Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has vowed that the Labour government will defeat those seeking to derail the UK’s net zero agenda, arguing that the green transition will succeed by delivering thousands of new jobs in Britain’s former industrial heartlands.
Speaking at the launch of a £1 billion investment scheme to boost the country’s offshore wind supply chain, Miliband said the government would win the political and economic case for net zero, not just through policy but by driving job creation in areas historically left behind.
“We’re going to win this fight, and we’re going to win this fight partly because of all the jobs that these companies are creating with us,” Miliband told an energy industry conference on Tuesday. “The forces that want to take us backwards, the forces that oppose net zero, will have to reckon not just with the government. They will have to reckon with all these companies that are creating jobs.”
The remarks were widely seen as a pointed response to the Reform UK party, which has vowed to scrap the country’s legally binding net zero targets if elected, and to Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who has described the 2050 goal as “impossible” and signalled her intent to withdraw the party’s support for it.
The new investment scheme, unveiled at the event, aims to catalyse a “green industrial revolution” by channelling support into supply chain companies across Teesside, Scotland, south Wales and East Anglia. These regions—once the heart of Britain’s manufacturing might—are expected to be at the forefront of a new wave of clean energy growth.
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