ED Miliband was yesterday accused of being “delusional” after ploughing on with Labour’s Net Zero push.
The Energy Secretary brushed off warnings from Tories, Reform and trade unions that his plans will cost jobs and raise bills.
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He accused critics of spreading “nonsense and lies” to derail efforts to hit the UK’s legally-binding 2050 Net Zero target.
Writing in a newspaper he warned scrapping it would lead to “climate breakdown” and cost Britain clean-energy jobs.
But his comments came days after ministers acted to stop British Steel’s Chinese owners shutting furnaces — a move many blame on the Government’s attitude to heavy industry.
Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice told The Sun: “Ed Miliband is more delusional than ever.
He cannot bear that Nigel Farage and I saved British Steel and some 3,000 jobs by forcing the Government to take back control of a strategic British asset.
“Instead of criticising us, he should be thanking us for our common sense.”
Acting Shadow Energy Secretary Andrew Bowie fumed: “Labour’s obsession with Net Zero at any cost is pushing up bills, risking blackouts, decimating the oil and gas industry and making Britain more and more reliant on China. The steel crisis is entirely of Labour’s own making.”
The GMB and Unite unions warned Labour’s rapid green shift is endangering thousands of well-paid jobs. They want Sir Keir Starmer to reverse a ban on new oil and gas drilling.
Reform leader Nigel Farage has pledged to bring back domestic fossil fuel production, and officials in Whitehall have reportedly held “tentative conversations” about a rethink.
A Government spokesman insisted the ban still stands.