He said: “Opposing onshore wind waves the white flag on our energy security and raises bills for families."
Former Labour leader Ed Miliband is being praised for the manner in which he took apart Grant Shapps and Tory MPs over their flip-flopping on onshore wind, as the Tory party finds itself embroiled in an internal row over the issue.
During the recent Tory leadership race, Rishi Sunak had pledged to ‘scrap plans to relax the ban on onshore wind’, however it appears the prime minister is now considering a U-turn, saying that he wanted to hear from all sides of the debate before making a final decision.
He faces a growing rebellion over the issue, with 35 Tory MPs signed up to an amendment – led by Simon Clarke and including former PMs Boris Johnson and Liz Truss – that would lift the de-facto ban on onshore wind across England.
The flip-flopping of the Tory party on the issue hasn’t gone unnoticed and gave Miliband the perfect opportunity to take the government apart over it.
He told the Commons yesterday that the government had overseen “chaos, confusion and embarrassment” when it came to onshore wind” and claimed that by banning it in 2015, the government had increased energy bills for families by £150 each.
He said: “Opposing onshore wind waves the white flag on our energy security and raises bills for families.
“And the only reason we’re debating this issue is not because the public don’t support it, they do by 78 per cent according to his department’s own polling.
“It’s because dinosaurs on the benches opposite oppose clean energy. And David Cameron and every leader since has indulged them.
“And the problem is that the secretary of state who prides himself on being a truly modern man is part of a fossilised tendency.”
He also accused Grant Shapps of being “part of the lobbying effort against lifting the ban” on onshore wind earlier this year.
“He said they were an eyesore, he said they created problems of noise and he urged the then prime minister to largely reject onshore wind,” the former Labour leader said.
And referring to former business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg, Miliband said: “The right honourable gentleman’s position is making the Victorian of the Tory party look positively on-trend.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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