Ed Miliband has been accused of sabotaging Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s bid to boost AI investment by highlighting the huge power demands of the data centres required to drive the technology.
In a letter to MPs who asked why the centres were not mentioned in his controversial plans to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, Mr Miliband said that ‘future demand from data centres, and interaction with wider energy system demands, remains inherently uncertain.’
The remarks are understood to have frustrated Ms Reeves and Liz Kendall, the science and technology secretary, as ministers try to catch up with America and China in the battle for AI supremacy.
AI firms have committed themselves to spending more than £3trillion globally on data centres, with commitments to the UK exceed £45billion – despite the UK charging some of the highest electricity prices in the world.
A Whitehall source said: ‘Ed’s comments appeared deliberately phrased to plant doubt about whether these centres would be allowed, which is not helpful to investment. They were ambivalent and best. He certainly wasn’t positive about them.’
But a source close to Mr Miliband said: ‘It is not ambivalent to state a scientific fact. Is it ambivalent about the shape of the earth to say that it is round?’
Mr Miliband’s stance has emerged at a time when he has a particular eye on the Green lobby as the party prepares for an expected leadership contest after the May local elections.
Although Mr Miliband’s supporters say that he has lost his appetite for the top job himself after his failed attempt to win the 2015 election, he is being courted by all of Sir Keir Starmer’s main leadership rivals ahead of an expected contest after May’s local elections: former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper are all tipped to offer Mr Miliband promotion if they become Prime Minister because of his popularity among Labour members.
Ed Miliband has been accused of sabotaging Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ bid to boost AI investment by highlighting the huge power demands of the data centres required to drive the technology
Miliband’s remarks are understood to have frustrated Ms Reeves (pictured left) and Liz Kendall, the science and technology secretary, as ministers try to catch up with America and China in the battle for AI supremacy
Mr Miliband’s remarks came in response to a letter from the chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, Toby Perkins, who asked Miliband whether data centres had been factored into net-zero plans.
The centres are giant facilities full of powerful computers used to run digital services, but they place intense demands on local supplies of water and electricity. Their demand for electricity is predicted to quadruple by 2030.
In his letter, Miliband said the government’s modelling ‘accounts for potential emissions from data centres through our projection of overall electricity demand growth, which reflects broader economic trends’, but he added: ‘Future demand from data centres, and interaction with wider energy system demands, remains inherently uncertain.’
A Treasury source denied that Ms Reeves felt that Mr Miliband was an impediment to AI investment.
