In today’s mini-reshuffle the Prime Minister has reiterated that net zero ambitions will continue to be a priority for his government.
Claire Coutinho has been appointed as the new secretary of state for energy security and net zero. Coutinho replaces Grant Shapps, who is the new defence secretary. Previously Coutinho, a long-time ally of Sunak, was children’s minister at the Department of Education.
Shapps was initially appointed as secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy in October 2022, after Rishi Sunk became prime minister. The role was then split with Shapps taking on the new job title of secretary of state for energy security and net zero in February this year.
Sunak has maintained the focus on net zero in this key job description, despite misgivings from many of his own party’s backbench MPs about the potential economic costs of these near-term targets, and criticisms that he is rowing back on previous environmental commitments.
The government has pledged that the country will be net zero by 2050, with an ambition to halve emissions by 2030, in line with the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rises. However, green activists have criticised Sunak’s recent decision to grant new licences for oil and gas extraction in the North Sea.
As the new energy secretary Coutinho hasn’t always been a vocal supporter of environmental measures. She recently voiced objections to the expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone in London, labelling it as a “tax on those who can least afford it”. Along with other Tory MPs she said it had been rejected by the people in the recent by-election in Uxbridge, Boris Johnson’s former constituency which was narrowly held by the Conservatives.
The website – They Work For You – which collates the voting records of individual MPs says Claire Coutinho has “generally voted against measures to prevent climate change”. This includes voting to exempt national security and defence as well as taxation and spending from those policy areas where ministers would be required to have due regard to environmental policy.
She has also voted in favour of enabling the government to direct funds from electricity consumers, via electricity suppliers, to help pay for, and encourage private investment in, new nuclear power stations.
Coutinho became an MP in 2019. Prior to this she worked as a special adviser in the Treasury, alongside Sunak. Before entering politics she worked at Merrill Lynch and Iain Dunan Smith’s Centre for Social Justice.