Ed Miliband made a passionate and patriotic case for climate action in his first annual statement to parliament on the devastating impacts of global heating.
After laying out the “uncomfortable, sobering facts” of the increasingly unstable climate we now face, he highlighted how the UK has led global efforts to bring emissions down including passing the 2008 Climate Change Act, which was copied around the world, and being the first country to set legally binding nature targets.
He said: “To those who say Britain cannot make a difference, I say you are wrong, stop talking our country down, British leadership matters.”
It is a speech which a few years ago would have been unremarkable. But now the cross-party climate consensus has broken, with the Tories saying they would ditch net zero targets, and Reform politicians questioning the extent of human-made climate change. Miliband pointedly paid tribute to previous Conservative prime ministers who had brought forward climate and nature legislation.
The likes of Liz Truss and Nigel Farage have teamed up with US-based climate denying thinktanks to coordinate their unscientific message, and Miliband is often attacked by the rightwing press over his net zero plans. In Monday’s speech he made it clear he was willing to fight back.
Miliband will tie his annual addresses to the Met Office state of the climate report, which this year makes for harrowing reading. Extreme heat and heavy rainfall are already happening more frequently because of climate breakdown brought on by the combustion of fossil fuels.
Ami McCarthy, head of politics at Greenpeace UK, said: “Miliband is right to call out the breathless nonsense spouted by opportunistic political leaders like Farage and Trump who deny climate change as they rake in donations from fossil fuel companies. They are fighting against a safe future on this planet in order to continue with business as usual.”
It is fertile ground – Reform’s plans to ban renewable energy threaten jobs and are out of tune with public opinion. They have also been criticised for perceived hypocrisy – Richard Tice’s company, for example, has embraced green technology despite his anti-green public rhetoric.
Miliband has to match words with action, however. He has some key tests coming up, including decisions on whether to allow the giant North Sea oilfields Rosebank and Jackdaw permission to drill.
There is pressure on the government to boost economic growth, and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is reportedly keen to give these the go-ahead. It would, however, damage Miliband’s credibility if he were forced to do this as he has previously referred to Rosebank as “climate vandalism”. Some would also consider it a breach of the Labour manifesto pledge not to allow any more oil and gas licences. The government already lost some of its climate credentials by approving a new Heathrow runway against the advice of the Climate Change Committee.
Zack Polanski, deputy leader of the Green party, said: “Right now, we subsidise jet fuel instead of trains. That’s a political choice and it’s time for this government to make different ones. Rosebank is totemic. It’s bigger than anything else currently planned, and far more catastrophic. It’s no good just saying ‘one last one’ and then opening a new huge oilfield. If we want lower bills, we need investment in renewables and a national insulation programme, not doubling down on fossil fuels.”
Miliband will also face pressure from Farage, the Conservatives and some energy bosses as he promised last year to drive down energy bills by an average of £300. This looks unlikely to happen before the next election.
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One of Miliband’s allies, the Octopus Energy CEO, Greg Jackson, is now running a national billboard campaign criticising Labour’s energy policy and asking for bills to be brought down. This is because the energy and net zero secretary shelved plans to allow for zonal pricing, which would have made electricity cheaper for those areas closest to renewable projects.
And it is not just Miliband who will be held to account over climate promises. The deputy PM, Angela Rayner, for example, could reduce energy bills by making housebuilders build Labour’s promised £1.5bn homes to higher energy efficiency standards.
Nature is also key to keeping carbon emissions down, and Labour is seen to have a blind spot here, particularly when it comes to Rayner’s controversial planning and infrastructure bill, which will be introduced in the Lords this week, and which experts have warned would devastate British nature.
Mike Childs, head of science, policy and research at Friends of the Earth, said: “Ministers must also produce a robust new climate plan to get the UK back on track for meeting climate targets, and abandon harmful anti-nature planning reforms.”