Ed Miliband as chancellor would benefit every part of the UK – and the bond markets | Josh Ryan-Collins

I t should have been a great week for Ed Miliband and his mission to decarbonise the UK economy. Western Europe has experienced one of its worst ever heatwaves , providing powerful evidence of the need to transition away from fossil-fuel-driven energy production to reduce the carbon emissions that are contributing to global warming. Instead, however, he has been attacked by an unholy alliance of trade unions and leading City figures , apparently determined to prevent him becoming chancellor in the cabinet of the presumptive new prime minister, Andy Burnham. The Unite and GMB trade unions have argued that Miliband’s net zero transition agenda will result in major job losses for the workers they represent in the oil, gas and utilities sectors. Miliband has held firm on not granting any new licences for North Sea oil extraction. Meanwhile, investors fear Miliband’s record of pushing for expansive public investment to support the green transition will result in higher borrowing, which will worsen the UK’s public finances. Neither argument stacks up. The trade union criticism seems to ignore the fact that, as chancellor, Miliband would control the very levers – public investment, regional development funding, industrial strategy, tax incentives, retraining programmes and social protection – that are necessary to ensure workers and communities are not left behind in the transition. …