Ed Miliband set Labour back a decade when he not only failed to win the 2015 general election but went backwards, losing a net 26 seats and helping to usher in the disastrous era of Jeremy Corbyn. But could he now be about to undermine a Keir Starmer government too?
Miliband has a little fantasy that he is trying to sell the public: that net zero targets won’t just save the planet, they will cut our energy bills, too. ‘Families across the country are united in their desire for lower bills, cleaner water, and a green and pleasant home that we can leave our children,’ he is to tell the Green Alliance in a speech today.
Rishi Sunak, he claims, is condemning us all to higher bills by watering down net zero targets. All, apparently, out of a desire on Sunak’s part to ‘stoke the fires of a culture war’.
Miliband’s promise to decarbonise electricity by 2030 and save us money in the process is doomed
Miliband’s calculation is that there are substantial numbers of Tory voters who are offended by Rishi Sunak’s minor retreat on net zero and who might be willing to lend their vote to the Labour party instead.
The trouble is that the number of people who share Miliband’s fantasy – that net zero will save us money – is fast diminishing.
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