Ed Miliband has claimed a Labour government would "not have got to the point" of keeping two coal-fired power stations in Nottinghamshire on standby this winter. Agreements were struck last year with the operators of power stations in West Burton and Ratcliffe-on-Soar in what the Government said was a move to provide "additional back-up electricity" if it was needed.
There are three coal-fired power stations that are still active in the UK, with the Ratcliffe site due to close at the end of September 2024. As part of its decommissioning plans, one of its units was due to close last September but it will now stay operational until at least the end of March.
Two of the units at the West Burton A Power Station near Retford also remained available after they were originally set to close last year. On a visit to Mansfield, Ed Miliband suggested a Labour government would not have got to the stage of needing to strike such agreements with the power station operators.
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Mr Miliband was in Mansfield on Thursday (February 2) to speak to college students about the Labour Party's energy policy. The visit started at the Mansfield and Ashfield Sixth Form College, where students spoke to both Ed Miliband and Andy Abrahams, the elected Labour Mayor of Mansfield.
When asked later about the situation with the Nottinghamshire power stations, Mr Miliband said: "We wouldn't have got to this point. The truth is that we are very badly exposed as a country by this crisis because we haven't taken the steps on renewables, on nuclear and on energy efficiency.
"Energy efficiency is good for the climate and it's also good crucially because it stops us using so much gas, because it cuts the need and it cuts imports. The Government has left us badly exposed, but the long-term answer is not more coal-fired power stations or more coal mines frankly. The long-term answer is to actually have a proper plan for renewables and nuclear, which is what a Labour government would have."
Kwasi Kwarteng, then the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, first asked the National Grid's electricity system operator to explore the idea of keeping Britain's three coal power stations open last May. At the time of the announcement, Mr Kwarteng said: "If we have available back-up power, let's keep it online just in case.
"I'm not taking chances. For our long-term energy security, we're accelerating renewables and nuclear - while maximising North Sea oil and gas production." The Government is planning to end the use of coal power in Britain by October 2024.
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