Julia Hartley-Brewer and Claire Pearsall
Photo by TALKTV

“The Biggest Risk to This Country Is Net Zero”: Julia Hartley-Brewer Unleashes on Ed Miliband’s Green Agenda

Julia Hartley-Brewer has taken aim at Labour’s Ed Miliband over his Net Zero push, accusing him of backing green policies that could, in her words, be “catastrophic” for the country. The TalkTV host didn’t hold back as she tore into the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change during a segment discussing the government’s £200 million solar panel rollout.

Miliband recently threw his full support behind the publicly owned Great British Energy’s plan to fit hundreds of schools and hospitals with solar panels — a move also backed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves. But critics like Hartley-Brewer are not convinced this is the way forward, reported the Express.

“It’s climate change policies, Net Zero, which leaves us very vulnerable, as we saw with Spain and Portugal, with those blackouts,” she said, referring to the recent mass power outage in the Iberian Peninsula. While the exact cause is still under investigation, some energy experts pointed to instability from renewable sources like solar farms. Hartley-Brewer didn’t hesitate to link that to what she called the UK’s overreliance on renewables, branding solar energy “unreliable” and scoffing at plans to power the country almost entirely on solar and wind.

“We want to go 95% solar and wind renewables. I’m sorry. The biggest risk to this country is Net Zero,” she told government advisor Claire Pearsall, who appeared on the show to defend the strategy.

The criticism came as a damning new report from the independent Climate Change Committee accused the government of falling short in preparing for climate-related risks. While acknowledging steps like increased flood defences, the report warned the UK could face severe health and economic impacts if more urgent action isn’t taken.

Adding fuel to the debate, former Prime Minister Tony Blair chimed in with his own blunt take, calling the current approach to climate policy “irrational” and “doomed to fail.” That comment didn’t sit well with some in Labour, with one senior MP telling The Guardian, “It’s maddening… TBI might want to remember it’s not running the country.”

Starmer’s team, however, stuck by Miliband. A spokesperson said: “We’re taking a very practical and pragmatic approach… Families will pay the price for our dependence on fossil fuel markets.”

As the government scrambles to defend its Net Zero stance, the backlash from critics — and even former allies — is clearly putting pressure on Labour’s green strategy.

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