Ed Miliband has been slapped down over his latest “absurd net zero vanity project” — the cost of which will burden hard-working Britons.

The Energy Secretary has given the go-ahead to a major funding programme to boost green projects, allowing offshore wind developers to access annual subsidies of up to £1.8billion.

The taxpayer will be hit with the staggering cost of Mr Miliband’s net zero decision, as the levies will be added to household energy bills over the next two decades.

But on GB News, Shadow Secretary for Energy and Net Zero Clare Coutinho shredded the plans, vowing they will “only make things worse”.

Previously blasting the “clean power vanity project”, the Tory MP fumed: “What he is paying is the highest prices that we’ve seen for offshore wind in a decade, far higher prices than the current cost of electricity.

“What he’s trying to promise people is that he’s going to use this to somehow lower bills. But I’m afraid it simply makes no sense.

“He’s said to people that he was going to cut their bills by £300, and people’s bills have actually gone up by £200 thanks to his policies since the election.

“This is only going to make things worse because these contracts, not only are they extremely expensive, now they’re inflation linked, which means they’re going to keep going up and up.”

But the costs do not stop at the £95 per megawatt-hour which has been locked in for Britons until 2045, Ms Coutinho warned.

The East Surrey MP told GB News: “What’s not included in that £95 which, as I said, is already extremely expensive, is all the extra costs that come with wind power,” she pointed out.

“You’ve got to pay for all of the connections to the grid. You’ve got to pay wind farms to turn off when it’s too windy, and you’ve got to pay for all of those other costs that come with them, like having something that sits in the background as a backup.

“So this is actually going to be incredibly expensive power for the country.

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“And that’s a massive problem because when it comes to our energy system, we actually have some of the cleanest energy anywhere in the world.

“But it is the most expensive electricity. And that’s why our priority is that we’ve got to lower the prices, we’ve got to lower for people who are sat at home wondering if they can pay their bills.

“We’ve got to lower it for industry because, at the moment, what Ed Miliband is doing is locking us into these incredibly uncompetitive prices for decades.”

She added we “have to get real”, adding: “These are not these are not cheap wind farms that are coming online. It’s not going to lower bills.

“And that has to be our biggest priority.”

Reform UK has also hit out at Mr Miliband’s pledge, vowing to cancel future green energy projects if the party storms to victory at the next General Election.

Deputy leader Richard Tice said the expansion of renewable generation over the past twenty years had coincided with rising electricity prices, describing the latest offshore wind contracts as “highly reckless”.

“It would be disastrous for the UK economy,” the Boston & Skegness MP blasted.

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