Who is Miatta Fahnbulleh, our new energy minister?

Andy Burnham has just appointed Miatta Fahnbulleh as the secretary of state for Energy Security and Net Zero. What do we know about the MP for Peckham?

She’s a fairly new MP

Miatta Fahnbulleh came into Parliament after Keir Starmer’s election victory in 2024, so she has only been an MP for two years. Her first role was as a parliamentary under-secretary in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) – the department she now heads. She later served in the department of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Economics is her thing

She has a PhD in economic development from the London School of Economics and was previously head of the New Economics Foundation. That role made her the first black person to lead a major British think-tank.

In the run-up to the 2024 election, she was economic advisor for both Angela Rayner and Ed Miliband. Parliamentary magazine The House suggested she could be headed for a Treasury job. She has spoken of “blowing up economics and opening it up and making it feel less opaque so that you can attract more people with diverse backgrounds into it.”

How has Miatta Fahnbulleh voted on energy issues?

Here is how Miatta Fahnbulleh has voted on energy-related issues, according to TheyWorkForYou.

• Consistently voted for speeding up the planning/consent process for large energy schemes
• Voted for creating Great British Energy
• Generally voted for measures to prevent climate change
• Generally voted for increasing a windfall tax on oil and gas companies
• Consistently voted for measures to increase the uptake of EVs
• Generally voted for financial incentives for low carbon electricity generation.

But we shouldn’t draw firm conclusions from her voting record so far. She has only been an MP for two years and hasn’t been present for all votes relating to energy and the environment.

For example, TheyWorkForYou lists four votes relating to windfall taxes on fossil fuel companies that Miatta Fahnbulleh could have participated in. She voted in one and was absent for the other three. That’s enough for the site algorithm to list her as “generally voting for” windfall taxes, but it’s not enough information to predict what her stance on this will be as energy minister.

Housing is a key issue

As MP for Peckham, much of Miatta Fahnbulleh’s constituency work has focused on improving housing and access to housing for residents. This goes hand in hand with her previous parliamentary role in the Housing, Communities and Local Government department. We can confidently expect her to use her role as energy secretary to improve the energy efficiency of the UK’s housing stock (still the oldest and leakiest in Europe).

The government is already planning £15 billion of investment in upgrading houses in the form of the Warm Homes Plan. This starts in January 2027 and we can expect Miatta Fahnbulleh to take full advantage of the scheme’s potential to improve people’s homes and bring down bills.

What will Miatta Fahnbulleh do for business energy bills?

Andy Burnham has described his team as a “cost of living Cabinet” and Miatta Fahnbulleh is clearly committed to making things more affordable. But we’ll have to wait and see exactly what she will do for UK businesses as energy secretary. Scrapping VAT on electricity bills will bring down bills somewhat, but a lot more is needed. Ultimately the only way to reduce energy prices across the board is to continue with the transition to renewables and electrify where possible.

As the 2026 Climate Change Committee report says, to wean ourselves off fossil fuels we need electricity to be a lot cheaper in comparison to gas. Otherwise it doesn’t make economic sense for businesses to invest in electrifying their processes. The government has already taken steps towards loosening the link between gas and electricity prices and this would be an area where the new energy minister could make a big impact.

We don’t yet know how Miatta Fahnbulleh will make the job her own, but the Energy Advice Hub will bring you the latest news and policy announcements.

Image: Miatta Fahnbulleh. UK Government (2024), available via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.