The people paying the price for Ed Miliband's dissembling are the innocent folk who fell for his promise that heat pumps would be cheaper to run than their previous gas boilers. No, they’re not.
Not by a mile. The stats are quite clear. Research published in The Times of 1,000 heat pump owners (a really meaningful survey) shows 66 per cent of users saying that they were more costly. And yet dear old Ed, who couldn’t eat a bacon sandwich, let alone run a Ministry, claimed they would be cheaper.
I feel desperate for the users as they had already spent £13,200 installing the heat pumps. Had they chosen a gas boiler, it would have been £3,000.
Of course, there is a £7,500 government subsidy, but that ‘’subsidy’’ came from the taxpayers, so it was their money in the first place.
No surprise that the heat pumps were dearer, since electricity is four times the price of gas. Miliband didn’t mention any of this while extolling the virtues of his new toy.
In the interests of fairness, not often said about me, 15 per cent said it was cheaper, and 19 per cent said there was no difference.
But for the vast majority, it was costing them money. Would they have made the purchase if they had known it was going to cost more? I doubt it. What is a surprise is that Miliband hasn’t been shown the door by Starmer or that heat pump victims aren’t calling for his head.
There was a clue a few months ago as to where the power lies in their relationship between the two men. It was suggested that Starmer was trying to get him out of Energy into Housing, which had become available thanks to Ms Rayner failing to pay £40,000 to our chums at HMRC.
Miliband refused to go. When questioned on the BBC later, he basically indicated that he would rather return to the back benches than give up his prize post. From there, I presume, he would cause Starmer merry hell by representing the ‘’soft Left’’ caucus.
It took 660 heat pump owners to expose Ed Miliband's net zero racket. Knighthoods for all - Kelvin MacKenzie | Getty Images
By failing to deal with Miliband over the massive net zero subsidies, the nation’s energy bills are through the roof, and he is feeling so omnipotent that he’s telling anybody in earshot he wants to be the next Chancellor if a Burnham or Burnham-like enters No 10.
How desperate must Labour be that Miliband is being suggested for No.11 despite getting people to pay good money for their heat pump?
Surely, this is a job for Trading Standards or that new FBI Mahmood has set up. I suppose another way of looking at it is that Reeves has been a lame duck, so we might as well try another one.
This is what happens when you hand enormous power to Socialists. Look at the manner in which Starmer treated Burnham.
The reality is that Starmer won’t be Prime Minister by the summer. No matter how bad the May elections were going to be, they will now be substantially worse after his actions to shut the door on Burnham.
The first thing to happen will be that the safe Labour seat of Gorton and Denton will go to Reform. Personally, I’m pleased, but the entire Labour Party will blame Starmer.
A couple of months later, Labour will take such a bashing that Starmer will be forced out by Streeting. And if Streeting is wise, he will then open the door to Burnham, no matter how much political pain it will cause.
That’s the difference between a proper leader and a simpering fool who has run Labour (and us) into the ground. What I seriously hope is that Streeting decides to stop all this unaffordable net zero nonsense and the lies that go with it.
This will lead to Miliband exiting the Cabinet in a huff, but it will stop our hard-up citizens from being duped into buying heat pumps.
My advice: Keep away from those heat pumps until you receive a cast-iron guarantee that they will be cheaper than a gas boiler. I guarantee that it won’t come under these charlatans.
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