Labour will revive ‘boiler tax’, pledges Ed Miliband

The “boiler tax” will be revived if Labour wins the general election, Ed Miliband has said.

The Government has shelved the plans, which will fine boiler makers if they do not meet binding targets for heat pump installations, until the next parliament.

On Tuesday, the shadow energy secretary said he was supportive of the controversial policy, known as the Clean Heat Market Mechanism, and pledged to see it through next year if Sir Keir Starmer is made prime minister.

Taking questions at an event hosted by the Green Alliance think tank, Mr Miliband said Labour would go ahead with the proposals – which have been postponed by a year, until April 2025 – if it won the general election.

Asked whether he would reinstate the first year of the policy, he said: “On the Clean Heat Market Mechanism, we’re going to have to deal with what we inherit from the Government, which is obviously starting in 2025 because certainly the election will be after April.

“So we will implement that policy. We support the Clean Heat Market Mechanism.”

Scheme meant manufacturers raised prices

Under the measures, boiler makers are set to be fined if they fail to meet certain targets for heat pump installations.

Manufacturers had raised their prices by as much as £120 in anticipation of having to pay millions in fines under the new regime.

Dozens of Conservative MPs had threatened to rebel against the legislation. Downing Street is now coming under pressure to “do the right thing” and scrap the proposals altogether.

Greg Smith, a member of the net zero scrutiny group of Tory MPs, said Mr Miliband’s comments were “clear evidence” that a Labour government “would take away choice and cost you more”.

Ministers would have had to table a law in Parliament by the start of next month to give them the power to levy the penalties this year.

The change will now apply from April next year, when firms will have to match or substitute 6 per cent of their boiler sales with heat pumps or face a £3,000 fine for each missed installation.

It is part of a target to help phase out gas boilers and deliver 600,000 clean electric heat pump installations a year by 2028.

‘We’re sticking to our plans’

Mr Miliband also appeared to rule out any further move to water down Labour’s climate commitments before the next election, following the party’s about-turn on its £28 billion green spending pledge.

Pressed on whether he could make such a promise, he said: “We’ve set out our plans and we’re sticking to them.

“We’ve said very publicly and very clearly what the investment is going to be in each of the areas and that will be the position going into the manifesto, as Keir [Starmer] and Rachel [Reeves] have both made clear.”

Meanwhile, he accused the Tories of slipping from “climate delay to denial”.

The Conservatives claimed Labour’s plans to decarbonise the grid by 2030 – rather than 2035 as they have pledged – would raise taxes, while they had a plan to cut emissions in a “pragmatic way”.