Ed Miliband has been appointed secretary of state for energy security and net zero in the new Starmer administration.

Mr Miliband was energy and climate change secretary under Gordon Brown in 2008-9, taking the Climate Change Act through parliament. This set legally-binding targets to reduce UK carbon dioxide emissions by at least 80% by 2050.

After formation of the 2010 Conservative-Lib Dem coalition, he served as leader of the opposition until 2015.

In 2022, as shadow energy secretary, Mr Miliband promised residents in the Nottinghamshire shale gas village of Misson that a Labour government would ban fracking.

At a meeting in the village pub after Liz Truss briefly lifted the moratorium on fracking in England, he said:

 “Labour will stand with communities in opposing the Conservatives’ dodgy plans to impose expensive, dirty and dangerous fracking on the British people.

“Fracking would make no difference to energy prices and could risk the health of local communities, nature and water supplies.”

Labour’s 2024 manifesto promised to issue no new licences for oil and gas exploration and “ban fracking for good”.

Jamie Peters, climate coordinator at Friends of the Earth, said of Mr Miliband:

“Since he first helped steer the Climate Change Act through parliament almost 20 years ago, Ed Miliband has been a strong advocate for ambitious action to avert the worst of climate breakdown.

“After Friends of the Earth’s landmark High Court win against the last government’s unlawful climate plan, one of his first tasks will be to rewrite this crucial strategy to ensure it delivers bold action to meet the UK’s climate targets, including to reduce carbon emissions by more than two-thirds by 2030.

“With a strong mandate for change, and record results for the Lib Dems and Greens who ran on platforms for ambitious climate action, Mr Miliband has a historic opportunity to deliver strong green policies that will improve our lives now and protect the planet for future generations.”

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