A heat pump subsidy scheme launched by Ed Miliband just nine months ago is facing cuts to help fund defence as the public continues to reject the technology and the quiet Net Zero rollback marches on. The Telegraph has the story.
Labour’s £15 billion Warm Homes Plan, launched by Miliband just nine months ago, is reportedly expected to be scaled back as the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) seeks to make £2 billion in savings.
A £2.7 billion subsidy scheme, providing £7,500 grants for people who purchase heat pumps under the boiler upgrade scheme, will be curtailed as part of the plans, according to reports in the Guardian and Politico.
Cuts come as John Healey, the Chancellor, scrambles to find billions of pounds to fund defence.
During the summer, No. 10 and the Treasury were locked in a standoff with the Ministry of Defence about how to plug a black hole of up to £28 billion in the military’s 10-year equipment budget, known as the defence investment plan (DIP).
In the end, the Starmer government provided an extra £15 billion – but left £4.7 billion of this to be found at a later date.
Healey, who resigned as defence secretary in summer after the spending row, will now be tasked with funding that money at his first Budget as Chancellor on October 28th.
Critics claimed the move to cut heat pump funding was “short-sighted” and said it would hobble the industry at a critical moment. Without the grant, a typical heat pump costs £13,600 to install, according to data provider MCS.
DESNZ budget cuts were agreed by Miliband in the summer as Sir Keir Starmer, the former Prime Minister, was scrambling to cobble together funding for the badly delayed DIP.
But finding the savings will now fall to Miliband’s successor, Miatta Fahnbulleh, after he was appointed Foreign Secretary by Andy Burnham.
Fahnbulleh previously signalled that she could row back on some of Miliband’s most ambitious commitments amid concerns within Labour that rising energy costs are undermining support for Net Zero.
Worth reading in full.
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Just roll back Ed Miliwatt. And the rest of the lunatic fringe.
If the Chancellor is nickel and diming over £2 billion we know the finances are even worse than we thought.