Ed Miliband MP: speeches

Speeches

• 5 Mar 2026 · Energy Markets · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for his excellent questions. On the first point, he is absolutely right. I spoke to my counterpart, the Qatari Energy Minister, and it was the attacks on Qatar’s LNG terminals, and understandable fears for their workforce as a result of indiscriminate Iranian attacks, that led him to make his decisions. Iranian threats to the strait of Hormuz are preventing the passage of shipping, and my hon. Friend is absolutely right to emphasise that point. I will not speculate on my hon. Friend’s point about how long the conflict will last, but he is right to say that the longer the conflict goes on, the more impact there will be on bill payers and our economy. That is why it is in all our interests for this conflict to come to an end as soon as possible. On his other point, I undertake to keep the House and the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee informed.

• 5 Mar 2026 · Energy Markets · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend speaks with great eloquence on these issues, and he is absolutely right. As I said earlier, it is striking that so many countries now talk about this as an energy security issue. For the 80-plus countries that supported the road map for the transition away from fossil fuels at COP30, it was as much about energy security, about their own situation, about bills and about their fear of exposure as it was about the long-term threat that we face from the climate crisis, as crucial as that is.

• 10 Feb 2026 · Local Power Plan · Hansard source

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  I congratulate the Welsh Government on their important initiatives in this area; they are great leaders in it. I was whispering to the Minister for Energy about whether he and I should be cycling in the Geraint Thomas national velodrome, but he thought that was probably a bad idea. From the look on her face, I see that Madam Deputy Speaker seems to agree. I really hope that the constituents of my hon. Friend the Member for Monmouthshire (Catherine Fookes) benefit from this initiative. They will be able to see, from the velodrome, the benefit that there could be for them. We look forward to working with the Welsh Government on super-charging the benefits of this plan.

• 10 Feb 2026 · Local Power Plan · Hansard source

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  The right hon. Gentleman and I have had exchanges on this matter before. It is a serious issue, and he is absolutely within his rights to raise it. I would just say two things to him: first, following the Great British Energy Act 2025, GB Energy has pledged to be a leader in this area and has appointed an adviser to work on these issues; secondly, he will know that the industry committed to the solar stewardship initiative as part of the solar road map, which is precisely about having independent monitoring of where solar panels come from. I take this issue seriously and I take his advocacy on it seriously, too. It is a work in progress, but it is really important that we get it right.

• 21 Jan 2026 · Warm Homes Plan · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman makes a really important point. The solar road map set out some of the work that we are doing, but the whole point of the taskforce—this is a much more intentional way of thinking about the workforce challenges than the previous Government’s way—is to make sure that we have the workforce in place. There were more than 200,000 installations last year; that shows the demand for rooftop solar. Some of the eco organisations that are struggling with the transition could be part of this. We want to make sure that happens.

• 21 Jan 2026 · Warm Homes Plan · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend speaks with typical eloquence on this issue, which came up at the mayors meeting on Monday, when we discussed how we will ensure that the FE sector in particular is geared up to train people for these opportunities. We will work on this with Skills England and mayors, and Ministers will be taking it forward.

• 25 Nov 2025 · COP30 · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend asks a good and important question about keeping climate change on the agenda all year round. This is partly about international negotiations, but it is as much about the work that we do at home. Whether announcing new SMRs in north Wales, showing the jobs that come from tackling the climate crisis or putting solar panels on the roofs of schools and hospitals, that is all part of the argument for how this is the route to the right thing not just for future generations but for today’s generations. On the fossil fuel road map, we will work with Brazil on that, and I assure her that it will not be the thing that she fears.

• 14 Oct 2025 · Tackling Climate Change: International Co-operation · Hansard source

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  I welcome the hon. Gentleman’s question. Part of the answer here is that the economics have changed, so getting private finance into developing countries can make a massive difference. The “Baku to Belém road map” is being produced as part of the COP process—it is a $1.3 trillion road map—and most of that is about private finance. We can see across the world the effect of private finance in developing countries. In Pakistan, for example, solar has gone from playing almost no part in its electricity system to being the top part of that system in only three or four years, because it is in Pakistan’s economic interests. That is what we are seeing across the world. We need the private and public sectors to play their role.

• 15 Jul 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Since the last oral question time for the Department, the spending review announced the largest investment in clean energy in our country’s history—investment in new nuclear; in carbon, capture and storage; and in hydrogen transport and storage. We are investing £8.3 billion through Great British Energy and £13.2 billion in our warm homes plan for energy security, lower bills and good jobs.

• 14 Jul 2025 · State of Climate and Nature · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend speaks about an important subject. We are dealing with the grid zombies and the zombie queue. The reordering of the queue is designed to open it up to projects like those she talked about. The energy Minister—the Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, my hon. Friend the Member for Rutherglen (Michael Shanks)—is having a series of roundtables with the Department for Transport on precisely that.