Suella Braverman has faced ridicule from her opposite number after the home secretary sounded off about a “tofu-eating wokerati” and a “coalition of chaos”.

The cabinet minister renewed her attacks on opponents of the Tory party – a habit that has made her a darling of the right – during a Commons debate on the Public Order Bill.

It includes a new offence of obstructing major transport networks, interfering with key national infrastructure – such as railways, roads and printing presses – and new powers for police to stop and search people to seize items intended for so-called locking-on.

Lock-on tactics have been repeatedly employed by groups such as Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil, and include protesters gluing or otherwise attaching themselves to roads or other areas to cause disruption.

Braverman went on the offensive in light of the Just Stop Oil protest that has seen the Dartford Crossing – the only way to cross the Thames east of London by road – blocked for the second day in a row.

She accused opposition parties of being a “coalition of chaos”, adding: “It’s the Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati, dare I say, the anti-growth coalition that we have to thank for the disruption that we are seeing on our roads today.”

But Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper branded Braverman’s words “astonishing”, adding: “The home secretary actually talked about a coalition of chaos, we can see it in front of us as we speak.”

She continued that she understood government “concerns”.

Cooper said: “When they face issues when they’ve got a selfish minority wreaking havoc, you’ve got someone resisting all attempts to remove them, causing serious disruption, disorder, chaos, with serious consequences for the public, for business, for politics and for financial markets.

“But they’ve glued themselves under the desk. With honourable members opposite, we wish them luck with their attempts to extricate another failing Tory prime minister from Number 10.

“But I suggest it isn’t a reason to change the law for everyone else.”

Cooper was of course referring to Liz Truss and the turmoil caused by her mini-budget, which crashed the financial markets and saw the pound fall to an all-time low.

The backlash led to two major u-turns by chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, before he was eventually sacked and replaced by Jeremy Hunt, who has since torched the low-tax, free-markeeter economic plan Truss staked her leadership bid on.

Truss now faces continued humiliation as a growing number of her MPs want the PM to quit, with one even comparing her premiership to a dumpster fire. She has vowed to fight on.