Miliband’s ‘obsession’ with wind turbines could send bills soaring

LABOUR’S Ed Miliband wants to nearly double onshore wind power across England by 2030 by increasing the number of turbines.

The Energy Secretary aims to expand the country’s onshore capacity from 14.8gigawatts (GW) to 27-29GW by the end of the decade, new plans show.

Officials suggest that up to 10GW of onshore wind could come from resolving issues with building turbines near airports and military radar sites.

They want to speed up planning consents to ensure projects are delivered more quickly. However, the Tories are warning that Labour wants to meet Net Zero goals ‘no matter the cost to the British public’. The party’s energy spokesman, Claire Coutinho, said: ‘Ed Miliband’s obsession with climate targets means he’s making our energy unreliable and expensive.

‘No country in the world relies just on the wind and the sun. He is shutting down the North Sea, concreting our gas wells and he’s downgraded our plans for nuclear. All this means is that families’ energy bills are going to go through the roof, and we’ll just end up importing more from coal-powered China.

‘The US security services have already warned us that Chinese wind turbines could pose serious risks to our national security, but he won’t do a China audit.’

In his foreword to the plans revealed today, Mr Miliband said: ‘The reality is that every turbine we build helps protect families, businesses and the public finances from future fossil fuel shocks.’