Labour’s climate commitments will make UK a ‘warning, not an example’, says Coutinho

Claire Coutinho has said the government’s climate commitments will make the UK a “warning, not an example” on the world stage.

The shadow energy security and net zero secretary urged Ed Miliband to abandon “the path he set out” in a statement to the House of Commons on Tuesday.

Coutinho said: “We are 1 per cent of global emissions. And if he continues down the path he set out, I fear that our country will face hardship and there’ll be no point in being world-leading because nobody will want to follow our lead.

“He would make us a warning, not an example to others.”

Miliband, the energy security and net zero secretary, had told the House: “Just as the 2008 Climate Change Act, supported across this House, inspired others to follow our lead. That’s why at the G20 in Brazil, the prime minister launched the global Clean Power Alliance to drive forward this transition.”

Responding to Coutinho, Miliband said: “Oh, dear, oh, dear. Okay, let me deal with her questions such as they are. Let’s start with our nationally determined contributions [NDCs], announced at COP.

“It’s so interesting that she now opposes this, because the 2035 NDC announced by the prime minister is exactly the target her government legislated for in 2021.”

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