Ed Miliband keeps winning
Alongside the cancellation of a previously trailed cut to the Warm Homes Plan, DESNZ received a 16 per cent increase in spending power (more than any other department). And now, following a period of internal wrangling with the Number 10 and the Treasury, the former Labour leader has announced the extension of the Warm Homes Discount, a policy which offers a £150 energy bills discount to those on low incomes. Insiders tell me it is something the Energy Secretary has been working on behind the scenes for months.
Energy bills – and the government's pledge to cut them by £300 before the end of the parliament – will be a key metric of Labour's success at the next election. Frustration over the slow pace of reduction, alongside fury over the Winter Fuel Payment, were big issues on the doorstep during the locals (it wasn't a good night for Labour).
In the wake of voting, one insider close to Miliband pointed to the Warm Homes Discount – which was first introduced in 2011 – and questioned why the government did not make more of it following the decision to cut Winter Fuel. It is, after all, a means-tested benefit intended to support not just elderly people, but millions of households on low incomes to reduce their energy bills.
The extension announced on Thursday will see a further 2.7 million households eligible to receive this benefit; over 6 million households will now be able to access the discount. It will be paid for via a deal which the government has struck with the energy regulator, Ofgem. Currently, energy bills include the socialised costs of energy companies' unpaid debts, the government has done a deal to reduce the overall debt burden on energy companies. This accompanies the recent cut to the Energy Price Cap, which comes into effect in July, meaning a double whammy of energy bill reductions.
All of this suggests that despite speculation that Keir Starmer might be about to make an about-turn on support for net zero, the Prime Minister is firmly staying put. Not only has Miliband's funding been bolstered, but his department has been responsible for some of the government's most recent positive news: 100,000 new jobs at Sizewell C, solar panels for newbuild homes, schools, and hospitals, and now the extension of the Warm Homes Discount. And Starmer has made clear that, in directly taking on Nigel Farage, he won't look to ape the Reform UK's net zero scepticism but will seek to prove how the green transition can help low-income, marginalised communities, as well as slashing the UK's carbon emissions.
That Starmer is staying close to Miliband is unsurprising. The PM has, after all, always been environmentally minded (he is a pescatarian, did you know?). Perhaps his most famous case as a human rights lawyer was representing two Greenpeace Activists against McDonalds in the 1997 McLibel trial. Starmer, who's former Kentish Town home is a short walk from Miliband's ends in Dartmouth Park, was also encouraged to run to be an MP in 2015 by his predecessor as Labour leader. The pair have a shared political history; it's easy to speculate that Starmer feels some loyalty there.
Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe
Connections aside, it's clear Starmer sees the electoral benefit of his Energy Secretary's clean power drive, particularly after the disastrous Winter Fuel Payment saga and the government's subsequent U-turn. Reducing the UK's reliance on imported natural gas and other fossil fuels will lead to lower energy bills; a result on which Starmer's premiership will be heavily judged (and to some extent, already is). And in this new turbulent international climate – the arguments for energy security remain; Miliband was the first to make them. After months of underestimation from his detractors, the Energy Secretary and his agenda are safe, for the time being. It all now rests on the success of his delivery.
Related
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
UK's biggest benefit hotspots mapped: Shock figures reveal up to a FIFTH of adults getting handout in parts of country don't need to look for a job
One in five working-age adults in parts of Britain are claiming jobless benefits that don't require them to seek work. Daily Mail analysis today reveals some authorities – including Keir Starmer 's own – have seen rates climb 60% since Labour won power. It comes after Government figures this week revealed that 3.7million Brits were now on universal credit with 'no work requirements'. This marked a rise of one million since Sir Keir took office, sparking outrage among critics of the ballooning £140billion welfare bill. Laying bare the crisis confronting the Prime Minister, our audit found everywhere in England and Wales saw the number of adults signed off work indefinitely rise since Labour's landslide election victory. Sir Keir's Holborn and St Pancras constituency witnessed the biggest rise between July 2024-2025. There, 8,029 constituents get universal credit without any requirement to work – up 61.3% in a year. Our audit of Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) statistics uncovered similarly high increases in Hackney North and Stoke Newington (59.9%) and Leeds Central and Headingley (58.4%). Croydon West saw the smallest jump, although it still leapt up 23.2%. Blackpool South, meanwhile, can today be named as Britain's benefits capital. There, 19.3% of working-age adults, aged 16 to 64, get universal credit with no requirement to seek work. Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough (18.8%) and Liverpool Walton (18.2%) rounded out the top three. The TaxPayers' Alliance today urged the PM to 'get a grip' of the welfare bill, branding it a 'national disgrace'. Elliot Keck, head of campaigns of the thinktank, added: 'The catastrophic rise in the number of Brits on benefits with no requirement to ever work is a national disgrace. 'It's fitting that the biggest surge is in the Prime Minister's backyard, given it's his humiliating government's disastrous economic policies and humiliating failure to reform the welfare system that has played such a role in driving the increase. 'Starmer should try door knocking in his constituency over the coming months if he wants to get to grips with how serious the crisis is.' The DWP claimed the rise in the number of people claiming universal credit with no requirements to work was 'to be expected' because of the push to move all 'legacy' benefits under one umbrella. It means new claimants won't be solely responsible for the increase. Instead, many are expected to have been migrated to universal credit, which makes up £52bn of the total welfare bill. The DWP's definition of no work requirements covers illness or disability and caring responsibilities. It can also include those in full-time education, over the state pension age, someone with a child aged under one, and those considered to have no prospect of work. At its most basic level, universal credit amounts to £400 a month for adults over 25. Claimants with limited capacity to work – either because of a disability or long-term illness – get twice the amount. More than 8m Brits currently get the handout, up from 3m before Covid struck. Currently, 46 per cent of all claimants are not expected to do anything to prepare or to look for work. Sir Keir and Chancellor Rachel Reeves last month saw their attempt to cut Britain's ballooning benefits bill derailed by a major rebellion among Labour MPs. The PM was forced to scrap most of the planned welfare changes in the face of a huge Labour revolt. He ditched proposed restrictions to Personal Independence Payment (PIP), the main disability payment in England, until after a review. Labour's package of reforms, which ministers hoped would save £5bn by 2030, was aimed at encouraging more people off sickness benefits and into work. It included tightening the eligibility criteria for UC 'top-ups' – given to claimants who have a limited capacity to work because of a disability or long-term condition. A DWP spokesperson said: 'As the majority of vulnerable customers started moving from legacy benefits onto the modernised Universal Credit system from July 2024, it is to be expected that the number of people claiming the benefit with no requirement to work will increase. 'These figures are yet more evidence of the broken welfare system we inherited that is denying people the support they need to get into work and get on at work.
Powys County Times
an hour ago
- Powys County Times
Rayner claims Reform will ‘fail women' as she weighs in on online safety row
Nigel Farage and Reform UK risk 'failing a generation of young women' if they scrap online safety laws aimed at preventing revenge porn, Angela Rayner has said. The Deputy Prime Minister demanded Mr Farage explain how his party would keep young women safe when they use the internet, after Reform vowed to repeal the Online Safety Act. Her warning is the latest intervention in a row between senior Labour figures and Mr Farage's party over the Act. Under new rules introduced through the legislation at the end of July, online platforms such as social media sites and search engines must take steps to prevent children from accessing harmful content such as pornography or material that encourages suicide. Reform has vowed to repeal the law and replace it with a different means of protecting children online, though the party has not said how it would do this. Among their criticisms of the Act, Mr Farage and his colleagues have cited freedom of speech concerns and claimed the Act is an example of overreach by the Government. This prompted backlash from Technology Secretary Peter Kyle, who claimed people like Jimmy Savile would use the internet to exploit children if he was still alive, and insisted anyone against the Act – like Mr Farage – was 'on their side'. The Reform leader demanded an apology, but ministers have been trenchant in their defence of the Act. Now, the Deputy Prime Minister has questioned how Mr Farage would seek to prevent the 'devastating crime' of intimate image abuse, also known as 'revenge porn', without the Online Safety Act's protections. Ms Rayner claimed: 'Nigel Farage risks failing a generation of young women with his dangerous and irresponsible plans to scrap online safety laws. 'Scrapping safeguards and having no viable alternative plan in place to halt the floodgates of abuse that could open is an appalling dereliction of duty. It's time for Farage to tell women and girls across Britain how he would keep them safe online.' Under the Online Safety Act, revenge porn is classified among the 'most severe online offences', the Deputy PM added. Citing figures from the charity Refuge, the Labour Party claimed a million young women had been subject to revenge porn: either intimate images being shared, or the threat of this. Some 3.4 million adults in total, both men and women, have been affected, Labour also said. Ministers have previously had to defend the Online Safety Act against accusations from Elon Musk's X social media site that it is threatening free speech. In a post at the start of August titled 'What Happens When Oversight Becomes Overreach', the platform formerly known as Twitter outlined criticism of the act and the 'heavy-handed' UK regulators. The Government countered that it is 'demonstrably false' that the Online Safety Act compromises free speech and said it is not designed to censor political debate. Mr Farage has meanwhile suggested there is a 'tech answer' for protecting children online, but neither he nor the Government have outlined one. He also suggested children are too easily able to avoid new online age verification rules by using VPNs (virtual private networks), which allow them to circumvent the rules by masking their identity and location. When Reform UK was approached for comment, its Westminster councillor Laila Cunningham said: 'Women are more unsafe than ever before thanks to Labour. Starmer has released thousands of criminals back onto the streets early with no regard for women's safety. 'I am calling on Jess Phillips to debate me on women's safety – she ignored the grooming gangs scandal and now she's wilfully deceiving voters on this issue. 'Reform will always prioritise prosecuting abuse but will never let women's safety be hijacked to justify censorship. 'You don't protect women by silencing speech. You protect them by securing borders, enforcing the law, and locking up actual criminals, and that is exactly what a Reform government would do.'
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
Second Brexit referendum won't happen ‘in my lifetime', Neil Kinnock says
The ex-Labour leader Neil Kinnock, who served as Vice-President of the European Commission between 1999 to 2004, warned Brexit had 'inflicted such harm' on Britain A second referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union won't happen "in my lifetime", Neil Kinnock has said. The ex-Labour leader, who served as Vice-President of the European Commission between 1999 to 2004, warned Brexit had "inflicted such harm" on Britain. And he cast doubt on the ability of the government to grasp sustained and high levels of economic growth outside the single market and customs union. His comments come after a poll showed earlier this month nearly half of voters want another EU referendum within five years. Less than a third said they would back Brexit in a new vote. But asked whether he believed there was a possibility of a second vote in his lifetime, Lord Kinnock, 83, replied: "Not in my lifetime, no. It's not going to happen in my lifetime." But he predicted that Britain would join a new European organisation in the future. He told The Mirror: "In my grandchildren's lifetime, probably my children's lifetime, we will be part of a Europe-wide economic and political organisation. "The EU is going through changes as well, of course, as everything does. That will come about because of the reality of proximity. It's by far our biggest market. It was until seven years ago, free of impediment." Lord Kinnock, who campaigned alongside other party leaders to Remain during the 2016 referendum vote, added: "That change is not going to take place while I'm breathing. I just wish it was because it would be for the benefit of our country. "The real patriots are those arguing for the closest possible relationship, economically, politically, and in strategic terms." He praised Keir Starmer's efforts to reset the relationship with Brussels that was left in tatters after years of fractious Brexit negotiations under the Tories. In May, the PM struck a new deal with the bloc, saying it was time to "move on from the stale old debates and political fights to find common sense, practical solutions which get the best for the British people". Lord Kinnock said: "He's doing it while very rigorously trying to fulfil his mandate not to go back into the single market and customs union." But he warned: "Here's the problem. The government has rightly - absolutely rightly - got ambition to secure sustained, high levels of economic growth. I don't think we can do that outside the single market and customs unions."
