completely aimless. It sounds less like an ‘Energy Superpower Board’ and more like a low-energy talking shop.”
Sounds like hot air…
Trump’s speech in Davos took aim at the crisis of the UK’s electricity supply:
“The United Kingdom produces just one third of the total energy from all sources than it did in 1999. They’re sitting on top of the North Sea, one of the greatest reserves anywhere in the world. But they don’t use it. And that’s one reason why their energy has reached catastrophically low levels, with equally high prices… They are sitting on top of the North Sea – one of the greatest reserves in the world, they take 92% of the revenues… they make it impossible to drill.”
This is on the same day that Miliband announces more taxpayer subsidies for heat pumps and solar panels. It is a conscious choice of Labour to starve Britain’s sovereign energy resources to death…
LabourList’s regular polling of party members has seen a marked drop in support for Andy Burnham. Was it something he said?
After the King of the North’s communications grid failed at Labour Conference and his arrival/intervention was more of a plop than a splash he has only gone downhill. Latest briefings about Burnham’s desire for a seat didn’t go down that well either…
Burnham’s net popularity has dropped to +54 which is down 15 points since September. Miliband has a comfortable lead of +69. Something the heavy anti-Starmer briefer will be mulling over…
Number 10 has insisted it will not change course on its ban of all new petrol and diesel cars from 2030, even as its pals in Brussels prepare to reverse course after pressure from Germany and Italy. Miliband’s beloved EV mandate lives to fight another day, at least for now…
The Number 10 spokesman said today:
“We have set out clearly our position on this for some time now, and made the case for it. We remain committed to the policy. Our electric car grant is making it cheaper than ever to choose an EV.”
Motor industry experts in the UK are already pushing back. Ex-Aston Martin chief Dr Andy Palmer told the Times this morning:
“It becomes very difficult because if the EU drops their ban the factories there won’t ramp up their EV production in the way forecast. There wouldn’t be enough EVs to meet the demand required in the UK.”
Electric vehicle owners now face a pay-per-mile tax following the Winter Budget. This crusade looks increasingly ridiculous…
Miliband appeared at the Commons Environmental Audit Committee today to defend his attempts at the latest COP vanity conference in Brazil to push strict net zero policies:
“It would be a total dereliction if we walked away… siren voices are saying we should walk away from this process, it would be a total betrayal. I’ve got two kids who are 15 and 16, they would look at me in the future and rightly say ‘you have left future generations totally in the most appalling circumstances’… we are 1% of global emissions, if we walk away we are signing an absolute disaster warrant for future generations.”
This comes as UK billpayers are themselves set to be hit repeatedly by sky-high bills from the net zero ‘transition.’ Future generations will no doubt conclude that Miliband signed an absolute disaster warrant for consumers and businesses with ‘Clean Power 2030’…
Cheap energy campaign Net Zero Watch is warning that huge cost increases are a direct result of policies. A forecast by the National Energy System Operator predicts the fees which fund the maintenance of the UK’s high-voltage electricity transmission network will hike the average household energy bill will rise by £42.18 next year. That’s a whopping rise of 82% on this year…
Maurice Cousins, Campaign Director at Net Zero Watch, tells Guido:
“A near-doubling of charges is exactly what happens when you build an electricity system around the weather rather than physics. These spiralling costs are transmission costs, and they are entirely predictable. Once you depend on intermittent generation from remote sites, you need an oversized, heavily engineered transmission network to compensate and simply to move electricity to where it is required. None of this makes energy cheaper. To end the cost-of-Miliband crisis we need to ditch Clean Power 2030.”
Ofgem’s work is adding £108 to bills by 2031. The so-called TNUoS cost for the average household was £51.30 in 2025/26 – next year “the TNUoS cost for the average domestic household is forecast to be £93.48 for 2026/27 which forms 10.6% of the average annual electricity consumer bill.” A ‘total betrayal’…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”
