Ed Miliband branded eco 'hypocrite' as net zero team take over 1,600 flights a year

Ed Miliband and his net zero team have been slammed as eco "hypocrites" for taking over 1,500 flights in one year.

TheEnergy Secretary, other ministers and civil servants from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) have taken 1,665 flights between July 2024 and June this year.

Records show that Mr Miliband has personally undertaken a series of long-haul trips at the taxpayers' expense.

In less than a year, he has flown to Brazil for climate talks worth £25,000.

Nearly £20,000 of taxpayer cash was used jetting to New York for the UN General Assembly and Climate Week.

A further £7,200 went towards a G20 meeting in Washington and £11,000 was spent on flying to Baku, in Azerbaijan for COP29 last year.

The four trips totalled more than £62,000 on air travel alone.

Mr Miliband this week also went to Brazil with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to attend the COP30 summit.

A flight between London and Belém, Brazil, is about 4,600 miles - meaning his round trip will be the equivalent of about 9,200 miles.

Reform deputy leader Richard Tice said: "For someone so outspoken about saving the climate, Ed Miliband has done his fair share to harm it.

"The hypocrisy is off the charts, forcing ordinary Britons to follow rules that never seem to apply to themselves, all while making life more expensive and complicated for everyone else."

It is understood Mr Miliband is using planes more frequently than his Conservative predecessor Claire Coutinho who spent £6,155 in her first six months in the role.

Andrew Montford, the director of Net Zero Watch, said: "Hypocrisy has almost been the defining feature of the drive for Net Zero, so it's no surprise to see Ed Miliband clocking up air miles like they were going out of fashion.

"Like all green activists, he thinks you should be making sacrifices, not him."

Flight logs obtained by another paper have shown that the Energy Secretary's ministers boarded 24 domestic flights in under a year, including journeys such as Bristol to Glasgow which can be made for £40 by train.

Speaking to the BBC in 2021, Mr Miliband said: "Fairness and giving people alternatives is an absolutely key part of making this [green] transition happen."

When in government, the Tories came under fire from Labour for using government jets to fly around the country.

It comes as Chancellor Rachel Reeves faces calls to reverse an increase in Air Passenger Duty, a tax paid by passengers flying from UK airports.

The hike could be introduced in the Autumn Statement on November 26 and will see Britons paying £2 more for short-haul economy flights from April next year. This will result in a family of four flying to Europe from a UK airport charged up to £60 in duties.

A DESNZ spokesman said: "We make no apologies for ministers and civil servants travelling around the country and abroad, fighting for investment, jobs, energy security and action on the climate crisis for Britain.

"All government ministerial travel is undertaken using the most efficient and cost-effective travel arrangements, and the emissions we can save by becoming a clean energy superpower will dwarf air miles accumulated from flights".