Today we saw why Ed Miliband ran for the Labour leadership. This was not a speech that his brother could have delivered. It was the most left-wing speech I’ve heard from the leader of a British political party. It was, without a doubt, authentic Miliband and delivered with passion.
Politically, I suspect the speech now turns on the freeze on energy prices that Miliband announced a Labour government would introduce. The Tories are out to ‘kill it’ rather than ‘adopt it’, warning of the lights going out if it is introduced. The energy companies, whose profits would be hit hard by it, are also up in arms. The issue for Miliband is that he is proposing freezing prices and the decarbonisation of the energy sector by 2030. Doing both of these things does seem like a stretch.
Talk to those close to Miliband, though, and they are quite happy to have a fight with the energy companies.
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