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Miliband set out to Parliament the proposals for the basis on which coal fired power will be permitted in the future:

• No new coal without CCS demonstration from day one. Alongside the Government's ongoing competition to build a post-combustion demonstrator, up to three further projects including pre-combustion technology, will be funded by a new levy mechanism.
• Full scale retrofit of CCS within five years of the technology being independently judged as technically and commercially proven. We envisage an important role for the Environment Agency in making an independent judgement of when the standard is met.

Ed Miliband said:
"The future of coal in our energy mix poses the starkest dilemma we face: it is a polluting fuel but is used across the world because it is cheap and it is flexible enough to meet fluctuations in demand for power.

"In order to ensure that we maintain a diverse energy mix, we need new coal-fired power stations but only if they can be part of a low carbon future.

"With a solution to the problem of coal, we greatly increase our chances of stopping dangerous climate change. Without it we will not succeed.

"CCS is the only technology with the potential to reduce emissions from fossil fuels by up to 90%. But there must be a global effort to develop this technology and the UK is in a strong position to lead this charge.

"This signals the era of unabated coal is coming to an end, and a new low carbon future for coal with CCS can begin.

"There is no alternative to CCS if we are serious about fighting climate change and retaining a diverse mix of energy sources for our economy."

Uncertain technology, uncertain funding
CCS is still new technology and although tests seem to indicate that it works, it's still not known if it is a long term solution.  Environmental campaigners remain skeptical about CCS's benefits.  John Sauven,  Greenpeace Director, told Channel4 news:
"You can't just bolt a pilot plant onto a huge coal fired power station which is going to be belching out millions of tons of CO2 for decades after decades and say that is clean coal. That is just greenwash and spin."

The costs for installing and running CCS in the whole of the UK aren't insignificant either.  IPPR estimate them to be between £4-5 billion pounds - much higher than the £1.4 being set aside in the Budget for ALL low carbon industries.

Who will pay the bill?  Andy Read, Clean Coal Manager at E.ON, told Channel4 News that if the Government aren't prepared to foot the bill it would "leave them with a problem."