Speaking this afternoon at the final Labour party conference to be held before the next general election, Ed Miliband outlined a six-point schedule of change for the next ten years which includes the creation of one million green jobs.
“Under this government, Britain lags behind Germany, Japan, the United States and even India and China when it comes to green technologies and services,” he said, blaming the current government for “not playing its part”.
“We’re going to commit to taking all the carbon out of electricity by 2030,” he said, adding that he would empower the Green Investment Bank to borrow money and communities to roll-out plans for a wide ranging insulation program.
Previously Labour backed the inclusion of a decarbonisation target of 50-100g of carbon per MWh to be included in the Energy Bill. The target would be a dramatic cut from current levels of around 450g-500g, but was defeated by the government in the legislative process.
One year on from Labour’s dramatic energy price freeze pledge the party returned its attention to the affordability of household bills but now says it will reduce bills by decreasing demand.
Labour’s shadow energy minister Caroline Flint earlier in the day promised a radical overhaul of existing energy efficiency projects in a five-point plan to reduce bills.
“The cheapest energy is the energy we don’t use,” shadow energy minister Caroline Flint told the conference.
Flint told the Labour party conference on Tuesday morning that the party’s plans would make 5 million homes more energy efficient within ten years without additional government spending or adding to consumer energy bills.
Flint also identified Labour’s price freeze pledge as a ‘red line’ issue should the party enter a coalition government.
“What I am absolutely certain about is we hope to win outright and this is one of our red lines going forward. We will have the price freeze and we will look to reform the market,” Flint said.