Close ally of Rishi Sunak believes in green agenda but wants to shield people from the huge financial costs
Source - Daily Telegraph - 31/08/23
Rishi Sunak on Thursday appointed one of his closest friends in politics to head up his net zero department amid indications of a subtle change of policy from the Government away from green causes.
Senior figures indicated the Tories will look at ways to protect ordinary families from the huge cost of green policies as part of a bid to create a dividing line with Labour before the next election.
Claire Coutinho, who was appointed Energy Secretary to replace Grant Shapps, has championed environmental issues in the past, such as encouraging the growth of wild rural spaces and protecting the green belt.
But she has also stood up for the thousands of people who use oil boilers.
The fact that the Prime Minister has promoted such a key ally into the role suggests he may be considering a challenge to Sir Keir Starmer’s position on the environment as he struggles to overturn Labour’s huge poll lead.
Many Tory MPs will hope she will use her new position to contemplate a delay to the ban on new oil boilers from 2026.
They will also ask whether she could also change Conservative policy on the phase-out of petrol and diesel cars, with a ban on new such vehicles delayed from 2030.
It is too early to say but recent weeks have seen Mr Sunak and his ministers harden their rhetoric on shielding the public from the financial burden of Britain becoming carbon neutral by 2050, a target that is enshrined in law.
A senior government source told The Telegraph that Ms Coutinho agreed with Mr Sunak that although they would push forward net zero plans, households should be protected from “massive” financial costs.
It is noticeable that Mr Sunak has been unable to enthuse much of his party on the green agenda.
Lee Anderson, the deputy Tory chairman, told Channel 5 News on Thursday night: “Everybody wants to see net zero, of course we do, but when you’ve got China and India and Russia and the US pumping out all sorts of stuff into the atmosphere and we’re responsible for one per cent of the emissions on the planet, if this island sunk tomorrow into the sea, it wouldn’t make a blind bit of difference to the emissions in this world.”
However, it would be wrong to see Ms Coutinho as being anywhere near Mr Anderson’s position.
She is not opposed to net zero, and she has taken part in so-called “Greentember” events every September and urged her constituents to do the same.
In 2021, she pledged to only shop for second-hand clothes and to use public transport more than usual, as well as hosting a virtual Cop 26-themed climate video conference themed around green policy. Last year, she held a green surgery which saw her discussing sewage and solar panels with voters.
Ms Coutinho is the first Conservative MP from the 2019 intake to enter the Cabinet on Tuesday. She is one of Mr Sunak’s closest friends in politics and played a central role in his leadership campaign.
Some Tory strategists believe they can use the green agenda as a “wedge issue” to win voters from Labour, who they plan to paint as ideologically wedded to becoming greener at any cost.
After her appointment on Thursday morning, Ms Coutinho said: “I will work with the Prime Minister to safeguard our energy security, reduce bills for families, and build cleaner, cheaper, homegrown energy.”
The MP for East Surrey, Ms Coutinho has had a rapid rise since entering Parliament. She was a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to Mr Sunak, resigning in July last year over Boris Johnson’s handling of the Chris Pincher affair.
She went on to serve under Liz Truss and Mr Sunak as a junior work and pensions minister and the children’s minister respectively.
Educated at James Allen’s Girls’ School in Dulwich and Oxford University, her roles before politics included a post at the Centre for Social Justice, a think tank founded by former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith.
As a backbencher in September 2022 while Ms Truss was prime minister, Ms Coutinho praised her decision to extend household energy bill support to off-grid homes.
In a newsletter to constituents, she wrote: “There will also be a new discretionary fund for families in park homes, using heating oil, or liquid petroleum gas (LPG), which I have been lobbying for due to the many people who rely on heating oil or LPG in our rural communities.”
Discretionary funding
Speaking in the Commons, she added: “I welcome the fact that we were clear about the discretionary funding that will be provided for users of heating oil, of which I have many in my constituency.”
Sales of new oil boilers are currently set to be banned in 2026, but the proposal has triggered a backlash from Tory MPs anxious it will cost them votes.
Government sources last month insisted they may not go ahead with the plan, saying that it was not set in stone, and it will now fall to Ms Coutinho to decide the fate of the policy.
She has also previously urged families to manage their energy use “carefully” during the winter months, and indicated she would have preferred a more targeted approach to energy bill support to the universal scheme rolled out last autumn.
In October, Ms Coutinho said she was “totally opposed to fracking against the will of our communities in East Surrey”, adding she would be “following this matter closely”.
Alongside more than 150 Tory backbenchers and peers, she is a member of the Conservative Environment Network caucus, which describes itself as working to “support net zero, nature restoration and [restoring] security”.
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