Miliband: I'm glad Just Stop Oil has closed down. They turned people off

Ed Miliband has called for an end to "hair shirt" environmentalism, urging instead a focus on the economic benefits of a "green industrial revolution" that, he said, could create almost 400,000 jobs.

- Rachel Sylvester, Political Editor

In an interview with The Observer, the energy secretary said the government's commitment to tackling the climate crisis would drive growth and create employment in the former mining communities and industrial heartlands that have turned to Reform UK. "This is the economic opportunity of the 21st century and we intend to seize that," he said. "This is how we're going to win the argument for net zero."

Miliband said he was pleased to see the back of Just Stop Oil, the environmental pressure group whose members glued themselves to trains, blocked motorways and threw paint at works of art. "It just alienated people. Peaceful protest has got an important role. I think the young people a few years ago did prick people's consciences, but I'm glad [Just Stop Oil] closed down. I think they turned people off."

He believes that campaigners who want to reduce the UK's reliance on fossil fuels need to promote a more positive message if they want to retain public support. "I've always believed it doesn't succeed as a hair shirt agenda. This is about good jobs for you, your kids, your grandkids. It is about lower energy bills. It's about cleaner air. Some people in the [green] movement think the test is: how much can we get people to make sacrifices? That's not my test. My test is: how can we create better lives for people today and in the future?"

Miliband, who was Labour leader in opposition between 2010 and 2015, said the climate crisis was "the biggest long-term threat" to humanity. "There are lots of people who feel really idealistic about it, and I'm one of them, but if it's only an agenda about disaster avoidance, it's not going to succeed. Martin Luther King didn't say: 'I have a nightmare. He said: 'I have a dream."