Miliband Doubles Down on Expensive Energy

All the technologies he is pushing are more expensive than gas, so will lead to deindustrialisation

On Monday, Ed Miliband addressed the Labour Party Conference. He started off by claiming that “things can and must be better for the British people” and that we must “build a country that puts working people first.” He framed his speech around the key themes of economic justice, social justice and climate justice.

The full speech can be seen here:

His ideas for more jobs and prosperity centre around more expensive intermittent energy that will be the inevitable consequence of his mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030. It is interesting that he recommitted to the 2030 net zero grid target, because only last month that he and his sidekick Chris Stark sent out an SOS to the NG ESO asking how to deliver it.

Miliband eschewed the free market and instead called for massive spending on what he termed an armoury of clean power. These technologies include onshore wind, solar power, offshore wind, nuclear, tidal, hydrogen and, carbon capture. He said he wants to break the power of the petro-states.

The trouble is that the only technology on his list that can deliver firm power is nuclear. The others are either expensive, unreliable intermittent sources or expensive technologies to try and mitigate intermittency or emissions. Every single contract awarded in AR6 was awarded at a higher price than the market rate so far this financial year. No wonder he doesn’t want the free market anywhere near electricity generation. Carbon capture applied to a gas power station will increase the demand for gas to produce the same amount of electricity. With Miliband’s ban on offshore drilling and the continuing fracking moratorium, carbon capture will increase the power of the petro-states and increase energy prices.

Miliband hailed the return of industrial policy under the Labour Government. He failed to mention that thanks to him, we have had an anti-industrial strategy since the Climate Change Act of 2008 that has pushed up energy prices and destroyed highly productive jobs. He wants to use [the debt funded] Great British Energy and National Wealth Fund to build new industries for Britain and deliver a British jobs bonus. These jobs are going to be in carbon capture and storage, making electrolysers for hydrogen, nuclear and floating wind. As has been discussed before, we have seen six times as many jobs lost in energy intensive industries as we have been created in green power. Miliband’s plan to reindustrialise Britain will kill off what is left of our productive industries.

Miliband conjured the image of the post-war Labour Government that created the NHS as a source of inspiration. He is more likely to lead us down the path of the 1970’s Labour Government that led to a bailout from the IMF.

Finally, in an act of stunning hypocrisy, Miliband is going to fly, to the UN to demonstrate that Britain is back in the business of climate leadership. Yes, he’s going to fly there, because curbing emissions is just for the little people. He is going to use his plan as a stick to beat other countries and demand they follow suit in some sort of grand economic suicide pact. There is no sign that this “global leadership” is working.

Our World in Data: Global CO2 Emissions

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