Ed Miliband set to do something truly insane – only Andy Burnham can stop him now

Miliband wants to be made chancellor, and it seems likely that Andy Burnham will be pressured into accepting his demands. He owes Red Ed for helping to ease Sir Keir Starmer out of the way. That’s good news for Miliband, if true, but a disaster for the country as a whole. You only have to see what Britain’s own energy secretary has done to the oil city of Aberdeen to be terrified by what the future holds. Miliband’s net zero charge has taken a wrecking ball to the once prosperous city. It’s sheer economic insanity and a terrifying blueprint for what may happen if he does make it into Number 11.

But this could also spell disaster for Burnham himself. While the UK fixated on Burnham’s win in Makerfield, the Conservative Party did the previously unthinkable and won the Aberdeen South constituency by more than 6,000 votes. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch called the election a “referendum” on North Sea oil and gas, and the verdict was clear. It was the first Tory by-election win in Scotland in 50 years. Nicely teed up by Ed Miliband.

Miliband has long coveted the position of Chancellor, and if made PM Andy Burnham may find he has little choice. But it risks being the first and biggest mistake Burnham makes. It could sink his hopes of winning the country over.

During the 2024 General Election campaign, Miliband promised that his “clean energy superpower mission” would cut £300 off the average household gas and electricity bill, and create 600,000 new jobs. Instead, energy bills are rising. And those green jobs? They’re just not showing up.

The Institute of Economic Affairs calculates that his net zero madness could top a staggering £9 trillion. British companies are buckling under the weight of some of the world’s most expensive energy costs. They’re either shifting operations overseas or shutting down.

Miliband has triggered an even greater controversy by deciding to block all new North Sea oil and gas drilling. This is costing the country billions in lost jobs, investment, exports and tax revenues, and has smashed Aberdeen. Miliband is now a swear word up there.

Trade association Offshore Energies UK has warned that north-east of Scotland could lose the equivalent of around 1,000 workers a month between now and 2030. While UK house prices have risen strongly over the past decade, Aberdeen has gone into reverse, with values falling. This is terrible news for Labour’s electoral prospects north of the border. Miliband could repeat his disastrous strategy in the rest of the UK.

Union GMB Scotland, which has members across oil, gas, nuclear and renewables, has warned that Miliband’s rushed rundown of oil and gas production risks a jobs calamity and should be paused. It isn’t the only union calling out his folly. Sharon Graham, general secretary of the UK’s biggest union Unite, has blasted net zero as an “absolute disaster zone” and wants Miliband out.

Ed won’t listen to the party’s union paymasters, and certainly won’t listen to business. This is a man who thinks profit is a dirty word, as he made clear recently. In April, Miliband posted a social media message calling oil giant BP’s profits “morally and economically wrong”, as they were lifted by a surge in energy prices caused by the Iran conflict. Yet Miliband is willing to buy jet fuel and diesel from Vladimir Putin. More madness.

Miliband deleted the original post, but his softened version still complained about companies making “excess profits from a war”. There was no apology. Miliband never says sorry, and never stops.

For decades, BP has been the jewel in the FTSE 100 crown. But now it’s looking to wind down its North Sea operations, and could quit the UK altogether and shift its stock market listing to New York. That would be a disaster for our already-shrinking stock market. Especially if sector rival Shell follows. It’s the UK’s third-largest company.

The idea of this unrepentant ideologue being appointed Chancellor is terrifying. That would give him control of UK economic policy. Andy Burnham will discover there’s a high price to pay for Miliband’s support. So will the rest of the country. So please, Andy. Think again