Critics of net zero have long worried that the project will have consequences beyond the financial. That while decarbonisation might be a worthy ambition, moving too quickly towards a zero-emissions future would undermine our security and supply.

The Chinese national flag is seen in Beijing, China.

In an interview today the Energy Security Secretary has drawn attention to the nature of this threat, warning that Labour’s plan to bring forward decarbonisation of the power network to 2030 will leave Britain at China’s mercy. It would be complacent, however, to believe that this is not already a serious risk under the current framework.

China has funnelled vast sums into manufacturing the cheap electric vehicles which politicians consider central to lowering emissions from road transport. It is already the world’s largest producer of copper – a vital substance not just in EVs but the wires that carry electricity and solar panels.

Despite its dominance in green technologies, however, Beijing remains the world’s largest polluter. While the UK is responsible for less than 1 per cent of emissions, China is belching out more carbon than the US and EU combined. Voters would be forgiven for questioning the logic of meeting net zero targets by compromising our self-sufficiency in order to consolidate Beijing’s supremacy.

It is feared that these products may also contain a digital Trojan horse. A single compromised device somewhere in the wider network could be used for cyber attacks. Moreover, the risks of relying on an autocracy for energy were laid bare in 2022, when our security was threatened by Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. One study indicated it had cost UK energy suppliers an additional £1,000 per adult while the Government also spent £23 billion subsidising bills. Would our attitude towards Beijing’s aggression, for instance in the South China Sea, be inhibited in the future were we heavily reliant on them to power our “green” economy? How might it shape our response to China’s growing “soft power”, or instances of state-sponsored cyber espionage such as those uncovered this week? Even setting aside geopolitics it would be unwise for Britain to become dependent on a monopoly supplier, particularly one which is being subsidised in order to gain market dominance. What will happen, sooner or later, is that prices will go up.

Evidence continues to mount that British politicians have rushed into an immensely significant policy agenda with little detailed idea of its practical implications. Whilst Rishi Sunak has, during his premiership, taken welcome steps towards loosening some restrictive energy targets by, for instance, delaying the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, Labour politicians appear too willing to meet the scale of the decarbonisation challenge by plucking yet more deadlines from thin air with scant prospect of success. Politicians of all stripes will need to be much more honest about the ramifications of their policies – not least the gift they may hand to Xi Jinping’s China.

Claire Coutinho: Labour’s dangerous net zero plans leave UK at China’s mercy

Claire Coutinho, claims Labour's net zero plans could threaten the UK's ability to 'keep the lights on'

Labour’s “dangerous” net zero plans would leave Britain at the mercy of China, the Energy Secretary has claimed.

Claire Coutinho said Labour’s pledge to convert Britain to “clean power” by 2030  – five years earlier than the Conservatives – would leave the UK “over-reliant” on Chinese-made metals, cables and batteries, just as Europe was weaning itself off Russian oil and gas.

Ms Coutinho claimed that Sir Keir Starmer’s target to “decarbonise” the electricity grid five years earlier than the Conservatives’ 2035 target would mean going “too fast, too soon”, resulting in a “made in China” transition, because of a need to import key materials to have any hope of achieving the plan within six years.

She also claimed that the plans, which form part of Labour’s proposals to meet the overall 2050 net zero target, could threaten the UK’s ability to “keep the lights on”.

The Cabinet minister said that industry figures were privately “worried” and believed that the plan was “unfeasible”, despite companies being reluctant to criticise Labour publicly.

The Government’s official strategy includes an “ambition” for low carbon electricity to account for 95 per cent of Britain’s supply by 2030. Even this target will require a dramatic overhaul of the energy system and a major increase in the amount of cables and pylons needed to transport the electricity.

Separately, the Net Zero and Energy Security Secretary, a close ally of Mr Sunak who previously worked as his adviser in the Treasury, said her primary advice to the Prime Minister was to “keep going”.

The Conservatives are consistently some 20 points behind Labour in the polls, but Ms Coutinho, 38, insisted that “we are fighting to win”.

To achieve its target of “clean power” by 2030, Labour has pledged to quadruple offshore wind generation, triple the amount of energy coming from solar panels and double the country’s onshore wind capacity.

However, Sir Keir scrapped a £28 billion green spending pledge that was intended to help achieve the target, following Conservative claims that it would lead to higher taxes and borrowing.

A report published last week found that the pledge would require more than £15.5 billion additional investment per year until the start of the next decade.

Ms Coutinho said: “At the moment there is one global dominant player when it comes to things like critical minerals or batteries and that’s China.

“So if you’re saying that we are going to have this unfeasible target, which no other major economy would have, what you’re ultimately sending out to the world is that we’re willing to pay whatever price you will put to us, which will see costs implode, you also don’t have time for the supply chains here to develop, which means you’ll be reliant on China.

“So that means that what Labour are putting forward is a ‘made in China’ transition, but I want one that’s made in Britain.”

The costs involved in meeting the target would “mean ... higher taxes for people, hiking up people’s bills, and essentially not being sure that we can keep the lights on”, Ms Coutinho claimed, adding that the plan would mean “send[ing] the money to China”.

Ms Coutinho said she was “working very hard to build British supply chains” but that 2030 was too soon for the country to have the manufacturing capabilities needed to decarbonise the electricity grid without relying heavily on Chinese products.

She added: “In terms of energy, we’ve just seen a period where continental Europe has had to wean itself off Russian oil and gas, we can’t do that to just then be dependent on China for critical minerals.

“So it’s really important that, as we’re thinking through the energy policy of the next couple of decades, we’re looking at all those components of the supply chain to make sure that we are secure and we’re not overly reliant on one part of the world.

“We’ve just seen where you have over-reliance on one part of the world, it affects all of our security ... It’s important we are giving people that security, that sense that they’ll be able to pay the bills.”

She added of Labour: “Their 2030 decarbonisation plans are mad, bad and dangerous. I speak to hundreds of people in industry, and investors. Not a single one of those people has asked us for a 2030 date.

“When I speak to consumers, when I speak to households, not a single person is asking for that date, not even the climate change lobby is asking for that date. They plucked it out of thin air, it’s a complete fantasy.”

Asked if industry figures were privately telling Ms Coutinho the 2030 target was unachievable, she said: “People have raised many concerns with me, because at the moment we already have a stretching target in place and we’re working very carefully with businesses to make sure we can do that in a way that keeps us secure and also keeps people’s bills down.

“But yes, I think there is a lot of agreement behind closed doors that the 2030 plan is completely unfeasible and it’s the wrong thing to do for the country.”

Ed Miliband, the shadow net zero secretary, said: “Fourteen years of failed Tory energy policy has seen jobs driven overseas, our clean energy infrastructure imported from aboard, and our country left exposed to the worst cost of living crisis in memory. The Tories have had no industrial strategy and no plan – and households and businesses across the country have paid the price.

“Labour is determined to change this.”

Ms Coutinho, who became MP for East Surrey in 2019, worked at Merrill Lynch, the investment bank, after graduating from Oxford University in 2008, at the height of the global financial crisis.

She said: “I saw the Greek credit crisis unfold from the trading floor. And it made you see what happens when countries give up their sovereignty. That was part of the reason that I was attracted to the Conservatives.”

Last year, Mr Sunak said that China “poses the biggest challenge of our age to global security and prosperity”, as Beijing became “increasingly authoritarian at home and assertive abroad”.

Joe Biden has warned Chinese electric cars are a threat to US national security, as he recently ordered an investigation into whether the vehicles could be exploited for spying.