WATCH: Ed Miliband’s net zero policy SHREDDED over promise to cut bills
| GB NEWS
Ed Miliband found himself at odds with Rachel Reeves over her approach to cutting green taxes on household energy bills, it has emerged.
The Energy Secretary got into several fiery exchanges with Treasury ministers before the Budget was announced, sources have told The Telegraph.
The disagreements centred on how the Chancellor planned to bring down energy costs by roughly £150 per household.
Mr Miliband wasn’t against lowering bills for families – he was on board with that goal – but what he really didn’t like was the Treasury’s proposed levy control framework, which would essentially put a cap on how much revenue his Net Zero department could generate from green taxes.
The crux of Miliband’s opposition was a Treasury plan to impose new controls on levies to keep consumer costs down.
Whitehall insiders say he worried about losing his grip on taxes that fund home upgrades and support green energy projects.
A source familiar with the negotiations described his approach in blunt terms: “His style is not particularly chill.”
Another Government source painted a fuller picture of the Energy Secretary’s stance.
Ed Miliband found himself at odds with Rachel Reeves over her approach to cutting green taxes on household energy bills, it has emerged
| PA
“It’s not like he was saying he didn’t want to cut energy bills,” they said. “Ed’s a good politician, he understood the reasons why the Government had to do it.
“But he has a tough negotiating style and he doesn’t like to lose.”
The Treasury’s new framework takes its cues from a similar policy George Osborne introduced back in 2011, and officials are working to roll it out in the “medium term”.
Reeves also unveiled plans to scrap the Energy Company Obligation levy entirely – a scheme that made energy firms fund home improvements for lower-income households through charges on bills.
