Ed Miliband MP: speeches

Speeches

• 7 Jul 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman raises an important issue. The way to get bills down is to drive for clean energy, which the Conservatives oppose. Why have bills gone up in the last few months? Because of the Iran war. [ Interruption. ] They know that they have gone up because of the Iran war—

• 7 Jul 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman makes a really important point. I am happy to give that undertaking. We want to see the opportunities around SMRs throughout the United Kingdom. I am happy to discuss that with him.

• 7 Jul 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The truth is that we all face a choice on the future of our energy system. Do we learn the lessons of history—of two fossil-fuel crises in five years, as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Iran war—and say that we want energy sovereignty with clean, home-grown power that we control, or do we not? We have made our choice.

• 7 Jul 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I appreciate the hon. Gentleman’s question, because the situation facing families who use heating oil has been significant since the Iran war started. That is why we made money available, including to the Scottish Government, to help families in particular hardship. We have also increased the help available through the boiler upgrade scheme for those families using heating oil. I continue to discuss what more we can do with colleagues across Government.

• 7 Jul 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  We will look at all suggestions, including my hon. Friend’s. We do look at cumulative impact in the planning process, and the strategic spatial energy plan will be very important. Members have raised this before. It is very important to understand the concerns of local people when planning where infrastructure is to be built.

• 7 Jul 2026 · Large-scale Solar Farms · Hansard source

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  I agree with my hon. Friend. He puts it very well. Our renewables auctions have resulted in enough power to power the equivalent of 23 million homes. That is significantly cheaper than building new gas-fired power stations, which is what the shadow Secretary of State wants to do; I am old enough to remember when she was in favour of clean energy—but never mind. The Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds North West (Katie White), mentioned London Climate Action Week, and what is so striking is that countries around the world are drawing the same lesson: that we need to electrify and get off the fossil fuel rollercoaster.

• 7 Jul 2026 · Large-scale Solar Farms · Hansard source

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  What is he on, Mr Speaker? To be clear, even in the most ambitious scenarios, our plans for solar in 2030 would use 0.6% of agricultural land; I am happy to repeat that. I do not know what makey-uppy nonsense the shadow Minister is producing. The wider issue is that the Conservatives complain about energy bills, and energy bills are too high, but we have the cheapest form of power available—solar power—and they say no to it. They want to keep us hooked on fossil fuels, and we saw the impact of that with the Iran war and the Russia-Ukraine crisis. I think the Conservatives have got to go back to the drawing board.

• 7 Jul 2026 · Large-scale Solar Farms · Hansard source

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  No, we are not going to pause our development of solar power—it is essential to get bills down for families and get us off the rollercoaster of fossil fuels. We take safety incredibly seriously; the Energy Minister has met the National Fire Chiefs Council and is working assiduously on these issues, and I am sure he would be happy to meet the hon. Lady.

• 7 Jul 2026 · Large-scale Solar Farms · Hansard source

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  Solar power is one of the cheapest sources of energy available to us. I am proud that we have consented nearly 6 GW of solar power since this Government came into office—around six times the amount that the previous Government consented. This year has seen record solar power, generating around 20 TWh of electricity and providing around 7% of the total electricity generated. If we want lower energy bills, new solar is an essential part of making that happen.