Miliband suggests role for public ownership in energy industry

With the energy industry continuing to face rocketing prices, shadow business and energy secretary, Ed Miliband has suggested there is a role for public ownership in the sector.

Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme this morning, Miliband described the energy market as ‘deeply inadequate’, commenting that, “There are many elements to the energy system. There is generation, there is distribution, there is transmission and supply. And I see a role for public ownership in relation to the energy system, but I think we have got to get this right. What has happened is that we have started off with a very liberalised system, we have introduced market constraints like the price cap, and we need a fundamental look at this market, and there is a role for ownership, yes”.

With many in the Labour Party calling for the nationalisation of the big six energy companies, Miliband’s choice of words appear to follow those of Sir Keir Starmer, who argued in an interview just prior to the Labour Party conference, that common ownership was not necessarily the same as nationalisation itself.

In light of the business department and the Treasury considering loan proposals to help energy-intensive industries deal with the sudden and dramatic rise in energy prices, Miliband also called on the government to provide finance to the affected industries.

“We cannot have a permanent loss of jobs on the basis of this temporary price increase, and so basically, whatever it takes, needs to be done, not just for Steel but also for some of the other energy-intensive users because this is a very serious situation”. Continuing he said, “There is a way out of this, which is there does need to be cash support to keep these industries going, we are clear about that”.