Ed Miliband is at war with Number 10 over its attempts to slash DESNZ’s budget by at least 1% to help fund the elusive Defence Investment Plan (DIP). According to the Telegraph, Miliband has gone studs up over demands to squeeze around £600m from the department. Will someone think of the heat pumps…
Currently, around £9 billion is set to be spent on carbon capture and storage alone. Miliband thinks this is a worthy investment, even as the DIP is around £4.5 billion short of the funding requested by the MoD. Is Ed aware that Britain’s Navy more or less doesn’t exist?
The ongoing cabinet wrangling over the DIP is increasingly regarded as an academic exercise within Labour circles anyway, given Starmer’s tenure in Number 10 is coming to an end. Although under the new regime, Miliband will still sit at the top table…
Ed Miliband has signed up to a legal target to cut the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions by 87% by 2040. Not stopping this train…
This is in order to reach Net Zero by 2050. The 2038-42 period is the seventh ‘carbon budget.’ The Climate Change Committee says “meeting the target will require households to install heat pumps instead of new boilers, switch to electric cars and vans and eat less meat and dairy.” Strap in…
The BBC has edited a headline that suggested the Confederation of British Industry backed “green jobs.” Typical…
BBC Scotland published an article headlined: “Green jobs contributing £10.2bn to Scotland’s economy, says CBI.” Only, it doesn’t…
Actually the CBI’s separate consultancy CBI Economics was commissioned by a pro-net zero think tank to talk up the contributions of eco jobs. The report actually states in a disclaimer:
“This report was commissioned by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) and prepared by CBI Economics on an independent basis. The analysis, findings and conclusions presented in this report are those of CBI Economics alone and do not necessarily reflect the views or policy positions of the CBI, its members, or ECIU.
CBI Economics operates separately from the CBI’s member-led policy and advocacy teams. Its consultancy work is conducted independently and is not influenced by the CBI’s policy positions or by CBI membership.”
So, not the CBI itself. The BBC has made edits and a spokesman said: “The story makes it clear that this study was carried out by CBI Economics for the climate think tank the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) and we’ve clarified the headline.” Which now carries ‘report’ at the end. Net zero propaganda comes easy these days…
A new report from the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) shows the UK’s electricity system costs are on track to more than double by 2030. The equivalent of adding £700 to the average household bill even if – and it’s a big if – gas prices remain static…
According to the IEA, total subsidies and grid integration costs for renewables will soar from £19.8 billion in 2024/25 to a whopping £40.1 billion in 2030/31 on the government’s current plans.
David Turver, energy expert and author of the IEA’s ‘The Cost of Net Zero’, said:
“The UK already has the most expensive industrial electricity in the developed world, and official forecasts show it is going to get significantly worse. The idea that building more wind and solar will bring bills down is just wrong. Grid integration costs alone are set to rise by £17 billion by 2030, dwarfing any savings from lower gas prices.
“The opposition proposals to scrap AR7, end the Renewables Obligation and abolish carbon taxes are welcome, but they do not go nearly far enough. Even if every one of those pledges were delivered in full, electricity system costs would still be £8.2 billion above today’s levels by 2030…”
Even Blair is pushing against Labour’s Net Zero dogma. The odds of Miliband listening are next to nothing…
Angela Rayner has taken a £25,000 donation from the wife of a oil and gas chief executive who has been a strong critic of Labour’s oil and gas policy. No one tell Ed Miliband…
In the latest register of interests Rayner is shown to have received “£25,000 towards running costs for the Office of Angela Rayner Limited” from Soha Riyadh Tawfiq Alsadek on 8th April this year.
Her benefactor, otherwise known as Suha Bseisu, is the wife of Amjad Bseisu. Bseisu, an Emirati, is current Chief Executive and founder of Enquest, an oil exploration and production company founded in 2010. It posted revenue of £1.1 billion in 2025…
Bseisu and his oil and gas company are very strong critics of Labour’s oil and gas policy:
Bseisu and his wife jointly run a scholarship foundation for students in the Middle East to study globally. This year EnQuest said its 2025 tax charge was heavily distorted by the non-cash impact of the two-year oil and gas windfall tax extension, creating a $123.9 million charge. It was recently fined £16.5 million for failing to decommission 33 defunct North Sea wells. Ouch – any responsible CEO would want the policies changed…
Rayner has been raking it in from speaking engagements but despite telling everyone about it there is still no sign of her promised memoir. Nor for that matter has any podcast materialised. But at least she has some cash to run her bid for a top job…
Last night the government waived some Russian oil sanctions to allow imports of diesel and jet fuel from Russian crude processed in third countries. Indian products mostly…
Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury Dan Tomlinson could not say he was comfortable with the move on Sky News when asked but did say:
“There’s a whole range of other sanctions that have been announced today by well yesterday by the government yesterday by the government because we do have to make sure that we are standing up to Putin’s aggression and making sure that we’re protecting Ukraine and at the same time when there’s a very significant international conflict happening when we do need to make sure that we keep security and supply across the world we’re looking at time limited changes on some very specific aspects.”
Ed Miliband has directed the government to shut down all North Sea oil via the King’s Speech. A decision on Rosebank is still delayed. Refineries are being closed down and the windfall tax on oil and gas remains at a record high after Labour hikes. Last night Labour MPs voted against a Tory motion to ease action on the North Sea and British refineries…
Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Emily Thornberry said: “People feel very let down… Just because other countries are behaving in the wrong way does not mean that we should join them. It really doesn’t. We are Britain, one of Ukraine’s strongest allies, and we have led the fight against Russia.” Friendly fire…
Boris Johnson said: “The Kremlin will, I am afraid, be laughing today at the incompetence and stupidity of the Starmer government. This is a betrayal of Ukraine – and will do nothing to help British consumers.” Is this what Labour MPs expected to be doing in government…
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.”