Ed Miliband today insisted communities must accept onshore wind farms under Labour‘s energy overhaul.

The Net Zero Secretary said he will have the ‘ultimate decision’ on whether the projects will go ahead – in the same way he can force through electricity pylons.

But Mr Miliband also squirmed on his claim that the drive to make Britain’s energy system ‘clean’ by 2030 will cut bills by £300.

Instead he suggested in a round of interviews that the transition ‘can’ reduce bills, without specifically repeating the commitment. 

The government is launching what is calls an ‘ambitious’ action plan to achieve the goal of 95 per cent clean energy in the UK by 2030.

Among the measures, the energy regulator could for the first time be able to prioritise projects that are waiting to be linked to the National Grid.

However, the Tories have warned the proposals will just push bills for Brits ‘even higher’.

Mr Miliband said: ‘At the moment we have nationally significant infrastructure projects, which are decided by me as the Secretary of State. 

‘We don’t have that for onshore wind because it was banned from 2015 to 2024 – until this Government came to office – by the last government, leaving us vulnerable.

‘We are saying that for onshore wind above 100 megawatts, as with other nationally significant infrastructure, that will be a decision made by the Secretary of State and local people will have a say, but these are nationally significant decisions.’

Asked if he would have the ultimate say as Energy Secretary if there is a big pushback from locals for wind turbines, he said: ‘Yes, that’s correct.’

‘My message to local people is, people should have a say. That’s really important. People should see a direct benefit if they host clean energy infrastructure, but we do need to build.

‘And by the way, the British people are on our side on this. When you look at all of the polling on this, people support onshore wind.’

Grilled on the £300 bill cut promise, Mr Miliband said: ‘This was based on independent modelling, which is what we used in the election that said that bills will be up to £300 lower in a clean power system.’

Pressed on whether bills could rise en route to the 2030 target, he said: ‘The result of our plans will not be about raising bills. I can’t guarantee what’s going to happen to bills next month, because we’re in the grip of the international fossil fuel markets.

‘It’s precisely to get away from that and having homegrown clean energy we control – that is the way to lower bills. And every solar panel we put up, every wind turbine we build, every piece of infrastructure we build gives us more security and gets us on that path to lower bills.’

Mr Miliband said: ‘There are difficult trade offs and unless we change the way we do things we are going to be left exposed as a country.’