Ed Miliband

Oh dear, oh dear! Let me deal with the shadow Secretary of State’s questions, such as they are. Let us start with our nationally determined contribution, announced at the conference of the parties. It is so interesting that she now opposes it, because the 2035 NDC announced by the Prime Minister is exactly the target that her Government legislated for in 2021, in the sixth carbon budget, which covers 2035. She is now opposing the very target that her Government put into law, and that she claimed, just a few months ago, that she was working towards as Secretary of State. There is a pattern here, Mr Speaker. Every week, the right hon. Lady takes to Twitter to express her outrage about a policy, asking, “Who on earth could support this?” Every week, someone pops up in her replies and says politely, “You did, just a few months back.” It is not the only time that she has done this. Last week, she came out against the clean heat market mechanism—another policy that she proposed. [Interruption.] She says not, but I have a statement from her from only eight months ago, in which she said that the clean heat market mechanism would be introduced in April 2025, which is exactly what this Government are doing. The truth is that she will leap on any passing bandwagon, even if it means trashing her record. Let me give the shadow Secretary of State a little lesson about opposition. The job of the Opposition is to oppose the Government, not to oppose themselves. This is where she has ended up: out the window goes any commitment to climate action. She is ignoring the fact that it is a route to energy security, good jobs and lower bills, ignoring the fact that it is backed by business, and ignoring the fact that this country has an honourable tradition of bipartisan consensus on the issue. I am happy to say that the previous Government proposed some ambitious targets, and that COP26 was an important milestone for the world. This is not just irresponsible, and not just crass opportunism; it has helped take the Conservative party down to its worst election defeat in 200 years, so this approach will not work for her. Let me tell the shadow Secretary of State what the clean energy superpower mission means for Britain. It means cleaning up our power system, so that we do not leave the country exposed to fossil fuels, as the previous Government did. It means new jobs in carbon capture and storage as we decarbonise industry and re-industrialise. It means energy efficiency in homes, meaning lower bills, warmer homes and lower emissions. As for the NESO report that she talked about, I know that it is deeply disappointing to her, but we have an independent report that says that 2030 is achievable—she said that it was not. It also says that it will give us energy security—she says that it will not. It also says that it can lead to lower electricity, which she constantly denies. The truth about the right hon. Lady is that she has nothing to say. The Conservative party is basically saying, “Stop the world—we want to get off.” That will do nothing for the British people. She has a lot to learn. I am afraid to say that she needs to start reflecting on where her Government went wrong. They went wrong in many different ways, and she does not seem to be learning any lessons.