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JULIA HARTLEY-BREWER
Ed Miliband’s ill-fated crusade to make Britain a ‘clean-energy superpower’ will put up bills and put us in the dark
Scroll to read more on the failures behind the Grenfell disaster
WOULD you trust a man who couldn’t win a battle with a bacon sandwich to be in charge of keeping the country’s lights on?
Because that’s what we’re being asked to do as Ed Miliband gets to work on his mission to turn Britain into a “clean-energy superpower” by 2030.
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The grandly titled Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero says that he will “cut bills, create jobs and deliver security with cheaper zero-carbon electricity by 2030”.
I can tell you categorically, right now, that Ed Miliband won’t do any of that.
In fact, he won’t even come CLOSE to doing any of it.
Religious zealotry
What he WILL do is put UP our energy bills, destroy jobs and leave us in the dark when the blackouts inevitably come.
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I know, I know . . . Ed Miliband seems harmless enough.
We all remember him as the hapless then-Labour leader struggling to eat a bacon sandwich in 2014, and that excruciatingly embarrassing “Ed Stone” of election pledges that looked more like a tombstone marking his party’s defeat in 2015.
But, trust me, there’s nothing harmless about Miliband.
This is a man with a fanatical, almost religious zealotry to deliver Net Zero — and he’s all the more dangerous thanks to his abject lack of knowledge about the very task he is charged with.
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The Energy Secretary believes — along with the rest of Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Cabinet — that he can decarbonise Britain’s entire electricity grid within just six years.
He probably also believes he’ll win the Lottery tomorrow night and, frankly, that’s a hell of a lot more likely.
Ed Miliband mocked as he calls for ‘electric car revolution’ but doesn’t own one himself
Miliband plans to have 100 per cent clean electricity by 2030 and wants to do this by increasing our reliance on renewable energy such as wind and solar power, instead of using gas to generate more than 30 per cent of our electricity, as we did last year.
Here’s the problem: You can either have energy security OR Net Zero — you can’t have both.
Energy security means affordable and reliable energy whenever you need it — not just on the days or nights when the wind is blowing.
And since we can’t currently store renewable energy on a large enough scale, that means we will need gas for decades to come.
And here’s another problem: Miliband and his team at the Department for Energy haven’t actually got a clue how they’re going to hit their target.
We know this because last weekend he admitted it when he wrote to the National Grid ESO (the people who operate our electricity system) and asked THEM for detailed “practical advice” about how they can achieve Labour’s 2030 goal.
Shouldn’t they have thought of this BEFORE instead of AFTER announcing the plan?
Ah, but Julia, you’re not an expert on green energy, are you?
This is true.
But then neither is Ed Miliband.
But you don’t need a degree in climate science or engineering to work this stuff out.
You just need the basic maths skills of an eight-year-old to see the sums simply don’t add up.
Prancing around at global eco-summits telling everyone how green and virtuous you are is all very well, but it won’t make wind or solar power any more reliable or cheaper.
Miliband won’t bring energy bills down when taxpayers have to foot the bill for the billions in green subsidies.
Very dirty coal
And this Government won’t deliver growth, jobs and prosperity without cheap energy.
Then there’s the irony that we are importing wind turbines and solar panels in oil-powered cargo ships from Chinese factories powered by cheap and very dirty coal.
You really couldn’t make this stuff up.
Meanwhile, Miliband is spending £11billion on “climate aid” in other countries, while our own pensioners worry about putting the heating on this winter thanks to Labour scrapping £300 winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners.
It all defies belief.
The only way that Miliband could possibly achieve his 2030 target is if we — quite literally — turn off the lights.
Ed may not be able to make another bacon sandwich when the blackouts hit in a few years’ time, but he WILL be forced to eat his own words.
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Grenfell tragedy
NO ONE could ever forget the sight of Grenfell Tower engulfed in flames on that fateful night seven years ago.
Thanks to the public inquiry’s report, we can also see the web of dishonesty, negligence, incompetence and utter disregard for safety that left 72 people dead.
But it isn’t just the systematic dishonesty of cladding firms, who supplied those panels of death, that shocks.
It’s the abject failure of every single level of regulation that is so dumbfounding.
I was astonished to be told by a fire- safety expert the day after the blaze – while the embers were still hot – that anyone, without any qualifications, could don a high- viz jacket and legally certify that a building was fire-safe.
Even more shocking, more than 340,000 people are STILL living in high-rise blocks with flammable cladding.
There was no excuse in 2017 and there certainly isn’t in 2024.
Every building must be made safe NOW.
I'm joining The Sun... and talking common sense
I AM thrilled to join The Sun as a regular columnist from today, bringing you a healthy dose of common sense right here on this page every Friday morning.
Curiously, common sense seems to be a lot less common these days.
I’ve never been afraid to say what I think – because it’s usually what a lot of other people think too.
I’ve been inside the Westminster bubble so know how things work but don’t worry – I live outside it and won’t ever shrink from speaking truth to power.
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Whether it’s on Brexit, Covid lockdown policies, trans ideology, immigration, Net Zero or anything else, I’ve always spoken my mind even when people have tried their best to silence me.
I can’t promise you’ll always agree with me, but at least you’ll know I’m telling you what I REALLY think and nothing else.
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