STEPHEN GLOVER: Ed Miliband's crackpot, cruel levy will hit less well-off people hardest
Could Ed Miliband be a secret Tory, or even an undercover agent for Reform UK? Of course, the notion is absurd. The Energy Secretary is a paid-up socialist and Net Zero zealot.
By STEPHEN GLOVER, DAILY MAIL COLUMNIST
Published: 01:20 GMT, 1 January 2026 | Updated: 04:47 GMT, 1 January 2026
Could Ed Miliband be a secret Tory, or even an undercover agent for Reform UK? Of course, the notion is absurd. The Energy Secretary is a paid-up socialist and Net Zero zealot.
And yet more than anyone in Labour – more even than Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves – he is doing his utmost to undermine his party’s already sagging fortunes with his headlong rush to impose Net Zero, irrespective of the harm it will inflict on the economy and therefore on people’s lives.
According to The Times, Miliband’s latest barmy idea is to make the country’s 25million owners of gas boilers pay an annual surcharge of £30 a year just for the privilege of owning them. We can be confident that the payment would increase yearly as long as Labour remains in power.
The measure is part of a £15billion ‘energy plan’ that actually has one or two potentially sensible ideas, such as the Government offering financial incentives to install solar panels on roofs. But the proposed annual levy on gas boilers is both crackpot and cruel.
Miliband wants to encourage more households to install heat pumps, which run on electricity. He aims to use the money snatched from boiler owners to bring down the price of electricity, although the effect would be marginal.
But the impact of this regressive tax on poorer people who own gas boilers would be significant. Think of the outrage that greeted Labour’s plan to abolish pensioners’ winter fuel allowance of between £100 and £300 a year. The Government was forced into a climbdown.
Miliband’s latest barmy idea is to make the country’s 25million owners of gas boilers pay an annual surcharge of £30 a year, writes STEPHEN GLOVER
Green energy entrepreneur and Labour donor Dale Vince puts the figure higher. He told The Times: ‘It [Miliband’s levy] impacts the people that can least afford their bills'
Many people would recoil at the monstrous injustice of being required to pay an annual surcharge for a boiler that they have already bought. Millions of the less well-off would be subsidising richer folk who can afford heat pumps.
The Government already offers heat pump grants of up to £7,500 under its boiler upgrade scheme. But those wanting to install a heat pump are likely to have to find at least £5,000 themselves, and much more for larger properties.
Green energy entrepreneur and Labour donor Dale Vince puts the figure higher. He told The Times: ‘It [Miliband’s levy] impacts the people that can least afford their bills, let alone dream of a heat pump. If you get a government grant for a heat pump, you will still have to find £7,000 yourself.’