Ed Miliband MP: speeches 2024

Speeches

• 8 Oct 2024 · Climate Change: International Work · Hansard source

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  Yes, and that is something I am already discussing with my right hon. Friend the Business Secretary.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Climate Change: International Work · Hansard source

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  I take the hon. Gentleman seriously on these issues, and I undertake to write to him or to have one of the Ministers write to him. I make the general point that rewilding and nature-based solutions are an essential part of tackling the climate crisis.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Climate Change: International Work · Hansard source

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  All the proper processes were followed by the Foreign Office, which was in charge of the appointment. I have to say that this is a very sad reflection on the Conservative party. Rachel Kyte is an esteemed person who is recognised for her leadership, and all the Conservatives can do is fling around baseless allegations.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Climate Change: International Work · Hansard source

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  I will say one thing in particular to my hon. Friend. The Prime Minister said at the United Nations General Assembly that we will be unveiling our nationally determined contribution—our target for 2035—at COP29. We are doing that because the danger is that the world settles into a low-ambition equilibrium when it comes to tackling these issues. By having a 1.5º aligned target, we hope to set a good benchmark and a good example for the world.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Climate Change: International Work · Hansard source

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  This Government believe that we can only ensure climate security for further generations in the UK if we lead globally. That was the message of the Prime Minister at the United Nations General Assembly with our world-leading 2030 clean power plan, no new oil and gas licences, and playing our part in reforming the global financial system. Next month I will be attending the COP29 talks in Azerbaijan to stand up for Britain’s interests.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Onshore Wind Energy · Hansard source

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  I am sympathetic to what the hon. Gentleman says. We are working on proposals on community benefit. I believe that when communities host clean energy infrastructure, they should automatically get benefit from it. I am also sympathetic to what he said about minimum levels of support. We are discussing that with industry at the moment and will come forward with proposals soon.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Onshore Wind Energy · Hansard source

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  After nine years of the disastrous, bill-raising ban on onshore wind in England, this Government overturned the ban in our first 72 hours in office. We have also set up the onshore wind taskforce to restore the pipeline of projects destroyed by the last Government. In the recent renewables auction, almost 1 GW of onshore wind was secured at prices that make it among the lowest-cost power sources to build and operate.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Zero Carbon Electricity System · Hansard source

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  Of course, that work is ongoing—in fact, I think the right hon. Lady the shadow Secretary of State has written me a letter about it—and we will be announcing our plans in due course.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Zero Carbon Electricity System · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman—and he knows this—will obviously want to stand up for what he sees as the best benefits for his constituency. I will be cautious about what I say, because there are proper procedures for planning decisions, including my quasi-judicial role. I will make this general point to the House, because I think this may well be a recurring theme during questions, but if we want to get off the dangerous exposure to international fossil fuel markets, which we were left with by the last Government, we need to build the grid. Every solar panel we put up, every wind turbine we put up and every piece of grid we build will help to deliver energy security for the British people.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Zero Carbon Electricity System · Hansard source

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  Thank you very much, Mr Speaker—and you, too, if I may say so. [ Laughter. ] I congratulate my hon. Friend, but particularly the Fairwater community campus on the work it is doing. I think he highlights a very important issue. By helping to decarbonise public buildings, including schools, we help not only to cut our carbon emissions, but, crucially, to save money for those schools that they can then use for frontline services.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Zero Carbon Electricity System · Hansard source

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  Let me tell the hon. Gentleman a little about the situation that we inherited from the last Government, because it is very relevant—obviously, he was not a Minister in that last Government. We inherited a situation where there was no plan: no plan for their target of 95% clean power by 2030, no plan for their target of clean power by 2035, and no plan to avoid a repeat of the worst cost of living crisis in generations. This Government are developing a plan and will publish it in due course.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Zero Carbon Electricity System · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right about the importance of both rooftop solar and ground-mounted solar. I can tell him that, as part of Great British Energy’s plans, we want to work with local schools, local hospitals and, indeed, local leaders to have a solar panels programme, because this is a way to rapidly decarbonise and to save money off bills.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Zero Carbon Electricity System · Hansard source

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  In 12 weeks, this Government have hit the ground running for our 2030 target by ending the onshore wind ban in place for nine years under the Conservative party, consenting to more nationally significant solar projects than in 14 years of the last Government, and overseeing the most successful renewables auction in history compared with the Conservatives’ disastrous auction round that crashed offshore wind. This is a Government in a hurry to meet our mandate from the British people, and we are just getting started.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right to draw attention to our announcement on Aberdeen as the headquarters of Great British Energy and the important role that it will play, and also to the importance of the satellite offices. I know from my visit to her constituency of the huge potential of her area on these issues, and we want to drive jobs throughout the supply chain through Great British Energy.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend raises the important issue that what will define the future for North sea workers is whether there is a plan for future jobs in offshore wind, carbon capture and hydrogen. There was no plan from the previous Government; this Government are absolutely determined to ensure a just transition for those workers, using the power of Government and a proper industrial policy to make it happen.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Every planning application and development consent order is assessed on its merits. Importantly, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Streatham and Croydon North (Steve Reed), is polishing a land use framework, which has long been needed in this country. It will set out the balance between food security, the use of renewable energy, the restoration of nature and the role of farming. I hope that will help with some of the issues that hon. Members are facing.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The people who should be apologising are the last Government, who left this country in a total mess—a £22 billion black hole. I have to say to the right hon. Lady that she does have a brass neck. She said of the right hon. Member for North West Essex (Mrs Badenoch), whom she is backing in the leadership contest, that she “tells the truth”, and what did the right hon. Member for North West Essex say? She said: “I have people in my constituency telling me that they don’t need the winter fuel payments…Why do we not have a…mechanism for means-testing?” That is her position.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The hon. Lady raises a question about the problems of grid connection that is familiar to many Members. We are building on work done by Nick Winser, the former electricity networks commissioner, and we want to go further to tackle the problem of grid connections once and for all.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend raises such an important issue. Across the House, we can have different views on ground-mounted solar, but we need to do more on rooftops and to ensure that tenants, for example council tenants, benefit from such technologies. That is a huge priority for us and we are working on it with colleagues in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman will understand that I have to be careful in what I say about planning issues, but he should rest assured that I have frequent conversations with my counterpart in the Scottish Government and, no doubt, that is one issue we will be discussing.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Yes, we will be bringing forward a spatial energy plan. That is one of the responsibilities of the National Energy System Operator. The hon. Gentleman makes an important point: we need a plan for the system. We can have a plan for the 2030 system done by the NESO and, indeed, a wider strategic spatial energy plan, which will be crucial for the country.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I agree with the right hon. Gentleman. Nuclear is an essential part of the energy mix. We are mainly going to have a renewable system, but nuclear is an essential accompaniment. I fully support all the projects he mentions.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  As well as our measures on onshore wind, solar and renewables, this Government have begun legislating for Great British Energy and setting out our plan for proper standards for private and social renters to take 1 million families out of fuel poverty, and on Friday we announced deals to kick-start Britain’s carbon capture industry. All of this will deliver our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower. It is right for bills, right for energy security, right for jobs and right for climate leadership.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Oh dear, oh dear. The truth is that after three months of this Government, people have breathed a sigh of relief that there is finally a Government with a plan for the country. [Interruption.] I think the right hon. Lady should listen to what her own ministerial team has been saying about her. The former networks Minister has said that their infrastructure approach is hopeless. The former Energy Minister says that the onshore wind ban was “always mad”, and Lord Callanan said that the right hon. Lady had kicked the solar consents “into the long grass”. If I were her, I would be hoping for just one thing from the next Tory leader: a shadow Cabinet reshuffle.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman raises a very important issue that I am afraid was not solved by the last Government. We are working at pace with National Grid, and I am sure the Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, my hon. Friend the Member for Rutherglen (Michael Shanks), will be happy to talk to him further about the work we are doing.