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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Miliband 'not leadership runner' | Miliband 'not leadership runner' |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| Environment Secretary David Miliband says he is not planning to be a contender for the Labour leadership or deputy leadership. | Environment Secretary David Miliband says he is not planning to be a contender for the Labour leadership or deputy leadership. |
| Mr Miliband told BBC News: "I am not a runner nor a rider for any of the jobs that are being speculated about." | Mr Miliband told BBC News: "I am not a runner nor a rider for any of the jobs that are being speculated about." |
| The former Downing Street policy chief is the first environment secretary to address the annual TUC conference. | The former Downing Street policy chief is the first environment secretary to address the annual TUC conference. |
| He will tell delegates in Brighton that trade unions have a key role to play in tackling climate change. | He will tell delegates in Brighton that trade unions have a key role to play in tackling climate change. |
| Mr Miliband's announcement came as Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain prepared to use a TUC fringe meeting to announce he would stand to be Labour's deputy leader next year. | Mr Miliband's announcement came as Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain prepared to use a TUC fringe meeting to announce he would stand to be Labour's deputy leader next year. |
| 21st Century role | 21st Century role |
| Mr Miliband said: "The trade unions were absolutely central to economic and social improvement in the 20th Century. | |
| "My message to them today is they can be at the heart of environmental improvement in the 21st." | "My message to them today is they can be at the heart of environmental improvement in the 21st." |
| Mr Miliband likened the fight against climate change to the struggle to halt child labour 100 years ago, except this time it was natural resources which were being exploited. | |
| He said union members were between them responsible for 30m tonnes of carbon emissions a year. | |
| "I want to plead with you that climate change is not an add on to your agenda, it is central to it," Mr Miliband told delegates. | |
| "You are concerned with the lives and quality of life of ordinary working people and they will be the first and are being the first to be hit by climate change." | |
| Price fears | |
| The environment secretary faced questions about the effect of rising fuel prices for those living in poverty. | |
| One delegate blamed the privatisation of UK energy companies, asking whether markets were really the right way to ensure energy stability. | |
| Mr Miliband countered that oil prices were not set in the UK but were a global issue. | |
| The high prices made renewable sources of energy more competitive, he said, but the obvious down side was that they made life more expensive, especially for those in fuel poverty. | |
| He said the answer was to increase energy efficiency programmes. And the winter fuel allowance for pensioners, introduced in 1998, was now coming into its own. | |
| Turbine complaints | |
| Mr Miliband also underlined the need for new planning rules to overcome objections to wind power turbines - as promised in the government's recent energy review. | |
| He said turbines which could produce 20% of the UK's energy supply were "stuck in the planning system". | |
| "You cannot be for renewable energy and against wind power," he said. | |
| "It just doesn't make sense. We have got to make sure we have a planning system that serves the majority interest, not the minority interest." |