The Energy Secretary is prepared to consider sacrificing his Net Zero principles, says the Institute of Economic Affairs' Chief Operating Officer
Britons rejoice, for the best Prime Minster that never was, Ed Miliband, is prepared to consider sacrificing his Net Zero principles to give the Treasury the benefit of his wisdom as Andy Burnham’s Chancellor.
Or so it is reported, as allies hint that he will permit the Jackdaw gas field to start operations in the North Sea.
Something that could have happened months ago were the UK not in the thrall of the ‘leave in the ground’ climate activism that Miliband, more than any other Minister, has championed for 20 years.
A pose that does nothing for the global thermostat – as that depends on rising demand for fossil fuels, not the source of supply - but does make politicians feel warm at night as they bathe in the glow of virtue-signalling their global climate leadership without regard to the lack of followers.
Not since his brother David took a $1m+ annual salary to demonstrate his commitment to tackling global poverty has there been a more welcome hint of pragmatism from a Miliband. Their father Ralph, a celebrated Marxist scholar, might disagree.
He is best known for writing about the disappointing pragmatism of the Labour Party.
He feared it would always drop its ideals to retain power and in doing so undermine the basis, Ralph believed, of public support.
He also believed that political advancement was highly influenced by nepotism or the “careful selection of one’s parents”.
Perhaps him rotating at speed in his grave will form the basis of Chancellor Miliband’s new energy policy. Unlimited supply guaranteed.
Advancing the cause of a couple of new fields with business cases more solid than Aberdeen granite, while welcome, is the hypocrisy equivalent of a teetotal vicar taking a cheeky sip from the communion cup.
Miliband is not offering to tear up the Climate Act, or abandon the North Sea Transition Plan, or remove the climate compatibility checklist.
All things that make future investment in a revitalised industry unlikely. He is not looking at fracking.
He is not going to cut punitive windfall taxes. Or conduct a regulatory review that reduces industry costs as he has done for nuclear power.
This is then the thinnest offer of a compromise with reality since Donald Trump noted Putin will “talk so nicely, then bomb people at night”.
The reality is that Britain has some of the highest energy prices in the world and a growing risk of a supply crisis from poor policy choices.
If Burnham is serious about both, he will either fire Miliband, or keep him in place as Energy Minister, to clean up his own mess.
