Centrica boss also defends Amber Rudd’s appointment to its board as a non-executive
The British Gas owner, Centrica, has warned that Rishi Sunak’s windfall tax will “damage investor confidence” as Britain attempts to build up green energy supplies.
The Centrica chairman, Scott Wheway, and its chief executive, Chris O’Shea, hit out at the chancellor’s 25% levy on oil and gas operators’ excess profits, which will be used to pay for measures to reduce soaring energy bills.
Continue reading...Shadow Treasury secretary asks Office for Budget Responsibility to examine Rishi Sunak’s emergency cost of living measures
Labour has called for an independent assessment of whether Rishi Sunak’s £21bn cost of living emergency package could cause inflation to rise even higher and a verdict on the fiscal impact of substantial borrowing.
Pat McFadden, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, wrote to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to ask it to analyse the impact of the measures.
Continue reading...Critics warn chancellor Rishi Sunak will raise only a fraction of planned £5bn if firms offset new investment against profits
North Sea oil and gas companies that already benefit from huge tax breaks could use fresh rules to slash how much they pay under a new windfall tax announced by Rishi Sunak as part of his £15bn cost of living package, according to a thinktank.
The chancellor risks raising a fraction of the £5bn he expects from the complex scheme – which allows the cost of new investments to be offset against profits – should oil and gas companies take the opportunity to dramatically reduce their contribution to the exchequer, said the left of centre Common Wealth.
Continue reading...Partygate and U-turns on tax are ‘undermining message’, say Conservative MPs as more call for him to quit
Boris Johnson has plunged the Conservative party into an acute identity crisis as a result of Partygate and U-turns over tax policy, senior Tories warned last night, as more MPs called for him to resign as prime minister.
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan-Smith told the Observer his party had been left with an “enormous identity problem” because it had raised taxes instead of cutting them under Johnson and the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, undermining a core Tory message that had helped win it successive general elections.
Continue reading...Senior Conservatives fear that, whether the PM stays or goes, the opinion poll deficit is not now recoverable
It’s supposed to be make-up-your-mind time for Conservative MPs. But having waited six months for Sue Gray’s report into law-breaking parties across Westminster, many are still grappling with whether to clear Boris Johnson’s path to the next general election – or oust the man who won them an 80-seat majority.
What is already clear is that boastful proclamations from Johnson’s supporters this week claiming the prime minister’s position was safe have proved premature.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. Boris Johnson changes ministerial code to axe need to resign for rule breaches
The Conservative MP Paul Holmes, who represents Eastleigh, has announced that he is resigning as a parliamentary private secretary in response to the revelations in the Sue Gray report.
Holmes, who was elected in 2019, was PPS to Priti Patel, the home secretary. A PPS – an unpaid ministerial “bag carrier” – is not a member of the government, but is considered part of the “payroll vote” and obliged to support the government in all divisions. Being a PPS is normally a stepping stone towards becoming a minister.
Revelations from the Sue Gray report that staff and cleaners were not treated properly is both disappointing and unacceptable. It is right that the prime minister apologised to staff. It clearly showed a culture in No 10 that was distasteful, and I am glad that there have been several reforms that Sue Gray has welcomed.
It is clear to me that a deep mistrust in both the government and the Conservative party has been created by these events, something that pains me personally as someone who always tries to represent Eastleigh and its people with integrity. Whether that is taking up your issues in parliament or helping people with their problems closer to home, since 2019 we have completed over 12,000 pieces of constituency casework. It is distressing to me that this work on your behalf has been tarnished by the toxic culture that seemed to have permeated No 10.
I’m not going to pretend that this is going to fix everything for everybody immediately. There are still going to be pressures. But it’s a very, very substantial commitment by the government to getting us through what will be, I’m afraid, still a bumpy time with the increase in energy prices around the world.
Continue reading...Chancellor’s measures, including tax on oil and gas companies, criticised as too late and a ‘drop in the ocean’
Rishi Sunak bowed to months of pressure over the cost of living crisis with a £15bn package of support, part-funded by executing a remarkable U-turn to impose a windfall tax on energy companies.
Announcing the measures on Thursday, in a bruising week for the government, the chancellor said his “significant set of interventions” would help the poorest in society – with a one-off £650 payment for 8 million families on means-tested benefits, alongside an extra £200 for all energy bill payers that will not have to be repaid.
Continue reading...Government attempt to move on with cost of living announcement undermined as three backbenchers say PM should go
Speaking on Times Radio this morning Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, repeated the point he made on the Today programme about the need for the cost of living support package to be targeted at those most in need. (See 9.25am.) He also said Rishi Sunak should ensure that his measures were not inflationary. He said:
There’s a very strong case for giveaways to help those who are struggling most. But if you’re going to do that, because of the dangers associated with inflation, there’s a case for tax rises elsewhere so that there isn’t significant additional money swirling around in the economy.
Now we do have some tax rises coming in this year, so the chancellor is already taking some money out of the economy. But I think he does need to think quite hard about that balance and the risks associated with inflation. What you generally don’t want to do in the face of lots of inflation is chuck lots more money at the economy.
Continue reading...One-off levy to fund support package amid cost of living crisis which could include increase in benefits
Rishi Sunak will push the button on a controversial windfall tax on energy companies on Thursday, as he lays out measures to ease the pain of rising household bills.
The chancellor has confirmed speculation he will announce fresh support for Britons struggling with the cost of living crisis. The measures are expected to help the poorest households as rampant inflation pushes up the price of everything from food to fuel.
Continue reading...Levy could be extended beyond oil and gas producers to help households in cost of living crisis
Rishi Sunak is reportedly considering imposing a wider windfall tax on electricity generators, as well as on oil and gas producers, that could bring in billions of pounds to help households struggling with soaring food and energy costs.
The chancellor has instructed Treasury officials to work on plans for a potential tax on more than £10bn of excess profits made by electricity generators, including windfarm operators, according to sources cited by the Financial Times.
Continue reading...Ministers remain unable to decide on ways to help as energy firm boss warns soon 40% could be in fuel poverty
Boris Johnson hopes to blunt calls for urgent action on the cost of living crisis by stressing that work is the best route out of poverty, as an energy firm boss warned that 40% of households could soon be in fuel poverty.
No 10 sources confirmed on Sunday that the prime minister will continue to throw the spotlight on the healthy state of the job market, in the face of the rising clamour to help families struggling with their bills.
Continue reading...Met police close inquiry with Downing Street yet to confirm whether Boris Johnson has received new fine
Dorries says Channel 4 is dependent on one stream of revenue - advertising.
But this revenue is going down, she says. And she says advertisers have more choice.
Continue reading...Conservative MPs to urge chancellor to tackle inflation with VAT cuts, energy bill support and improved benefits
Tory MPs are piling pressure on Rishi Sunak to take decisive action to deal with the cost of living crisis with measures such as cutting VAT, increasing energy bill support and raising benefits, as inflation is forecast to top 9% on Wednesday.
A string of Conservatives from across different wings of the party called on the chancellor to intervene within weeks, amid dire economic predictions about the squeeze on households.
Continue reading...Leading economists publish letter to Rishi Sunak in response to proposed financial services and markets bill
A group of 58 leading economists and politicians, including the former business minister Vince Cable, has written to the chancellor to say that scaling back City regulation will put the UK at risk of another financial crash.
The open letter, which has also been signed by the former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis and Columbia University professor Adam Tooze, was sent in reaction to the Queen’s speech, which outlined Rishi Sunak’s plans to “cut red tape” through a financial services and markets bill.
Continue reading...Chancellor says he is ‘pragmatic’ about introducing a levy on energy companies to ease cost of living crisis
Rishi Sunak has insisted he is “pragmatic” about the idea of a windfall tax on energy companies, claiming “no options are off the table” in the clearest sign yet that the government is planning measures to tackle the cost of living crisis.
Labour has been calling for a windfall tax on oil firms, which have benefited from rocketing global prices, with the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, suggesting the proceeds be used to cut domestic energy bills.
Continue reading...The prime minister claimed ‘these kinds of taxes’ deterred investment, contrary to BP boss saying it would not
Boris Johnson has refused to rule out the introduction of a windfall tax which would help to relieve pressure on the cost of living crisis.
Speaking to LBC’s Nick Ferrari, Johnson said that while he believed a disadvantage of windfall tax would be the impact it would have on investment, the prospect of such a taxwas still something to be looked at.
Continue reading...PM to be first world leader to address parliament since war began, as his chancellor faces questions over Infosys
Boris Johnson will hail Ukraine’s resistance against tyranny as an exemplar for the world as he delivers a virtual address to the country’s parliament on Tuesday.
Recalling Britain’s resolve during the second world war, the UK prime minister will say that “we remember our time of greatest peril as our finest hour”. He will say the bravery demonstrated by those who have sought to defend their country from Russian invaders means the war will come to be known as Ukraine’s “finest hour”, too.
Continue reading...Thinktank says following Chile’s example would give ministers greater incentive to meet targets
Rishi Sunak is being urged to issue a new generation of green bonds that would offer higher returns to investors if the UK government fails to hit its climate change targets.
The Social Market Foundation (SMF) said its plan for sustainability-linked bonds would provide ministers with a greater incentive to meet carbon-reduction goals and would help boost the UK’s prospects of being a global financial hub for green finance.
Continue reading...Government sources play down idea of cabinet split as business secretary quashes idea recently mooted by chancellor
Government sources have played down the idea of a cabinet split over a possible windfall tax on energy companies as the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, firmly quashed the idea, days after it was mooted by the chancellor.
In a search for solutions to a crisis over energy prices, and the cost of living more widely, Rishi Sunak said a windfall tax, as advocated by Labour, was possible if energy companies did not properly reinvest bumper profits.
Continue reading...Labour leader attacks Tory tax rises and inability to tackle the cost of living crisis
Boris Johnson has been rendered “incapable of governing” by a series of scandals and rows that have left him unable or unwilling to tackle the cost of living crisis, Keir Starmer has warned.
In a final pitch before Thursday’s local elections, the Labour leader said that voters were hearing “the dying groans of a clapped-out government” that was attempting to use “desperate attacks and deflections” to distract from inaction over rising bills and tax increases.
Continue reading...