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Ed Miliband admits fuel bills promise won't happen until 2030

ED MILIBAND said Labour’s pledge to cut average energy bills by £300 will not happen until 2030 — after being shown a video of a woman dying of cancer whose winter fuel payments were cut.

The Energy Secretary was grilled over the promise made during Labour’s general election campaign on ITV’s Good Morning Britain today.

He said: “We set that out for 2030. It was an independent set of modelling that said that bills could go down by about £300.”

Mr Miliband added that renewables would be the “absolute backbone” of the new green energy system, but it would also involve nuclear power and carbon capture technology.

The admission came after he was asked if he regrets cutting the £300 benefit for pensioners during winter after being shown a clip of terminally ill Helen Van Bueren’s message to him as he attends the Cop29 summit in Azerbaijan.

She told him: “Because I have such a small income that to keep myself warm, I would need to spend an awful lot.

“I can’t live a normal life anymore. I’m trapped. Come and spend a day with me in the middle of winter with no heat and see how you feel.”

Mr Miliband said he is “incredibly sympathetic” to her and that the government is taking action to increase the basic state pension, which he described as the “foundation of dignity” in retirement.

Labour announced it was cutting the £300 winter fuel allowance for 10 million pensioners in the summer.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said only those on pension credit or other means-tested benefits would be eligible due to the £22 billion public finances “black hole” left by the Tories.

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