Speeches by Miliband.

“Very important, and I think this is a big change from the past. We inherited a situation where trade unions were just seen as special interests, basically, and pretty marginalised special interests. I do want to say this quite clearly: I think the renewables industry still has some way to go in recognising the value an…”

“I would encourage all companies involved in the energy sector to take seriously the role that trade unions can play in their companies.”

“Thank you, Chair. Can I start by putting on the record my thanks to you and your Committee for your excellent work? I have had the benefit of reading some of the transcripts of your evidence sessions, so I want to say thank you for the really interesting work you are doing. To answer your question directly, I am incred…”

“This is an issue that I care deeply about. I am incredibly proud of what we did on the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme, which has increased miners’ pensions by an average of £29 per week. I think that is a really important thing that the Government did. This is something that is being taken forward by my colleague Sarah Jo…”

“Part of what we are doing is co-ordinating across Government a carbon budget delivery and growth plan, precisely because the previous Government had two goes at this, and their plans were found—guilty is the wrong word—not lawful. We have until the end of October to produce a plan. What is good is that this is driven a…”

“We take the delivery of both of these very seriously. There are, I think, 39 million smart and advanced meters in homes and businesses across Britain now. Not enough of them are working in smart mode, and that has to change, frankly. We are going to be saying more about this in the coming weeks, but Martin Lewis and ot…”

“I do not think that is at all a fair characterisation of my colleague Heidi Alexander, who is a really enthusiastic supporter of this agenda. But why don’t I take away the issue that you raise and, as part of our work with DFT on mission-led Government, pass this on?”

“Retrofit is an absolutely crucial part of it. We have a training grant, which I think is helping to train 18,000 people in heat pump technology. But retrofit is also part of it.”

“We are going to do it. It will come out in the autumn. We have been working on it—the clean energy workforce strategy—and it is something where we have had really good engagement from all the trade unions and businesses. What it is absolutely about is delivering this transition in a fair way. Let us be frank about it: …”

“I don’t think that is correct. We had a very clear manifesto position, which was to keep existing fields open for their lifetime. That is an important position. We also had a position that said we were not going to issue new licences to explore new fields. We are currently consulting on that. I am absolutely determined…”

“It is less that it goes and more that it does not get enacted, but I am totally on your wavelength on this. That is why we have made GB Energy have a big focus on community energy. I absolutely believe that we can deliver, and deliver in a way that supports community energy.”

“That is what we are looking at.”

“Absolutely, we have to prioritise community projects. I just want to be completely open with the Committee. If you are saying that we should prioritise community projects over a large-scale project that we need for 2030, that is going to be hard to do.”

“Can you explain again?”

“Yes. We are looking very seriously at it.”

“Shall I handle that? Jeremy is welcome to come in. I am really interested in that unmet or untriggered clause in the 2015 Act. I have been trying to get to the bottom of how it ended up in—I think the Liberal Democrats may have had something to do with it. We are looking very seriously at whether we can give expression…”

“Absolutely. Communities are an essential part of delivering. I cannot say to you, “We will prioritise community energy over large-scale projects,” if those large-scale projects are essential for us to meet Clean Power 2030, but it is a really big part of our plans.”

“I think it is really important that we drive forward on community energy. I am also conscious that NESO has lots of demands about what it should prioritise. Our north star is delivering Clean Power 2030, which is obviously challenging—absolutely achievable, but challenging. That is the No. 1 imperative. It is worth say…”

“It feels like when you were in your previous life, Torcuil.”

“We are determined to do that. If you have examples where you think bad practices are going on—as part of Chris Stark’s work, he has clean power commissioners including those who cover nature—we would be interested in working with you on it.”