‘Loser’ Ed Miliband is blamed by angry Labour backbenchers for forcing ‘mad green’ policies on Sir Keir Starmer
- Mr Miliband blamed for controversial plans to ban North Sea oil and gas projects
Sir Keir Starmer is facing a backlash from Labour MPs over his ‘mad green’ schemes, amid fears that he is in thrall to ex-party leader Ed Miliband.
Angry Labour backbenchers are blaming Mr Miliband, the Shadow Climate Change Secretary, for controversial plans to ban all new North Sea oil and gas projects.
The dramatic move, expected to be announced in a speech by Sir Keir this month, is designed to underline the party’s commitment to transforming the UK into a clean energy superpower.
But last night, the plan was branded ‘mad green nonsense’ by Red Wall MPs who blamed ‘Election loser’ Mr Miliband, who led the party to defeat in 2015, for forcing these ideas on Sir Keir.
One Labour MP said: ‘This is all Miliband. But it’s all middle- class b*****ks.
Angry Labour backbenchers are blaming Mr Miliband (pictured), the Shadow Climate Change Secretary, for controversial plans to ban all new North Sea oil and gas projects
‘We won’t reach our targets for converting to electric cars and we may end up simply importing fossil fuels from abroad.
‘And the average person in my constituency doesn’t buy new cars – a lot of them are running around in older ones.’
There are also concerns about Labour’s much-trumpeted plan to borrow £28 billion a year in order to tackle climate change and transform the economy.
This money would be spent on the likes of the hydrogen industry, offshore wind turbines and home insulation programmes.
One Shadow Cabinet Minister insisted privately last week that this huge budget had to pay for more than Mr Miliband’s green agenda, with another frontbencher warning that ‘voters care more about jobs than green stuff’.
Some Labour MPs have long harboured resentment over Mr Miliband’s return to the Labour front bench in 2020, after he effectively paved the way for hard-Leftwinger Jeremy Corbyn to take over the party in 2015.
Mr Miliband is also still mercilessly mocked for his ‘Edstone’ plan, which involved carving Labour’s key Election pledges into an 8ft 6in slab of stone.
This would have been placed in the Downing Street garden had he won in 2015.
However, The Mail on Sunday was told that Mr Miliband, who led the party from 2010 to 2015, holds sway over Sir Keir, who was grateful for Mr Miliband’s help in finding him a Commons seat in 2015.
One former Labour Minister claimed such was their relationship that, had Mr Miliband won the Election, Sir Keir – a former Director of Public Prosecutions – could have been made Attorney General immediately.
But one Labour insider said last night that tensions over Mr Miliband’s continued influence were ‘nothing new’ and that Sir Keir held the whip hand.
The party sought to ease concerns over the scale of the £28 billion borrowing plan yesterday by stressing that ‘like other policies, it will abide by our fiscal rules’.
And Mr Miliband came out fighting with a claim that Labour’s plans to turn the UK into a ‘clean energy superpower’ would create up to 500,000 jobs over the next seven years.
He said it would lead to new jobs in Scotland’s world-leading offshore wind industry; the North-West and Teesside’s hydrogen sector; and nuclear power in the South East.
Mr Miliband said: ‘For too long, the Conservatives and SNPs have let other countries get ahead in the race for the green jobs of the future.
‘Britain can win this global race – building new opportunities for our construction industry, our engineers and our electricians – but we are being let down by a Conservative government.’
Source: Read Full Article
