'Completely mad!' Claire Coutinho tears into Labour's 'fundamentally wrong' economic strategy

Georgia Pearce
Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:39:56 +0000

Claire Coutinho has launched a scathing attack on Labour's handling of the economy, accusing Sir Keir Starmer's Government of "fundamentally" misjudging Britain's economic difficulties.

Speaking to GB News, the Shadow Energy Secretary claimed the Chancellor has imposed £70billion in tax rises across her two budgets while simultaneously increasing levies on employment.

The criticism follows new analysis from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has found that Rachel Reeves is set to oversee the sharpest rise in taxation among all the G7 economies, with the UK’s tax burden forecast to reach 42.1 per cent of GDP by 2030.

The IMF’s analysis places the UK at the top of global rankings for tax increases over the period.

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Rodrigo Valdés, director of the IMF’s fiscal affairs department, said the nature of fiscal pressures had shifted, noting that "weaknesses are no longer mainly cyclical or the result of temporary emergencies but are structural".

"They've completely misunderstood the challenges that the economy has faced," Ms Coutinho stated.

The shadow minister argued that Labour's approach has triggered a cascade of negative consequences, including rising joblessness and elevated borrowing levels.

"I think they've just fundamentally got their approach to the economy wrong," she added.

Ms Coutinho outlined the Conservative alternative, pointing to £47billion in potential savings from Government expenditure that could pave the way for reduced taxation nationwide.

"We've set out £47billion where you could save money from public spending, that's how you start reducing the tax bill across the country," she explained.

The shadow minister also defended the previous Conservative Government's record on personal taxation, noting that income tax rates for earners below £50,000 had been among the lowest in decades during the Tory years.

"I'm not saying we've got everything right, but you've got to change the system," Ms Coutinho acknowledged.

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The Shadow Energy Secretary highlighted a particularly stark warning about youth unemployment, which she claimed now stands at 15 to 16 per cent above the European Union average.

"This is completely mad in a world where you've got young people not only struggling with the wider economy, but also they're competing with AI," Ms Coutinho said.

She characterised the situation facing Britain's young workers as doubly challenging, with economic headwinds combining with technological disruption in the labour market.

The Conservative frontbencher suggested these employment figures represented a damning indictment of Labour's decision to raise taxes on hiring.

Ms Coutinho reserved particular criticism for Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, accusing him of unnecessarily burdening households with additional costs on their energy bills.

"You've got Ed Miliband, who has just been merrily adding costs to everyone's bills, political choices by the way, that he has not needed to do," she said.

The shadow minister warned that Britain is entering a fresh energy crisis with inflation that has diverged from European levels, alongside elevated government borrowing and rising unemployment.

She noted that UK inflation had already decoupled from the continent before the current crisis emerged, suggesting deeper structural problems with Labour's economic management.