Wait a minute… has Ed Miliband done something right?

Whisper it, but has hopeless Ed Miliband actually got something right?

According to a new report, the green economy is not only booming on his watch as energy secretary, it is growing at three times the rate of Britain’s economy at large.

In its “The Future is Green” report, the CBI says the “net zero” sector grew by 10 per cent last year, contributing an impressive £83.1bn in gross value added (GVA).

It’s a serious piece of good news for the beleaguered Labour government – and it’s almost single-handedly down to the stewardship of former party leader Miliband, who last year came in for heavy criticism for announcing that £22bn was to be spent on carbon capture and storage, a new and, as yet, unproven green technology.

It was only last month that chancellor Rachel Reeves, staring down the barrel at a flatlining economy, downgraded forecasts and the highest inflation level in 10 months, vowed to "go further and faster" to kickstart economic growth, this administration's do-or-die buzzword.

How lucky, then, that Super Ed is on hand to help.

The good news comes at a time when UK plc as a whole is mired in a slough of despond, coughing and spluttering its way to growth of 0.8 per cent in 2024; file under “dismal”. The Bank of England is meanwhile forecasting an even more disappointing 0.75 per cent in 2025. Dismal x2, then.

When you look at GDP per person, the figures are even worse. What growth there was last year was down to the population increasing. GDP per person – the contribution of each one of us to the good ship Britain – fell.

However, the net zero economy has been quietly developing in a way that will actually help lift all boats. The report finds that the West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber, and South West England regions contain “the largest contributing hotspots of net zero activity, collectively accounting for 16.3 per cent of the net zero economy”. Boom!

There’s more: “Job productivity in these areas also significantly outperforms regional averages.” Needless to say, productivity has been a longstanding problem for UK plc as a whole. All this, and higher than average wages.

CBI chair Rupert Soames is no fanboy for the Labour government, having levelled some piquant criticisms in the past. He told the group’s annual conference: “In the Budget, business has been the cash cow and it’s been milked. Don’t go and whack it.”

It makes the fact Britain’s green economy is charging ahead all the more remarkable. Sure, it’s had some help with tax breaks and incentives – but, in this, it is hardly alone.

So why have right-wing commentators and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage been on the attack? Partly, this is down to presentation. Even when he’s in the right, Miliband has the unfortunate habit of sounding insufferably self-righteous.

The other problem is that some “green” policies have been foisted on the public. For example, a friend recently told me about the impact that creating low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) – which deter cars, vans and other vehicles from using residential streets as shortcuts – had on his area. Picking his daughter up from swimming has gone from a 10-minute hop to an hour-long slog, which results in carbon monoxide and other exhaust gases pouring into already poor-quality air.

It is but one example of how a poorly presented “green” policy can negatively impact people and make them angry. And LTNs aren’t even very green.

However, it is now indisputable that the economy can benefit from the drive toward net zero. Ditto energy security and the UK’s problematic over-reliance on imported gas, often produced by often unfriendly regimes. Developing alternative, renewable sources of power is an excellent idea.

But those advocating for net zero badly need to raise their game. They are putting at risk the case that this report and others make for the green economy at a time when other sectors are stuck in quicksand they can’t seem to escape, thanks in no small part to poor government economic policymaking.

They urgently need to improve their communication skills while focusing on what works and junking the pointless and often silly stuff that doesn’t help anyone, least of all the environment.