More than two-thirds of Britons think Ed Miliband’s Net Zero drive will increase their cost of living, Labour‘s own research has found.
Just seven per cent of the public now believes that Labour’s green push will bring down costs, the survey shows, despite the Energy Secretary’s election pledge to slash bills by £300.
The Department of Energy Security and Net Zero’s (DESNZ) own research shows that public faith in Labour’s green drive has fallen since the party entered Government.
Some 41 per cent of Britons now expect Net Zero to have negative impacts on the UK economy in the short term, up from 37 per cent in summer 2024.
And while almost half of people think the green drive will have a positive impact on the economy in the long term, the proportion who think it will have a negative impact in 10 years or more has increased from 20 per cent to 22 per cent under Labour.
The biggest concern across the DESNZ survey was higher energy prices, with more people now expecting their bills to increase since Mr Miliband entered the department.
More than two-thirds of Britons think Ed Miliband’s Net Zero drive will increase their cost of living, the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero’s (DESNZ) own research research has found
Shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho said the ‘public know that Ed Miliband’s mad Net Zero targets are going to leave them locked into paying higher energy bills for decades’
In the short term, 69 per cent of Britons expect the transition to Net Zero to increase their living expenses, up from 65 per cent in summer 2024. Just seven per cent said they expect a decrease.
In the long term – over ten years or more – half of people expect an increase in living expenses due to Labour’s green policies and 25 per cent expect a decrease, the poll shows.
Tory shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho told the Mail: ‘The public know that Ed Miliband’s mad Net Zero targets are going to leave them locked into paying higher energy bills for decades.
‘If he takes one lesson from this survey it should be to back our Cheap Power Plan to cut electricity bills by 20 per cent – axe the Carbon Tax, scrap his old wind subsidies, and scrap his botched wind auction. He needs to put cheap energy first.’
The findings are likely to pile further pressure on the beleaguered Energy Secretary, who is facing intense scrutiny over his pledge to cut energy bills by £300 by 2030 using clean power.
Economist Pawel Czyzak – the author of a report Labour used to come up with this figure – has warned the rising costs of offshore wind and other electricity costs risked seeing any potential savings ‘wiped out’.
The DESNZ Public Attitudes Tracker – which tracks public awareness of and attitudes to the policies of Mr Miliband’s department – also shows that people are feeling less confident about the UK’s ability to meet Net Zero targets a year on from Labour entering Government.
Some 17 per cent of Britons said they were very or fairly confident the UK will meet Net Zero targets, down from 20 per cent in Summer 2024. And 72 per cent said they were not very or not at all confident, up from 69 per cent.
The research – carried out between 8 July and 13 August – shows that the vast majority of the public still prioritises the environment. However it does show that public concerns have fallen in recent years, with 79 per cent of Britons now saying they are concerned about climate change, down from 85 per cent in autumn 2021.
The survey also shows a falling level of public awareness about heat pumps and a higher number of people saying they would not install them in their homes, despite a Government drive.
A DESNZ spokesman said: ‘Accelerating to net zero is the economic opportunity of the 21st century and at the heart of our mission to boost growth, create jobs and tackle the climate crisis.
‘By making Britain a clean energy superpower, we are taking back control of our energy to protect the British people from volatile fossil fuel prices and onto clean, homegrown power.’