Kwarteng gives update on prime minister’s 10-point plan

Ed Miliband has branded the Green Homes Grant “the policy that dared not speak its name” after the cancelled housing decarbonisation scheme was ignored in today’s government progress report on the prime minister’s 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution.

The shadow business and energy secretary was responding to his counterpart Kwasi Kwarteng’s six-month update to the House of Commons on the plan, which was unveiled in November.

The plan included an extension of the £1.5 billion household voucher portion of the Green Homes Grant scheme for energy efficiency and ow carbon heat installations for a year beyond its original cut-off date at the end of this March.

However, the programme was cancelled towards the end of the month following widespread delays in the issuing of vouchers.

In his response to Kwarteng’s statement, Miliband highlighted the secretary of state’s failure to mention the Green Homes Grant.

He said: “It is the policy that dared not speak its name in the business secretary’s statement, and no wonder.

“It has been a complete fiasco, with contractors not paid, installers forced to make lay-offs and homeowners unable to get grants. As importantly, when the scheme failed, more than £1 billion was not reallocated but simply cut from the budget.

“We desperately need a comprehensive plan for the massive task of retrofitting and changing the way we heat millions of homes, with the finance to back it up. It is a big task.”

Kwarteng told the House that the government is looking at a replacement scheme for the Green Homes Grant, which he said was a “short-term stimulus” that had been due to run out in March.

Miliband also pressed Kwarteng on the timing of the Treasury’s net zero review, the publication of which was pushed back to spring after originally being promised for autumn of last year.

Kwarteng also said the government is in “very fruitful” conversations with operators and developers about a new nuclear power financing regime.

And he pointed to progress on the Dogger Bank offshore wind farm as proof of the international investors’ s confidence in the UK’s Contracts for Difference regime.