Screenshot of supposed Guardian article about GB Energy by Ed Miliband is fake

What is the claim?

Multiple social media users have uploaded a screenshot of an opinion piece supposedly written by Ed Miliband, the U.K. Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. 

The screenshot appears to show Miliband declaring that GB Energy, a newly announced state-owned, clean energy company in the United Kingdom, would be the envy of the world and comparable to the UK’s National Health Service. 

The viral screenshot featured the headline of the article, supposedly published on September 6, 2024, stating, "Our GB Energy will become the envy of the world just like our NHS." 

A user shared the image and wrote, "The NHS is bloated, inefficient, unfit for purpose and corrupt; so he's already planned GB Energy's demise." Another said, "The delusion is really quite frightening." Archived versions of the posts are here, here, here, here, and here. 

Screenshots of a couple of the viral social media posts. (Source: X/Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

What are the facts?

We searched The Guardian's website and social media accounts (archived here and here) and found no such opinion piece by Miliband. Further, the opinion section on its website (archived here) showed no such piece published on September 6, 2024. 

Screenshot of The Guardian's opinion section (Source: The Guardian/Screenshot)

Further, when we compared the screenshot with the actual website, we found that the sub-sections under the opinion section looked different. 

In the viral screenshot, "The Guardian view" section seen on the actual website is replaced with the categories "Gender" and "Race." In contrast, the category "Opinion videos" on the actual website is missing in the viral screenshot. The sequence of the subsections seen on the actual website is also altered in the viral screenshot. 

Moreover, we found that Ed Miliband's last article for The Guardian was dated July 24, 2024, with the headline (archived here), "Great British Energy is becoming a reality — bringing with it cheap, clean and secure energy." Miliband's section (archived here) on the website does not include an article with the headline shown in the viral screenshot. 

Comparison of the screenshot with The Guardian website. (Source: X/The Guardian/Modified by Logically Facts)

The Guardian confirmed to Logically Facts that "the screenshot shared is not and has never been an article or headline published by The Guardian."

Fake screenshots of the Guardian quoting various authors have also circulated in the past. Logically Facts has fact-checked several of them. 

Great British Energy (GB Energy)

Great British Energy is a new, publicly owned, clean energy company created by the Labour government that aims to provide cheap, clean, and more secure energy. Logically Facts has contacted the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero for a comment. This fact-check will be updated if we receive one. 

The verdict

We could not find the supposed opinion piece online. The Guardian confirmed it didn't publish any such article, further confirming that the viral screenshot, which also showed several discrepancies, is fake.