Shadow Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho has delivered a blistering assessment of Keir Starmer’s administration, describing a Government in “chaos” and a Prime Minister who has effectively “no team left” in No10.
She spoke as the Government reels from a high-profile exodus of senior staff with the latest being Cabinet secretary Sir Chris Wormald in the wake of the recent Downing Street crisis.
Speaking on The People’s Channel Ms Coutinho said: “It’s chaos, that’s what it looks like. He’s going through personnel like water.
“He’s sacked his Director of Communications, he doesn’t have a Cabinet Secretary in place, and it’s not even clear who is running the country.
“And this is at a time when we have enormous challenges. National security is a serious issue.
“Geopolitics is becoming increasingly dangerous. Yesterday’s growth figures for the final quarter of 2025 were just 0.1 per cent. There are so many urgent priorities for the country.
“Yet here is a Prime Minister, still early in his term, with a large majority and supposedly the political space to take on difficult reforms and he appears to have no political capital left.
“From the sound of it, he barely has a team in No10. My real concern is: who is actually in charge now?
Shadow Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho delivered a blistering assessment of Keir Starmer’s administration
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GB NEWS
“From the briefing, it seems power may shift towards the soft Labour left figures like Angela Rayner and Ed Miliband but that’s not what people believe they voted for.”
Turning to the economy, Ms Coutinho argued that Labour’s obsession with Net Zero is “making us poorer” and “deindustrialising Britain”.
She reaffirmed the Conservative Party’s shift under Kemi Badenoch, pledging a radical departure from the “central planning” of the past.
She said: “It’s pushing up electricity prices and imposing wider costs across the economy.
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“I recognise that my party previously took a different view. But under Kemi Badenoch’s leadership and with the changes I began when I was Energy Secretary, we are taking a different approach.
“The priority must be cheaper electricity. We have some of the cleanest power in the world, but also some of the most expensive. That’s a major problem for industry, for emerging sectors like AI, and for living standards.
“We have a Cheap Power Plan that would cut electricity bills by 20 per cent. That could be implemented now.
“More broadly, the system needs rewiring so that it prioritises affordable, reliable energy. That’s why we would repeal the Climate Change Act because it is driving us in the wrong direction.
The original argument for net zero was that Britain would lead by example and others would follow. But we produce just 1 per cent of global emissions 99 per cent come from elsewhere.
“If pursuing net zero damages your economy, raises energy costs and drives industry overseas, no other country is going to copy you.
“Even from Ed Miliband’s perspective, that Britain must play its part in a global challenge, the current approach isn’t working.
“We need a strong industrial base, a strong economy and cheaper energy. That must come first.”