Shadow Energy Secretary casts doubt on Ed Miliband's GB Energy plans, after bill passes vote

5 September 2024, 18:56 | Updated: 5 September 2024, 19:07

Claire Coutinho explains her scepticism of Ed Miliband's GB Energy

The Shadow Energy Secretary has said Ed Miliband's plan to create a state-owned energy company that would reduce Britain's reliance on fossil fuels from abroad "makes no sense".

Speaking after the Great British Energy Bill cleared its first Commons hurdle when MPs gave it a second reading by 348 to 95, Claire Coutinho said that Mr Miliband was "lying" either to the British people or to energy companies about GB Energy.

She told LBC's Andrew Marr: "This is what I think makes no sense. On the one hand, he’s saying to the British public ‘I will turn a profit for you, and on the other hand he’s saying to industry ‘I am going to de-risk your investments.’

"What does that mean? It means that he’s going to put taxpayer money into the least profitable parts of those investments - the bits that those multi-million pound energy companies don’t want because they don’t think it can turn a profit.

"So what is it that about Ed Miliband’s background that [means] he thinks he can turn a background where those energy companies can’t?"

She added: "He's lying to somebody."

Ms Coutinho said that Mr Miliband did not specify how much energy bills would come down by as a result of GB Energy.

It's not just the Conservatives who have poured cold water on the GB Energy plans. The GMB union, which represents many workers in the oil and gas industry, warned before the election that Labour's "commitment to net zero electricity generation by 2030 on the grounds that it was simply not viable".

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Mr Miliband insisted on Thursday that GB Energy would shield consumers from international market shocks, despite fears the bill that would create it contains "barely anything".

The government has said it will back Great British Energy with £8.3 billion over the course of this parliament.

Mr Miliband told MPs: "The truth is that we had the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation because of our exposure to fossil fuels. We have seen prices rise again on October 1, not because of decisions made by Government but because of our dependence on international gas markets.

"The argument for clean energy that we used to debate 15 years ago was a climate argument. It is now as much an energy security argument as a climate argument."

Ofgem, the energy watchdog, announced over the summer it would hike its price cap by 10% from the current £1,568 for a typical household in England, Scotland and Wales to £1,717 from October, and confirmed rising prices in the international energy market, due to heightened political tensions and extreme weather events, were the main drivers behind the decision.

Democratic Unionist Party MP Jim Shannon (Strangford) had asked Mr Miliband: "What will the price of energy be at the end of it?"

The Cabinet minister replied: "This is a massive concern for all of our constituents, and Great British Energy is a crucial tool to bring down prices for our constituents.

"And here is the truth, and in a way, every person in this House, every member in this House, has to take a judgment about this - do they believe that business as usual, staying on fossil fuels, is going to give us the energy security we need?"