Speeches by Miliband.

“There’s a headline: Miliband not blamed for sun not shining. That is extremely generous.”

“Inevitably, I want people to know more about our mission. That is my job, the job of our Ministers and the job of everyone who supports our mission. I had the pleasure of reading some of your Committee’s testimony in preparing for this session, and I was particularly interested in the testimony of Luke Tryl from More i…”

“As I say, we are following the previous practice—”

“We are following the previous practice, as I said, but do ask me any questions about our relationship with China.”

“We recognised that the situation facing refineries is challenging. We will shortly launch our future of fuels call for evidence. That will be the first time in decades that there has been a proper look at the role of the refinery sector. It is something that I have taken a personal interest in—and I know you have a per…”

“We are moving as soon as we can.”

“Overall, it is the case that clean energy jobs have, I think, about a 20% premium compared to jobs across the economy as a whole. These are good jobs, and part of our insistence as a Government is that they need to be properly remunerated and have good workers’ rights. I think we can attract workers into this area. Som…”

“We are going to move as soon as we can on these questions. I can get back to you on the precise timetable—”

“This is something that the North sea future board will definitely be looking at. For the sake of clarity, that board was set up with all sides of industry and Government to look at how we can make sure—and this is the big picture—that we have a fair transition in relation to our North sea oil and gas communities. I ver…”

“I have given an answer. I do not have any more to add to the answers I gave.”

“I think I have explained to you the practices we are following and—”

“Yes; I am saying to you that that is why we have to be very cautious about our energy system.”

“I completely agree. I said in my statement yesterday that it was very important to look at questions of not just the financial barriers that community energy groups face or the capacity barriers, but the system barriers. That is one of the discussions that we are going to have. Sometimes you do things in politics and y…”

“You’re really wrong about that.”

“We proceed on a certain basis with some countries and on different bases with different countries, as has been the practice of previous Governments. But honestly, ask me any questions about our relationship with China, and I will answer them for you.”

“I am really pleased that you asked that question. I am really proud of our clean energy jobs plan, which is a new departure for Government, because it sets out not just our ambition for 400,000 extra jobs in relation to clean energy, but how we are going to go about the process of making sure we have the workforce avai…”

“To do what it says on the tin. In a sense, we inherited that label, and I agree that a real passport involves as seamless a transition as possible, without the cost of moving from one industry to another necessarily falling on the individual.”

“The first clean energy agreement with China was made in 2015 and was not published. We are just following the previous practice. I suspect that you have a suspicion that there has been this big conspiracy, as you see it. I honestly think that it is really clutching at straws. I think I have given the answer.”

“Clearly, the network is privately owned. We inherited that system. In a sense, given the demands of the climate crisis, energy security and getting on with the process of reducing constraint costs and connecting companies, the most realistic thing to do is to work with the system we have. That demands leadership from m…”

“I know, but my experience of Government is that if you set a timetable, you have to meet it, so—”