The government is up for the fight over net zero every hour, day and month of the year, the energy secretary Ed Miliband has said.
Amid growing attacks on its climate policies from the Trump administration, UK political parties and some businesses, the government this week reiterated its assertion that clean power will make Britain more secure.
Wrapping up a two-day summit on energy security in London, Mr Miliband said: “The critics need to know that if they want to fight about this, this government says ‘bring it on’.”
Clean power provides “energy security, lower bills [and] the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century”, he said.
Whereas “insecure” fossil fuels are to blame for “the cost of living crisis, which ruined family finances, which ruined public finances, which ruined business finances”.
Renewable electricity in the UK is cheaper than gas, but the benefits don’t reach households very easily because prices are still closely linked with the cost of gas – something the government wants to fix.
In the last week, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage MP accused Mr Miliband of “net zero lunacy”, while President Trump’s US official at the London summit Tommy Joyce on Thursday called net zero “harmful and dangerous”.
In a news conference on Friday, Mr Miliband said: “Whether it is political parties or other forces that want to take on net zero and the clean energy transition, they need to know this government is not for bending, this government is not for buckling, this government is standing firm.”
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But, with trade talks under way and the UK still heavily reliant on US oil and gas, Mr Miliband said Britain will find “common ground” with America on energy, despite wildly different views on climate policy.
“Obviously there are some differences, but there is also common ground,” he said, citing shared interests in boosting nuclear power.
The American official at the summit, acting assistant secretary Tommy Joyce, enjoyed plenty of time with the government during his visit, sitting next to Mr Miliband at a ceremonial dinner on Thursday evening, and meeting energy minister Michael Shanks on Friday.
Also on the charm offensive with the Americans this week was Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who has been in Washington trying to win favour for a US-UK trade deal.
Washington’s attacks on climate and net zero policies, which Mr Trump sees as a threat that empowers rival China, threatened to overshadow the energy security summit.
But it wrapped up on Friday with little fanfare, just closing remarks from co-host the International Energy Agency and Mr Miliband about the importance of clean energy and the materials need to build them.
They will both be pleased that they and the other 60 countries present held the line on the transition to cleaner energy.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told the summit that clean power was “in the DNA of my government”.
But his government was also the target of environmental protesters outside the summit at Lancaster House, who called out its wavering over the Rosebank oil and gas field.
It has also been criticised for approving airport expansions and relaxing rules around electric vehicles.
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