Ed Miliband has gone rogue - he had ONE job, and wilfully sabotaged it

He must deliver a safe, secure supply of power to the nation - at the lowest possible cost. This should be beyond debate. Unless you're Ed Miliband.

As winter looms, millions of vulnerable Britons will be forced to choose between heating their homes or living in the cold. They'll think twice before turning on a light or nudging the thermostat. These are basic needs.

For industry, cheap energy can mean the difference between making a profit and going bust. It really is that simple. Unless, of course, you're Ed Miliband.

To meet his brief, any competent energy secretary must use every reliable power source available. Wind, solar, nuclear, oil and gas all have their place in the mix.

Home-grown energy matters most - the kind we don't have to import at eye-watering cost.

Unlike some of Miliband's critics, I believe climate change is a genuine threat. But chasing deluded, impossible net zero targets will do nothing except make Britain poorer and colder. Unfortunately, Ed Miliband sees it differently.

His priority isn't to keep the lights on and bills down, but to push an ideological net zero transition regardless of cost or consequence. He acts as if he's no longer accountable. He won't listen, except to those who already agree with him.

He certainly wasn't listening to Ineos boss Sir Jim Ratcliffe. The billionaire industrialist says he joined a video call with Miliband to ask why Labour was banning new North Sea drilling, only to be told flatly: "I'm sorry, but that's my policy. I'm not prepared to engage."

What possible reason could Miliband have for refusing discussion - unless he knows he's undermining the country's energy backbone and can't justify it?

No serious government would appoint a minister whose mission appears to be to cripple its own energy supplies in pursuit of some abstract goal. Yet that's exactly what Miliband is doing in the North Sea.

Oil and gas explorers companies are pulling out as UK windfall taxes leave no margin for profit. Production is falling, exploration licences are being blocked, jobs are being destroyed, the city of Aberdeen is seeing its economy ravaged. It's a scandalous state of affairs.

Yet Miliband no longer bothers to explain himself. In his wild-eyed, arm-waving Labour conference speech, he preferred to rant about Elon Musk, of all people. Who cares about Elon Musk when you're shivering in your sitting room?

Miliband once promised Labour would cut household energy bills by £300. Instead, they've jumped by £200 - with more to come. The total increase could hit £900.

Tory critics say Miliband's green levies alone add £165 to energy bills.

He's also paying wind farms £1billion a year not to produce electricity, blowing £8billion on useless quango Great British Energy and committing £22billion to carbon capture and storage, a technology that has never worked anywhere and maybe never will. Who gave him that kind of money anyway?

Meanwhile, Britain is importing ever more fossil fuel energy at premium prices just to keep the lights on.

Sir Keir Starmer was desperate to move Miliband in the recent cabinet reshuffle - but lacked the nerve. Miliband has gone rogue. He can't be reined in.

So now we have an energy secretary who's actively sabotaging the very job he's paid to do, and undermining the nation he's supposed to serve.

As long as he remains in post, Britain will grow colder and poorer, and nobody can possibly think that's a good idea. Except for one man. The fanatical Mr Miliband.