Many were the voices arguing that Ed Miliband would be a disaster if appointed Chancellor, frightening markets and sending Britain even further down the dark alleyway of net zero. Few, though, stopped to wonder who would replace Miliband at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). The answer, we discovered very late on Monday evening, was Miatta Fahnbulleh; not a household name but a prominent Burnham adviser who, prior to becoming an MP in 2024, ran the think tank the New Economics Foundation (NEF). She was also, between July 2024 and September last year, a junior minister in the DESNZ, where she was charged with improving the lot of energy consumers, as well as trying to retrofit existing homes with insulation and heat pumps.
Much has been made in recent days of Andy Burnham’s reported open-mindedness on the issue of new North Sea drilling, but the appointment of Fahnbulleh does not suggest that he intends to water down the government’s net zero commitments. On the contrary, Fahnbulleh in the past has entertained even more unrealistic ambitions in this field. In 2019, while still working for the NEF, she penned an article calling for Britain to achieve net zero ‘within 10 to 15 years’ – i.e., some time between 2029 and 2034. She suggested it could be funded with wealth taxes and extra borrowing.
