Exclusive:Ed Miliband declares Yorkshire can be the 'powerhouse of Labour's clean energy revolution'

Ed Miliband, who is also the MP for Doncaster North, told the Yorkshire Post: “This clean energy mission, of course it is about the climate crisis, but it’s much more than that - it’s the best jobs opportunity that we’ve got.

“There are some fantastic opportunities, and I think Yorkshire can be the absolute powerhouse of this clean energy revolution that we’re trying to undertake.”

Mr Miliband cited the off-shore wind farm at Hornsea 2, and said he would like to see more solar farms like the one at Skeeby, near Richmond.

The Energy Secretary also confirmed that the government is committed to bringing carbon capture and storage to Humberside.

Ms Reeves said East Yorkshire would be getting a CCS project in her conference speech, but only announced funding for Teesside and Merseyside.

The Humber Energy Board recently warned that more than £15bn of private sector investment in interconnected net zero projects is at stake.

“We have to go through the proper due diligence and process,” Mr Miliband said.

“We were very keen to get the initial projects out the door and agreed because it’s been so long - 15 years - of people talking about CCS but not actually doing it.

“We’ll be absolutely returning to those Track Two projects [like Humberside] which are really, really important.”

Mr Miliband was speaking to the Yorkshire Post from Barnsley, where he was celebrating an agreement for former mineworkers to receive money taken from their pensions.

In 1994 the then-government struck a deal meaning it received a surplus of the pension scheme, with Parliament’s business select committee finding that the Government had received over £4 billion.

The fund, now worth £1.5 billion, will be handed back, giving former miners on average £29 a week.

The Energy Secretary added: “This is their right, this money. 

“It isn't the government giving them something, it’s ex-mineworkers getting what they’re entitled to.”