'Ed Miliband is the most dangerous man in Britain. Our future is at stake'

Shadow Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho warns her Labour counterpart’s ‘mad’ net-zero plans will pile pounds on to consumers’ bills rather than the £300 cuts he promised

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ED MILIBAND’s push for net zero threatens the security and prosperity of the nation, making him the “most dangerous man in Britain”, the woman fighting to keep our lights on has warned.

Claire Coutinho, 40, fears the UK's oil and gas industry will be destroyed on Labour's watch with disastrous consequences for jobs, the economy and the country’s long-term safety.

The Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero denounces her opposite number's plans as “mad”.

Instead of lowering the curtain on oil and gas extraction, she says the priority should be bringing down the cost of living by securing “cheap energy” for British households.

Even by the sharp-elbowed standards of Westminster, her attack on Mr Miliband’s policies is ferocious. Britain’s oil and gas sector is the “envy of the world” but is being “wilfully destroyed” by Labour, she claims.

“Just a few weeks ago we saw a summit where China, Iran, Russia and North Korea were getting together to talk about a new world order,” she says. “They must be laughing about the fact that here in Britain we're trying to shut down our own domestic energy.”

The push to embrace wind and solar technology risks deepening Britain's dependence on China when there are worrying questions, she adds, about that country’s long-term reliability, the use of slave labour and the risk of energy systems being hacked.

“I think Ed Miliband is the most dangerous man in Britain,” she says. “That's because he is doing what no other country is doing, which is shutting down our domestic energy supply.”

Ms Coutinho sat at the Cabinet table during Rishi Sunak’s last year in power, as Energy Secretary. Now, she argues, Britain’s energy policy is driven by “ideologues” who want to “shut down the North Sea because all they care about is cutting domestic emissions”.