Latest news with #warmhomes
The Sun
5 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
Dismay as Ed Miliband's flagship Net Zero plan spared ahead of spending review
A FLAGSHIP Net Zero plan has been spared ahead of next week's spending review — to opponents' dismay. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has ensured his £13billion warm homes scheme will not be downgraded after negotiations with the Treasury. 2 Chancellor Rachel Reeves decided not to cut the cash which allows heating upgrades through better insulation, solar panels and heat pumps. But the move will be a boost to the Reform Party who has vowed to scrap reaching the Net Zero target by 2050. The party's deputy leader Richard Tice said: 'Net Stupid Zero defeats common sense again, meaning higher bills and higher cost of living. 'Jobs and industries are being destroyed by the month.' Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has already stated that reaching Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050 is 'impossible'. Shadow Cabinet Minister Andrew Bowie added: 'Once again it looks like Ed Miliband's net zero by 2050 zealotry is running this government. 'When vital services like police forces, are facing the squeeze - thanks to Labour's economic mismanagement - it is shameful Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have kowtowed and decided to splash taxpayer cash on this ideological obsession, 'Kemi Badenoch and I have told the truth about the cost of net zero by 2050. It is shameful Labour are still not prepared to do the same. Families deserve so much better than being punished with higher costs and higher bills.' Mr Miliband and the Chancellor are understood to have now tied down his department's spending three-year spending plans, The Telegraph reported. Any spending cuts would have slowed down the government's bid to hit Net Zero and also the pledge to bring down energy bills by £300 by the end of the decade. The Home Office and Angela Rayner's housing department are still grappling with the Treasury over cash. Leaked docs exposing true cost of Net Zero 'proves what we all knew all along', MPs blast 2
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Labour's £13.2bn warm homes plan will not face cuts in spending review
Ministers have decided not to cut Labour's landmark £13.2bn fund to fix draughty homes and install heat pumps and solar panels in next week's spending review, it has emerged. A government source confirmed Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, would not be making cuts to the flagship warm homes plan. The decision, which was first reported by the Daily Telegraph, marks a victory for Ed Miliband in his negotiations with the Treasury over the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero's budget. Labour pledged in its manifesto to spend an extra £6.6bn on household energy efficiency projects by the end of the current parliament in 2029. This doubled the amount already committed by the Conservatives, to reach a total £13.2bn. But there had been reports in recent weeks that Reeves was considering cutting the scheme after the Treasury declined to guarantee Labour's £6.6bn pledge would be met as part of the spending review. Reeves allocated £3.4bn over three years to the plan in the October budget. The warm homes plan offers grants and low-interest loans for improved insulation and other energy-saving measures such as solar panels, batteries and low-carbon heating. Ministers have said the money would insulate an extra 5 million homes across the UK during the parliament. The UK's housing stock is among the least energy-efficient in Europe. Any reduction or delay in funding for the warm homes scheme would have hampered the UK's progress towards its net zero targets and make it more difficult for the government to meet its pledge to bring down energy bills by £300 by 2030. Charities, campaigners and businesses have urged the government to protect the plan as part of the spending review. There have been warnings that any cuts could lead to job losses, counteract the impact of the government's U-turn over winter fuel payments and put greater pressure on the health service. Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition: 'Cold, damp housing is making people sick and the government was elected on a manifesto promise to deliver warmer homes and reduce energy bills. Recent polling shows that the public would not stand for Labour backing down on this pledge.' In an Opinium poll last month, 46% of Labour voters said that cuts to funding to insulate homes would damage their trust in the party. Speaking in Rochdale on Wednesday, Reeves said that Labour's manifesto promises would be met in the spending review next week. The Guardian reported on Wednesday that three Whitehall departments were still to agree their multi-year budgets with the Treasury. Miliband, the energy secretary, Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, and Angela Rayner, the housing secretary, are those yet to settle. Some departments, including environment and education, settled early this week. Others said to be facing the biggest cuts include the Foreign Office and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.
Telegraph
6 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Reeves forced to back down in net zero row with Miliband
Ed Miliband has defeated an attempt by Rachel Reeves to raid one of his key net zero programs in next week's spending review, The Telegraph understands. The Treasury has for months been considering cuts to the £13.2 billion warm homes plan, which aims to insulate properties and make them more energy efficient. But Mr Miliband, the Energy Security Secretary, and Ms Reeves, the Chancellor, are understood to have reached an agreement in the past few days after fraught negotiations and the scheme will remain largely unaffected. The agreement is a boost for net zero supporters in government, chief among them Mr Miliband, who have warned against scaling back green plans. It will also likely be regarded as a sign of the Chancellor's waning influence as Downing Street seeks to placate backbenchers unhappy over spending cuts. The decision is expected to please the Left wing of the party, which is threatening to rebel against Sir Keir Starmer's plans to make cuts to welfare and has been emboldened by a memo sent to Ms Reeves by Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, demanding tax rises. However, it could complicate attempts, spearheaded by Number 10, to counter Reform, which is surging in support on a net zero sceptic platform and could outperform Labour in a Scottish by-election seat on Thursday. Spokesmen for the Treasury, the Energy Security Department and Number 10 all declined to comment, with announcements being unveiled at the spending review on Wednesday. Mr Miliband's victory can be disclosed hours after Ms Reeves warned that she would be tough with some Cabinet colleagues. Delivering a speech in Rochdale on Wednesday morning, the Chancellor said that 'not every department will get everything that they want next week' as she has had to 'say no' to things that she would support in an ideal world. Following a major about-turn by Sir Keir to appease backbenchers, millions of pensioners will be handed back their annual winter fuel payments of up to £300 next week, when the details of a reversal in last year's cut are announced. Some wealthy pensioners will still not receive the payment – meaning confusion continues on what the new policy will become – and it is unclear how the reversal will be funded. Meanwhile, the Government has announced that there will be £1 billion for an extra 500,000 free school meals over the next three years, lifting an estimated 100,000 children out of deprivation. Cabinet ministers have been locked in negotiations with the Treasury for months over the spending review, which will set out day-to-day departmental budgets for the next three years. Mr Miliband, the former Labour leader who heads up the net zero brief in government, was one of the few remaining Cabinet ministers still battling the Treasury this week. Sources last week were forced to deny reports he 'stormed out' of a meeting with Darren Jones, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, amid a row over cuts. Ms Rayner is also said to have clashed with the Chancellor over the spending review, with sources previously claiming she had complained 'forcibly' about proposed cuts to housing. But The Telegraph understands Mr Miliband has now reached agreement with Ms Reeves and has seen off an attempt to raid a major net zero scheme. The warm homes plan is an initiative to lift more than 1 million households out of fuel poverty by 2030, reducing energy bills as well as making houses more energy-efficient. It includes investment to insulate homes – thereby making them more energy-efficient – and grants for heat pumps. Labour promised an extra £6.6 billion for the plan in its general election manifesto last summer, taking the total to be spent on the program to £13.2 billion. A hint that Ms Reeves had given ground came on Wednesday morning when she said publicly that manifesto promises would be kept to in the spending review. The negotiations with ministers have been fraught because, despite a £300 billion boost to spending this parliament, some departments still face real-terms cuts in the years ahead. It has prompted protests from a string of departments and public officials, with police chiefs warning the Prime Minister that cuts would force them to decide which crimes to investigate. The politics of the Government have been shifting over its legal commitment to make the UK a 'net zero' carbon emitter, complicating Labour's approach. Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, has withdrawn her support for the target, making one of her first policy commitments of office the insistence that achieving the ambition by 2050 is 'impossible'. The repositioning, which comes despite it being the Conservatives under Theresa May who brought in the legal target, moves the Tories closer to Reform's position on net zero. Nigel Farage's party wants to scrap the policy entirely. Opinion polls show that while the public support hitting net zero, that drops markedly when voters are asked if they are willing to take a financial hit to achieve it. Mr Miliband has been the driving force behind the Government's net zero stance. Others in the Labour movement, including leading trade unions, oppose the new North Sea oil licence ban. The Energy Secretary's win comes after he lost battles over the expansion of Heathrow Airport and clashed with Sir Tony Blair when the former prime minister raised doubts over whether net zero was feasible.
