Oral Answers to Questions

Ed Miliband Excerpts

Tuesday 24th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Peter Fortune (Bromley and Biggin Hill) (Con)]

24. What steps his Department is taking to help reduce household energy bills.

[The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Ed Miliband)]

Families will be deeply concerned about the impacts they are facing as a result of the Iran conflict. This Government are determined to fight the people’s corner. As a result of actions in the Budget, the energy bill price cap will fall from next week and is guaranteed till the end of June. We have already provided £50 million of immediate support for vulnerable customers who use heating oil and will act to prevent unfair practices like price gouging. Above all, we will work to end this conflict, which is so essential and urgent for our national interest.

[Sonia Kumar]

Given that around one in five households in Dudley are in fuel poverty and that electricity levies fall disproportionately on low-income families, I welcome the Chancellor’s decision to remove some social and environmental levies from electricity bills. That has helped to shield some of my constituents from the impact of the war in the middle east. Does my right hon. Friend agree that rebalancing these levies can both support households and accelerate cleaner heating?

[Ed Miliband]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right about that. It is an important reassurance for understandably worried families that, from 1 April, the energy price cap will fall by £117 thanks to this Government’s actions. That happened not automatically, but because the Chancellor made decisions in the Budget to raise taxes on the wealthiest, which was opposed by the Conservative party. That decision is making possible that relief for families, including those in her constituency.

[Liz Jarvis]

Before Trump’s illegal war, we had Putin’s illegal war. Both have meant soaring energy bills for families and businesses in my constituency. Citizens Advice Eastleigh tells me that more than 2,000 households are in fuel poverty. Does the Secretary of State agree that, so long as the price of wholesale electricity is directly linked to volatile gas, we will be at mercy of despots and dictators, and that decoupling is essential if people in my constituency and across the UK are to have energy security?

[Ed Miliband]

The hon. Member is right about this country’s exposure to fossil fuels, and that is the legacy of the previous Government. I am incredibly proud to say that, as a result of our two record-breaking renewables auctions, we will power the equivalent of 23 million homes. She is also right to say that the decoupling of gas and electricity prices is an important issue, on which we are working intensively.

[James Wild]

Twenty thousand households across North West Norfolk and 140,000 across the county are off the gas grid and paying much higher prices for heating oil. Ministers are creating an expectation that support will be there for those who need it. What action will the Government take if Norfolk county council is unable to meet the demand and provide support through the crisis and resilience fund to those who are struggling?

[Ed Miliband]

The hon. Gentleman asks an important question. The reason why we decided to put the money into the crisis and resilience fund three weeks after this crisis began was to get the money out the door quickly. During the previous crisis, that took 200 days. He asks an important question about local authorities’ provision of support and also what happens if they do not have the funds. That is something on which we are working intensively, and we are keeping closely in touch with local authorities. We want the help to go to those who need it and we want to work with local authorities to make sure that that happens.

[Charlie Dewhirst]

The latest wind auction has signed us up to sky-high prices for the next 20 years, but Ministers are claiming that their internal analysis proves that this will bring down bills. Will the Secretary of State publish those calculations in full so that we can see exactly how prices will be lowered?

[Ed Miliband]

We published the levelised cost analysis, which showed that new renewables were much cheaper to build and operate. As gas prices are soaring across the world and hitting us here at home, the idea that the Conservative party still opposes our renewables auction, which gives us clean home-grown power on which we can rely, is absolutely nonsensical.

[Wendy Morton]

The Prime Minister stood on the steps of Downing Street and promised families that energy bills would fall by £300, yet, since the general election, bills have already gone up by £73 and are forecast to go up more. It is hardly surprising that my constituents do not believe a word that they hear from the Government. Will the Minister explain to me when families in my constituency will actually see that £300 saving delivered?

[Ed Miliband]

Families in the right hon. Lady’s constituency will see savings on their bills from next week thanks to the actions of this Government. She is wrong on her facts, because, if we look across 2025, we will see that bills were lower in real terms than in 2024. We remain absolutely committed to our manifesto commitment to cut bills by up to £300 by 2030.

[Peter Fortune]

The Secretary of State promised that Great British Energy would lead to a “mind-blowing” reduction in bills. Can he confirm how much the average family has saved as a result specifically of Great British Energy?

[Ed Miliband]

Public services across the country, including schools and hospitals—I hope this will come to the hon. Member’s constituency—are seeing reductions in their bills, and money is being transferred to the frontline. We on the Government Benches support those proposals. We support lower bills. As I said to the right hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Wendy Morton), he can look forward to his constituents having lower bills as a result of this Government’s actions.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Chair of Energy Security and Net Zero Committee.

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

There are people who are saying that the way to bring down bills is to reach agreement with the oil and gas companies to charge less for gas in the North sea. Is not the problem with that argument that there is absolutely no way that those privately owned companies will agree—or that their shareholders will allow them to agree, to be more accurate—to a lower price than they can get elsewhere in the world?

[Ed Miliband]

My hon. Friend makes the really important, and relatively basic, point that gas is priced and sold on the international market. Whether it comes from the North sea or is imported, it is charged at the same price. And do not just take my word for it; when the shadow Energy Secretary was in post she said that more drilling would not necessarily lead to lower energy bills.

[Ms Polly Billington (East Thanet) (Lab)]

My right hon. Friend will be aware that this energy crisis offers the opportunity to shift further and faster on clean energy. Will he consider an energy social tariff linked to the warm homes plan to support those who are most exposed to the volatility of fossil fuel prices, not just those on benefits, but other vulnerable communities like the disabled?

[Ed Miliband]

My hon. Friend raises a really important point, and no doubt the Chancellor will cover this in her statement shortly. It is incredibly important that we protect the most vulnerable, particularly at this time. I am proud of the action we have taken to nearly double the number of people getting the warm home discount to 6 million people. This very important action will take another £150 off people’s bills, so in a sense, we have a form of a social tariff, but I assure my hon. Friend that we will keep looking at how we can expand that and help more families.

[Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North) (Lab)]

I am pleased to chair the newly formed all-party parliamentary group for warm homes. Newcastle is leading the way with its hugely impactful warm homes local grant scheme run by Warmworks in conjunction with Newcastle city council. Does the Secretary of State agree that we need to see more of these locally led grant schemes, which are helping people to insulate their homes so that they can protect themselves from any incoming global insecurity that might affect their ability to heat their homes?

[Ed Miliband]

First, let me congratulate my hon. Friend’s council on its great work. The Government are putting hundreds of millions more this coming year into warm homes as part of our record-breaking investment. I hope we can agree across the House that investing in home upgrades is a way to not just have more energy efficiency but cut people’s bills. We are committed to going as far and as fast as we can.

[Mike Reader (Northampton South) (Lab)]

Does the Secretary of State share my concern, or dismay, perhaps, that at a time when families are concerned about the cost of energy and the price at the pumps, the Conservatives have become obsessed with oil and gas licensing and not taking any action at all to reduce bills?

[Ed Miliband]

My hon. Friend makes a really important point. The Conservatives come here month after month making the same argument about something that will not reduce bills by a single penny. It was they who said that during the last crisis and when they were in government. This Labour Government are about reducing people’s energy bills, which is the priority of the British people.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

[Claire Coutinho (East Surrey) (Con)]

This Government are taxing people up the wazoo and piling cost after cost on to their energy bills. People on £30,000 or £40,000 a year, who are not well off, are being hammered to pay for welfare when they are already working all hours to support their own families. Now we hear that the Government are about to go back to the taxpayer again to subsidise those on welfare, but their first port of call should be to adopt our cheap power plan. It would cut electricity bills by 20% for everybody by cutting green taxes and levies, and it would not cost the taxpayer a penny. Why will they not do that?

[Ed Miliband]

The Conservatives’ plan is totally incredible, and the shadow Secretary of State knows it. Their plan on renewables is just to tear up the contracts. They had 14 years to do it, and they did not do it. Why? Because they know that they cannot. I have to say, it is quite extraordinary that her position is now to abolish the windfall tax, which has raised £12 billion since it was introduced in 2022. The difference between us and them is that we are willing to tax the oil and gas companies to help ordinary families.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Gideon Amos (Taunton and Wellington) (LD)]

Despite solar and wind being freely available, only 15% of renewables are subject to contracts for difference, which effectively control prices. Given that the conflict in the middle east is set to add up to £300 to bills, is it not time that the Government addressed this Trump tax by transferring all renewables on to contracts for difference, as part of the Liberal Democrat’s plan to halve energy bills?

[Ed Miliband]

We are driving forward with contracts for difference, and we are looking at that proposal. On the hon. Gentleman’s more general point, though, he is absolutely right that rolling out renewables at speed—solar, wind, all types of renewables—is the best way to insulate ourselves from global economic shocks. That is a point that we have consistently made, which sadly is being borne out by the events we see around the world.

[Gideon Amos]

As a former member of the zero carbon homes task force, I well remember the Conservatives cancelling the zero carbon homes programme—presumably they want homes to be colder, more difficult to heat and more expensive. The Liberal Democrats welcome the enactment today of the requirement for solar panels on all new homes, as proposed by my hon. Friend the Member for Cheltenham (Max Wilkinson). My constituents Jan and Jeanette of the Campaign to Protect Rural England Somerset have pointed out that were that extended to car parks and commercial buildings, that would generate as much electricity as 15 Hinkley Point power stations. Will the Secretary of State extend the solar panels requirement to car parks and commercial buildings?

[Ed Miliband]

First, I accept the hon. Member’s congratulations on our announcement of the future homes standards today, which are a really important measure—they should never have been abolished by the last Conservative Government. On warehouses and car parks—particularly on the warehouse question—we are looking at how we can roll that out more swiftly. There is so much unused space that could be used to help cut bills right across the country.

[Jo White (Bassetlaw) (Lab)]

5. What steps he is taking to attract private sector investment for a fusion reactor.

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[Chris Murray (Edinburgh East and Musselburgh) (Lab)]

9. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the middle east conflict on energy security.

[The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Ed Miliband)]

The UK benefits from a strong and diverse energy supply, with only 1% of our crude oil and gas coming from the Gulf, but the essential lesson of this conflict is that while we are dependent on fossil fuel markets, we are exposed as a country, because prices for oil and gas, wherever it comes from, are set on the international market, affecting families and businesses. For our energy security, the answer must be to go further and faster towards home-grown clean power that we control.

[Chris Murray]

Our energy security is so exposed to events in the middle east because we have relied on oil and gas for too long. Not only do fossil fuels cause climate change, but we buy them on the open market, so no further drilling in the North sea would help to mitigate prices. The only true path to energy security is through renewables and nuclear, so can the Secretary of State set out how this country will do that, so that in future energy crises our country’s security is less exposed?

[Ed Miliband]

The North sea will continue to play an important role in our energy mix for decades to come, which is why we said in our manifesto that we will keep existing oil and gas fields open for their lifetime, including, as we announced last autumn, the use of so-called tiebacks. My hon. Friend is absolutely right in the wider point he makes. That is why we have the largest nuclear building programme in half a century, it is why we have had two record-breaking renewables auctions, and it is why we recently announced that we will bring forward our next renewables auction to July, because we need to get away from our dependence on fossil fuel markets as soon as possible.

[Esther McVey (Tatton) (Con)]

Given the recent jump in the price of oil, would it not be good for the UK economy, jobs and the Government’s tax receipts to maximise drilling for North sea oil, as Norway does, rather than phasing it out and closing those sites down because of this Government’s, and in particular the Secretary of State’s, left-wing dogma?

[Ed Miliband]

I disagree with the right hon. Lady on that one. As I said in answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh (Chris Murray), we are going to use existing North sea oil and gas fields for their lifetime. I think the right hon. Lady is referring to the question of exploration licences. What everybody says is that exploration licences make no material difference to production levels. On the tax question, I hope she will carry on supporting the windfall tax and will tell her Front Benchers that this would be the wrong time to abolish it.

[Perran Moon (Camborne and Redruth) (Lab)]

I do not think I have ever been called an extreme left winger, but there is always a first time. In rural and coastal Britain there is deep worry among families about the effect of the conflict in the middle east on oil prices. We welcome the £53 million that has been announced to support them, but does the Secretary of State agree that those calling for an expansion of our reliance on oil and gas wholesale prices offer absolutely no long-term solution to energy security?

[Ed Miliband]

My hon. Friend is right. Those people offer no short-term or long-term solution to the problems of energy security, and they want to fly in the face of all the evidence. As I have said before, it was the last Government who said that more UK production of North sea oil and gas would make no difference to the global price of gas, and it is important that the House understands that.

[Richard Tice (Boston and Skegness) (Reform)]

The Secretary of State has just misled the House—inadvertently, I am sure. Can he explain why the price of gas in the United States is about a third of the price of gas in the UK? It is because the Americans use it domestically, is it not?

[Ed Miliband]

No, it is not. The hon. Gentleman is entitled to his own opinions, but he is not entitled to alternative facts. What the last Government said, what this Government said and what every sensible economist says about more production is that his idea of more drilling—“drill every last drop,” or “drill, baby, drill”— would be precisely the wrong thing for our country because it will make no difference to the price. The answer is home-grown clean renewables that we control.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Andrew Bowie (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (Con)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

“In the face of further geopolitical turmoil, now is the time to alter our approach to energy… Drilling in the North Sea and scrapping carbon taxes on British manufacturing would kickstart economic growth, tackle unemployment…as well as prevent further deindustrialisation.”

Does the Secretary of State agree with those comments from the Labour Member of Parliament, the hon. Member for Mid and South Pembrokeshire (Henry Tufnell)?

[Ed Miliband]

This party and this Government are taking a pragmatic approach to these issues. We are using existing oil and gas fields for their lifetime, including with tiebacks, which is welcomed by industry, but we are not going to fly in the face of the evidence. The answer to a fossil fuels crisis is not to double down on fossil fuels, but to double down on clean home-grown power that we control. The Conservatives used to believe that, before they jumped on another bandwagon.

[Andrew Bowie]

This is extraordinary—mad, even. No other country on Earth would deprive itself of the vast natural resource we are lucky enough to have at our disposal underneath the North sea. The Jackdaw field alone could provide 250 million barrels of oil equivalent in natural gas to the UK, and it could be up and running by Christmas, but because of the Secretary of State it is stuck in limbo. It is utter insanity. His inaction is an act of national economic self-harm. When will he make a decision and act in the national interest?

[Ed Miliband]

Before the hon. Gentleman self-combusts, let me tell him that, as a result of the court decision, those projects are proceeding at risk. I will tell him the way we will make a decision. I am not going to comment on a live planning issue, but I will say in general that we will make a decision that is legally watertight. The last Government made a series of decisions that were found—[Interruption.] Conservative Members say “No, no”, but they do not care about the rule of law. We saw that when they said that we should rush headlong into a war with no regard for the impacts on our constituents.

[Sarah Gibson (Chippenham) (LD)]

10. What recent progress he has made on improving connections to the electricity grid.

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[Dr Roz Savage (South Cotswolds) (LD)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Ed Miliband)]

Since conflict broke out in the middle east, we have acted to prevent price-gouging, help those who rely on heating oil, and ensure that businesses get a fair deal on their bills. The energy price cap will fall by £117 next week, with savings locked in until the end of June. We have also sped up work to take control of Britain’s energy, accelerating our next renewables auction and our warm homes plan. We will do whatever it takes to fight people’s corner and learn the right lessons from the crisis.

[Dr Savage]

To go back to heating oil, 20% of households in my South Cotswolds constituency rely on heating oil—that figure is four times the national average—and many of them face high up-front costs. Will the Secretary of State consider supporting more flexible payment or credit schemes, and pooled purchasing models, which would enable villages to combine orders, secure bulk discounts and spread costs over time?

[Ed Miliband]

The hon. Lady raises an important issue, and I am sure that many Members will empathise as our constituents face difficult times. The Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, my hon. Friend the Member for Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West (Martin McCluskey), tells me that the Competition and Markets Authority is considering all those issues. If Members encounter practices relating to heating and other things, they should bring them to the attention of my hon. Friend, because we want to work as speedily as possible with the CMA to stamp them out.

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[Claire Coutinho (East Surrey) (Con)]

Will the Secretary of State be honest and tell the country why he is ideologically obsessed with shutting down the North sea? Is it because he does not think we need the £25 billion of tax revenue it would generate? Is it because he prefers to import gas with higher emissions, or is it because he has never bothered to speak to the thousands of workers who are losing their jobs right now because of his policies?

[Ed Miliband]

I am not. As I said earlier, we are using existing oil and gas fields in the North sea for their lifetime, and we have introduced tiebacks for existing fields. While the right. hon Lady comes here month after month with proposals that will do nothing to cut energy bills for people, this Government are actually taking action: reducing the energy price cap next week; making plug-in solar available to all families; the warm homes plan to drive down bills; and crucially, a renewable power auction, which she said that we should cancel, to help 12 million homes.

[Claire Coutinho]

RenewableUK, the unions, Tony Blair and the Secretary of State’s own handpicked chair of Great British Energy—the biggest advocates for an energy transition—have said that he has got this wrong. Is his ideology so rigid that he is incapable of admitting when he has got things wrong and that he will put us on a pathway to higher emissions and fewer British jobs?

Let us try again. Can the Secretary of State be clear with the House? He knows that we will need gas for decades to come, so why does he prefer to import dirtier gas from abroad than to use the gas that we have in the North sea?

[Ed Miliband]

I do not. We continue to use the North sea, and ours is a pragmatic position. But there is a wider lesson that the House has to focus on. Is the lesson of this crisis—a fossil fuels crisis—to double down on fossil fuels, or is it to drive forward with clean energy? We believe clean, home-grown power that we control is the answer.

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[John Cooper (Dumfries and Galloway) (Con)]

T8. Nith Inshore Rescue in my constituency has lost a sponsor that provided it with free fuel, because of soaring costs. Will the Secretary of State go to the Chancellor and point out that VAT and fuel costs are a matter of life and death in remote and rural Scotland?

[Ed Miliband]

The Chancellor will have heard the hon. Member’s question, because she is in the room. My right hon. Friend is providing support for people but on a platform of fiscal stability, which the Conservative party would do well to understand.

[Leigh Ingham (Stafford) (Lab)]

The Minister knows that Stafford residents are passionate about solar power, and they would like to see the Government go further, with a commitment to solar panels on all new car parks and industrial buildings, like they see in Europe and in France particularly. Does the Minister agree that this policy would help to reduce energy bills for homeowners, as well as protect our rural land, and will he meet me to discuss my campaign?

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[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

For as long as the UK depends on oil and gas, global conflicts will continue to drive price hikes for my constituents in Bedford and Kempston, who face soaring bills when the price cap ends in June. Does the Secretary of State agree that lower bills should come before company profits, and will he levy a windfall tax on the fossil fuel companies, which are making billions from this crisis?

[Ed Miliband]

As a result of decisions made by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor, we are raising significant sums from the windfall tax. We do not agree with the Opposition parties that now is the time to abolish the windfall tax; we think that is really important revenue that can help many of our constituents.

[Harriet Cross (Gordon and Buchan) (Con)]

We keep hearing the argument that it will take five to 10 years for new oil and gas to flow, and that therefore there is not point to starting new drilling, but the operators of Jackdaw and Rosebank say that both could be producing by the end of the year—it only needs the Secretary of State to approve that. Why is he denying the UK that supply of domestic fuel?

[Tristan Osborne (Chatham and Aylesford) (Lab)]

Medway Maritime hospital in my constituency is benefiting from a £25.9 million investment to introduce heat pumps and other measures. Does the Minister agree that we could invest in public sector provision to reduce bills in schools, hospitals and other buildings across the country?

[Ed Miliband]

I congratulate my hon. Friend’s local hospital. He rightly shows the way that cheap, clean, renewable power can cut bills not just for families, but for our public services, as GB Energy is doing, so that we can transfer money to frontline patient care.

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

The Secretary of State will be aware of the very high dependence in Northern Ireland on home heating oil. Although the Government have offered some help in the past 10 days, has consideration been given to what happens beyond the summer period if the crisis in the middle east continues over the next few months?

[Jayne Kirkham (Truro and Falmouth) (Lab/Co-op)]

I thank the Minister for his focus on securing UK private investment in critical minerals—it is fantastic to see. I know the Secretary of State agrees that Cornwall is vital for future UK energy security. One test and demo model in the Celtic sea has come forward in auction round 7, but I want to ask the Secretary of State about the timing of AR8, and whether he will look again at test and demo models in the Celtic sea, so that we can really use that energy base.

[Ed Miliband]

We all love Cornwall and its incredible clean energy potential. I can confirm that we will be opening the new renewables auction in July. We see an incredibly bright future for floating wind, and we see Cornwall absolutely at the centre of that.