MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UK ‘Zero Net’ Miliband’s policy questioned as a threat to British security, ‘China dominates all the green technology’

Ed Miliband has been accused of handing Beijing a “kill switch” over the UK economy after claiming that green energy will end reliance on Vladimir Putin’s Russia 

The UK Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Ed Miliband has been accused of handing Beijing a “kill switch” over the British economy, after claiming that green energy will end the UK's reliance on Vladimir Putin’s Russia for its fuel needs.

London media, The Express more precisely, reports that in the King’s speech on Wednesday, King Charles, speaking on behalf of Keir Starmer’s government, said: “Energy independence must be a long-term goal of national security. Increased production of clean ‘British’ energy will help to ensure that enemies of the United Kingdom cannot attack the energy security of the British people.”

But critics say Net Zero and ‘clean British energy’ simply transfers reliance, and potential economic sabotage, to an even more dangerous state: China, which controls almost the entire planet’s supply chains for green technology.

The vast majority of Britain’s solar panels and almost all the rare earths used in the generators of UK wind turbines come from China, giving Beijing a stranglehold on global markets.

Tory MP Alicia Kearns, who was the youngest ever chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said: “We’ve spent three decades asleep at the wheel on critical minerals, and now we’re building a green energy system that hands Beijing a kill switch over our economy.”

Since 2024, Miliband has been pushing, sometimes without full disclosure say opponents, to make Britain 100 per cent green by 2030. After Russia weaponized oil and gas prices in the wake of the Ukraine war, he said: “The experience of the last two and a half years has shown us that fossil fuels simply cannot provide us with the security… we need, quite the opposite.”

But Ms Kearns said: “Ed Miliband wants us to believe his net zero agenda is about energy independence. But he’s swapping dependency on one autocratic master for another yet more dangerous one.

“Worse, he’s trying to do it in secret, refusing for months at a time to tell parliament, let alone the public, what deals he’s doing with Beijing.

“The Communist Party of China controls the supply chains for solar panels, rare earths, and the minerals that power the green transition. If China pulls the plug, to punish the UK demonstrating a backbone, should Labour ever find one, over Taiwan, trade, or any other flashpoint, we will all pay the price.

“That is not energy security. That is energy dependency and vulnerability.
“I have been raising the alarm on this for years. The Government must urgently diversify our supply chains, move to wind, ban solar panels linked to Uyghur forced Labour, and treat critical minerals as the national security issue they plainly are.”

The technologies that power the green transition relies overwhelmingly on Chinese supply chains. Around 80 to 90 per cent of the world’s solar panels are made in China or depend on Chinese processed materials. Offshore wind turbines, the backbone of Britain’s clean energy system, rely on permanent magnets made from rare earth elements such as neodymium and dysprosium.

China controls almost all global processing of these minerals. Even turbines built by European manufacturers can contain Chinese magnets, Chinese steel or Chinese electronics.

The private sector has recognized this for some time and put contingency plans in place. These contingencies now appear to be extremely valuable for governments looking to secure energy and mineral resources.