Former Labour MP Claims The Party’s Net Zero Plans Could Dash General Election Hopes

Former Labour Simon Danczuk MP in Rochdale, in April 2015. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

A former Labour MP has warned that Labour’s proposed plans for Net Zero, which include blocking all new oil and gas projects, could hit them in the next general election.

Simon Danczuk, who represented Labour at Rochdale between 2010 and 2015, told The Epoch Times that he believes Labour is making a big mistake with its Net Zero plans, which could dent its general election hopes.

“We’re beginning to look at what Labour is actually proposing for the country. We’ve just seen, in relation to this policy, something that I think is quite scary,” said Danczuk.

Labour will be going head-to-head with the Conservatives at the next general election in 2024 with Net Zero/decarbonisation plans, high on both party agendas.

Labour leader Kier Starmer recently said that his party is “going to throw everything” at Net Zero with his Green Prosperity Plan, which aims to deliver “clean, homegrown onshore, offshore, solar, tidal, nuclear, and hydrogen so that we can get to net zero quicker and end our reliance on fossil fuel dictators around the world.”

“A stronger, more secure Britain, once again at the service of working people, with cheaper bills and clean electricity by 2030,” said the Labour leader.

Starmer also said that he would block all new oil and gas projects if Labour came to power, alongside plans to boost investment in renewables.

Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero Ed Miliband, Westminster, London, on Oct. 13, 2021. (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Adversely Impact Election

Danczuk, who is now a businessman and author, echoed trade unions, local Labour councillors, and trade bodies concerns, saying that it makes the country more reliant on energy produced overseas.

“The idea of banning gas and gas and oil exploration in the North Sea, before we’ve got alternatives in place is just absolute madness,” he said.

On Wednesday, Danczuk wrote a piece in Spiked where he called Shadow Net Zero Minister Ed Miliband’s plans “eco-madness” and that the party’s “deranged energy policies would cause severe economic harm.”

Danczuk criticised some Labour MPs and its leadership for implementing a “green ideology” which they see as more important than jobs, security, and sustaining the economy.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer at the launch of the Labour party's mission on cheaper green power, setting out policies on clean energy, dated June 19, 2023. (Jane Barlow/PA Wire)

“If we think the economic situation is bad now in this country, then it will be doubly worse if Ed Miliband gets his way in terms of the proposals that he’s putting forward,” he said.

Miliband recently wrote on Twitter that Labour’s Green Prosperity Plan is “about lower bills, good jobs, energy security, and climate leadership.” He has also championed the party’s proposed GB Energy, a publicly-owned energy company, and the creation of a National Wealth Fund if they win the next general election.

Loss and Damage funds

Last November, Miliband told BBC One’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme that a Labour government would pay reparations to developing countries for climate change.

Loss and Damage funds, a plan to get rich nations that benefited from fossil fuels via the Industrial Revolution to pay compensation to developing states, were part of negotiations for the UN COP27 climate change summit in Egypt.

“This is about global solidarity, yes we have some historical responsibility, but this is about global solidarity and it’s absolutely part of our aid commitment,” said Miliband.

Danczuk said that the idea that we would use British taxpayer’s money to pay Pakistan and the Maldives for the harms of the Industrial Revolution is just “ludicrous.”

He said that could there be discomfort within the Labour Party about the Net Zero policy.

“The vast majority of Labour MPs politicians are being careful about what they say and when they say it because they don’t want to rock the boat in the run-up to the general election,” he said.

“But I am quite sure from informal conversations that I have had that there are people within the Labour Party who think along similar lines to what I do,” he added.

Net Zero and Politics

According to Electoral Calculus, Labour is still in the running to win a majority if a general election was called tomorrow.

In terms of Net Zero, polling expert Sir John Curtice told The Epoch Times Labour supporters “are more sympathetic.”

Curtice is well-known for his expert research and polling methods in electoral behaviour.

He said that when you get to the “more contentious areas” such as increasing taxes on airline tickets, changing boilers, etc., Labour support is somewhat less opposed than Conservative supporters.

“Conservative supporters are less likely to want the state to intervene, and they’re less likely to want the state to tax in order to achieve climate change, although if the government is going to pay them to get rid of that gas boilers, Conservative voters won’t necessarily object,” he said.

“But if on the other hand, the government is going to put up the price of petrol then Conservative voters are more likely to object,” he said.

Curtice said that there is “broad public concern” regarding climate change.  But he added that “basically what the public wants is between governments and industry, is they organise the economy in such a way that then we can be virtuous without having to sacrifice too much.”

The Epoch Times contacted Labour and Ed Miliband for comment.