Report Demands Abolition of Ed Miliband’s Net Zero Ministry Over Soaring Bills

Summary: A new report from the Prosperity Institute has urged the next government to abolish Ed Miliband’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), arguing the current Whitehall set-up has pushed climate targets ahead of consumer bills and left Britain with an energy system that punishes households and weakens competitiveness.

Report urges next government to abolish Miliband’s net zero department

A new report has called for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) to be abolished, warning that combining energy policy and climate targets inside one ministry has delivered higher costs to consumers.

The report, published by the Prosperity Institute and titled It’s Broke, Fix It: Where British Energy Policy Went Wrong and How to Get it Right, argues that the public is getting a “raw deal” because the same department is tasked with both affordability and net zero delivery.

“Rather than attempt to reform the department… a new Government should create a new, small, high-quality, policy-only department.”

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Claim: DESNZ has been “captured” and energy policy needs a reset

The authors argue that DESNZ has allowed energy policy to be “totally captured by vested interests”, with consumers left carrying the cost while policymakers remain committed to a strategy critics say has failed.

The report describes what it calls a long-running policy error and urges “abolish and replace”, proposing a slimmed-down ministry focused primarily on cutting bills and restoring reliability.

“Far from the Whitehall myth of ‘speaking truth to power’, the department has overseen… the worst policy disaster since 1945,” the report claims.

Ofgem also targeted, with calls for leadership change

The report also attacks the UK’s energy regulator, Ofgem, calling for reforms and a change in leadership on the grounds that it has acted as an “enforcer” for DESNZ policy.

It alleges the regulator has been shaped by climate-policy priorities rather than consumer protection.

“Ofgem, too, has been completely captured by the climate lobby,” the report says.

Claire Coutinho backs the critique and questions net zero promises

The report has been endorsed by Claire Coutinho, the Shadow Energy Secretary, who describes herself as a “net zero sceptic” and argues the market has drifted away from consumer-first outcomes.

In a foreword, she said voters were sold a story that sounded perfect on paper: jobs, lower bills, and lower emissions all at once. She argues the results have not matched the pitch.

“A swiftly delivered green energy sector built on solar and wind power… that would create hundreds of thousands of jobs and reduce our carbon emissions and energy bills at the same time… The trouble is, it was too good to be true.”

“As we look to a future unburdened by net zero and the Climate Change Act… we can chart the journey back to an energy system that puts consumers at its core.”

Pressure rises as Miliband pushes 2030 power target and £15bn home upgrade plan

The report lands as Mr Miliband faces criticism for prioritising decarbonisation targets over cost and growth, including an ambition to decarbonise 95% of the electricity grid by 2030.

He has also launched a £15bn “Warm Homes” plan aimed at fitting measures such as insulation and low-carbon upgrades to millions of homes, with supporters arguing it will cut bills over time and critics warning it risks adding new costs and complexity.

Authors say cheap energy is the basis of prosperity

Report author Rupert Darwall said the next government will have limited room for error and argued that a decisive break with the last two decades of policy is required.

Fred de Fossard, the Prosperity Institute’s director of strategy, said the central test should be affordability and supply.

“Access to cheap and abundant energy is one of the fundamental pillars of national prosperity. Without it, sustained economic growth is not possible.”

“Britain’s bureaucracy is not fit for purpose… [not] without wholesale institutional change.”

The politics: bills first vs targets first

This report is a direct political challenge to Labour’s energy direction and a marker for the next election cycle: should Whitehall be built around climate targets, or rebuilt around the hard basics of price, reliability, and national resilience?

For Brexit-backed voters who were promised sovereignty and cheaper energy, the argument is simple: if the system is designed to chase targets while bills keep biting, the system will lose public consent. That is the warning behind the call to scrap DESNZ and start again.