Ed Miliband to double down on net zero with measures to combat Iran energy shock
Ed Miliband will double down on Labour’s commitment to net zero in the face of the Middle East conflict this week, insisting that as fossil fuel prices soar “the era of clean energy security must come of age”.The energy secretary is set to announce a package of new policies in a speech on Tuesday in response to an expected energy crisis prompted by Donald Trump’s war with Iran.These will include speeding up the warm homes plan to encourage the rapid take-up of solar panels and electric vehicles; expanding the use of solar on public land; and delinking gas and electricity prices, to cut consumers’ bills.“As we face the second global energy shock in less than five years, the lesson for our country is clear; the era of fossil fuel security is over, and the era of clean energy security must come of age,” he is expected to say.Oil prices plunged on Friday amid claims that the key maritime choke point of the strait of Hormuz was reopening – but those hopes were dashed over the weekend, with Iran insisting it would remain under “strict control”.
The oil price was poised to rise about 4% on Monday, reversing some of the tumble in the previous session.Ever since the onset of the Iran war resulted in oil prices soaring above $100 a barrel in March, Miliband has come under pressure, including from the Conservatives and Reform, to ramp up oil and gas drilling in the North Sea.In response, he is expected to use Tuesday’s speech to hit back at those who are “retreating to the comfort of false solutions”.But he will dodge for now the controversial question of whether to allow drilling in the Jackdaw and Rosebank fields, for which the licensing process had already been set in motion by the Conservatives.“The North Sea is an important resource for our country which we will continue to use for decades to come,” he is expected to say.
“I do not agree with those who say we should ‘turn off the taps’ overnight.But nor do I agree with those who suggest that somehow ‘drilling every last drop’ will take a penny off bills or give us energy security.You can’t solve a fossil fuel crisis by doubling down on fossil fuels.”Government sources insist the process of deciding whether these fields can be exploited is “ongoing”.Ministers are also exploring the use of “tie-back” arrangements, under which more extraction could be allowed next to existing fields.
Rachel Reeves said in Washington last week: “We are looking at what we can do to exploit more of our resources in the North Sea through tie-backs,” describing this as “the quickest way to bring on stream more oil and gas”.However, Miliband will stress that the broader thrust of government energy policy remains to accelerate the shift away from fossil fuels.Speaking at a conference organised by the thinktank the Good Growth Foundation, Miliband will argue that it would be “completely irresponsible” to carry on with business as usual in the face of the energy shock – particularly since there is now “a compelling alternative in the form of clean energy.An alternative that cannot be disrupted by foreign wars because it comes from our own wind, sun and nuclear resources.That isn’t subject to global price shocks because it is locked in at stable prices here at home.
”He will point to the fact that UK consumers’ demand for clean energy technologies has already increased rapidly since the onset of the conflict in the Middle East,“Octopus report a 50% rise in solar panel sales and a 50% rise in heat pump sales since the war began,And March was the best month ever for EV sales in the UK,” he will say, adding: “Contrary to an extraordinary amount of misinformation, before this crisis it was already cheaper to run an EV than a petrol or diesel car, and, with the right tariff, cheaper to run a heat pump than a gas boiler,”It is unclear how the government intends to go about “delinking” electricity prices from the cost of gas generation, but options are expected to include striking new better-value contracts for legacy green energy projects,At the moment, the wholesale price of electricity is set by the most costly generation at a given time, which is often gas-fired power stations – a system also in place across many other European countries.
In the short-term, the chancellor is understood to be considering raising the electricity generator levy – in effect a windfall tax on low-carbon energy producers – and using the proceeds to cushion the blow for consumers.Domestic energy bills are fixed until July by the price cap imposed by the regulator for Great Britain, Ofgem, but are then expected to rise by about 12%, to £1,836 a year for a typical household – although ministers have stressed that energy usage tends to be lower over the summer months.The Treasury has already stepped in with financial support for consumers dependent on heating oil; and announced that it will backdate to this month a scheme aimed at reducing bills for the UK’s most energy-intensive manufacturers.
The fight against medical misogyny has a long way to go | Letters
I welcome the relaunched women’s health strategy (Streeting relaunches women’s health strategy to tackle ‘medical misogyny’, 14 April) but with caution. The system appears responsive, but the root causes in health inequality outcomes remain untouched.It names urgent issues many women have long experienced: navigating the gynaecology referral queue that would stretch over 191 miles (if waiting in person), medical gaslighting, delayed diagnoses and systemic bias.However, Wes Streeting’s tenacity on centering all women’s “voices”, and ensuring that no woman is left fighting to be heard isn’t convincing, particularly when women of colour have been crying out loud for years, with little to no change in our reproductive health outcomes.Many of us know what that feels like: seeing a GP about severe period pain and trying to explain how it disrupts our life
A sad indictment that the young seek tradwife life | Letters
I very much enjoyed Lucy Knight’s article (My month in the tradwife world: ‘I can’t pretend I’m not enjoying myself at all’, 15 April). As a boomer with children and grandchildren, I have no trouble appreciating the very poor hand the young people of today have been dealt and the reason that gingham, herb gardens and sourdough are a comforting fantasy. However, I think it is high time to draw readers’ attention to Sue Kaufman’s very funny and terrifyingly relevant Diary of a Mad Housewife to warn of the dangers of the tradwife ideal. I would also like to put on record, since my generation is constantly reviled, that when we marched to Aldermaston, campaigned against the death penalty and the incarceration of homosexuals, demanded equal rights (abortion, mortgage without a male backer, etc) and pay for women, tried to persuade the world about ecological issues and the need for recycling (I vividly remember having a rubbish bin tipped over my head by an angry eco-sceptic), demonstrated again, this time against the Vietnam war and later the Iraq war, and are now being arrested for objecting to genocide, we were not trying to create a world in which the young needed to take refuge in tradwife fantasies, from a dismal present and hopeless future. It is regrettable that we failed, but we tried
‘A white man’s fantasy’: if we want to rebuild social cohesion, we need to acknowledge where it all started to unravel
Things fall apart, as Chinua Achebe warned us. And “things” – the climate, the social contract, the rules-based international order – seem to be falling apart at a rate of knots. They fell apart spectacularly and horribly at Bondi last December, when allegedly Islamist gunmen opened fire on civilians, including children. Fifteen people were killed. Many more were injured
Are you a woman who makes life easier for everyone else? Beware – you could endanger your health | Emma Beddington
Women, a warning from Instagram: “You really need to be a bitch or you’re going to develop an autoimmune disease. It’s that simple.” Versions of this scientifically dubious statement have caught the imagination of a corner of the internet, getting algorithmically nudged my way multiple times (a TikTok to this effect has 40,000 likes; a Threads post 26,000). Sometimes, it’s set to music; sometimes, it’s the basis for earnest discussion of cortisol and inflammation. Sometimes, it’s evangelical
‘Labels protect us’: Olivia Nervo wants reproductive coercion to be a standalone offence – she is not alone
When the Grammy award winning songwriter, Olivia Nervo, agreed to start a family with her partner she believed she was in “a monogamous, committed relationship leading to a future”, and had never heard of reproductive coercion.Her world came crashing down when she was six months pregnant and she found out that her partner was in a relationship with another woman who was also pregnant, and with whom he already had a child.It was a discovery that led her to learn about reproductive coercion, a form of controlling behaviour in which someone interferes with an individual’s ability to make decisions about their own body. The Labour MP, Natalie Fleet, led a debate in parliament on the issue last month in which she said it was “so important – in the public interest, even – that the story of Olivia Nervo is heard”.The court declined to make any finding as to whether there had been reproductive coercion in Nervo’s case, with Fleet describing the doctrine as something the legal system in England and Wales “still struggles to recognise”
Three meningitis B cases confirmed in Dorset as young people offered vaccines
Three cases of meningitis B have been confirmed in the south-west of England, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), and young people in the area have been offered vaccinations against the disease.The cases, which have all been confirmed to have occurred between the 20 March and 15 April in Dorset, have been treated. Those affected are said to be recovering well, according to the UKHSA.Two of the cases were in students at Budmouth academy in Dorset who are contacts of each other, while the other young person attends Wey Valley academy.However, no link has been made between these cases, which may suggest this particular strain of MenB bacteria is transmitting more widely among young people in the area
Ed Miliband to double down on net zero with measures to combat Iran energy shock
ABF poised to reveal result of Primark and food business demerger plan
We all share blame for the decline of our high streets | Brief letters
Independent bookstores make quiet comeback as big chains dominate retail
Bank bosses called to meeting with Reeves over impact of Iran war on UK economy
Falling fertility, debt and AI: is the US headed toward a population crisis?