Bills will keep rising without switch to home-grown power, Miliband suggests

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has suggested he fears “bills will keep rising” without a switch to “clean home-grown power”.

On Thursday, a jump in inflation was accredited to higher-than-expected energy prices, as well as rising water bills and bus fares.

It came as the Bank of England cut interest rates to 4.5% but painted a gloomy picture for the UK economy overall.

Former Labour leader Mr Miliband told the BBC that the UK is in the “grip” of markets run by “petro-states” and home-sourced energy could help “reassert” control.

Separately, he also said it is the “right thing” for the UK to keep oil and gas fields that are already licensed operating, but that “for the future” there will be a shift away from fossil fuels.

Asked on BBC Breakfast about rising bills and the Bank of England’s judgments on Thursday, Mr Miliband said: “What we are seeing in the global fossil fuel markets is prices up 60% compared to a year ago. That’s because of geopolitical events in part.

“This is our whole point. I fear that bills will keep rising – and […] this is our whole point – which is the only way to bring bills down, the only way to get control back, is to have clean, home-grown power that we control.

“Because, at the moment, we’re in the grip of markets that we don’t control, run by petro-states and dictators, and that is what is happening.

“So, global markets are seeing fossil fuel prices rise and that is having an impact on British consumers.”

He added: “The only way we reassert that control is by having this clean, home-grown power.”

Thursday’s monetary policy report suggested inflation could peak at 3.75% late this summer as energy price rises, higher water bills and a rise in bus fares contribute to an increase in the cost of living.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he would not “pre-empt” a decision on the Rosebank oil field, after a judge upheld a legal challenge by environmental campaigners against the decision to grant consent.

Mr Miliband – in charge of the Government’s policy on energy security and net zero – also declined to get into specifics, but said that “individual projects” will be assessed “on the basis of the objective criteria we have”.

While in opposition, Mr Miliband labelled the Conservatives’ plans on energy and net zero – which included the potential licensing of Rosebank – as “a colossal waste of taxpayers’ money” and “climate vandalism”.

Speaking to Times Radio on Friday morning, he was asked about his previous comments and what is happening with the Rosebank project north-west of Shetland.

He told the station that how projects are assessed previously did not take scope of “the effects of burning oil and gas”.

“We’re currently consulting on how we do that,” he said.

“Once that consultation is completed, we will then assess individual projects on the basis of the objective criteria we have. I can’t, as Secretary of State, I’m afraid, get into the details of individual projects that might come before me, but that’s the approach we’ll take.”

Mr Miliband went on: “We said we will keep existing oil and gas fields that are already licensed […] continue to operate for their lifetime. That’s the right thing to do.

“For the future, the answer for Britain is not going to be fossil fuels.”