BUDGET: Missed chance to make oil giants fund a cut to energy bills
Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer MSP has criticised the UK Budget as a missed opportunity to strengthen the windfall tax on oil and gas giants and use that money to cut household energy bills.
As the UK continues to face some of the highest energy bills in Europe, and the climate-wrecking Jackdaw project has been approved, this budget was the ideal opportunity to tax wealth, not work, and ensure the super-rich and major polluters pay their fair share.
Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer MSP said:
“This budget was a chance to make oil and gas giants fund a cut in household energy bills by taxing their huge profits. Instead of taking that action, the Chancellor has let these companies off the hook.
“It is working families that are paying the price for soaring energy costs while fossil fuel companies benefit from the same instability that is driving those bills up.
“One in every three households in Scotland are in fuel poverty this autumn, but the energy giants continue to make record-breaking profits. Even with VAT removed from electricity bills and some improvements to grid access and supply, families across Scotland still face some of the highest energy bills in Europe. That is because of decisions taken at Westminster.
“Strengthening the windfall tax on these obscene profits and using it to cut household bills would have given families the relief they so desperately need. Instead, people across the country will be forced to choose between heating their homes and putting food on their tables.
“We need investment in warmer homes, clean energy and secure jobs. That will protect people from the next fossil fuel price shock, leaving households exposed to this broken system over and over again is a political choice.
“This budget was Andy Burnham’s chance to follow through on his lofty promises, and he has fallen short at the first hurdle. At the very least, he needs to deliver on his alleged commitment to further devolution.
“That would let us make more decisions on issues like energy and taxation for ourselves here in Scotland. We can boost our economy, tackle skills shortages, and ease the unfair pressures hitting working-class families and communities the hardest.”
Ross added:
“Under Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP wanted Scotland to be seen as a world leader on climate, taking the bold stance of formally recognising the climate emergency in 2019 and opposing new oil and gas fields like Rosebank and Jackdaw. Unfortunately that ambition feels like a distant memory, with the Scottish Government now doing whatever it can to keep oil and gas bosses happy, even if it means higher energy bills.
“At a time when windfall revenues on oil and tax company profits could be funding help with bills, the SNP is actually campaigning to get rid of the windfall tax, making it easier for fossil fuel giants to make even more money.
“As Jackdaw is given the go-ahead - and the very real prospect of Rosebank being approved too - we must tax the super-rich super-polluters that have taken Scotland for a ride for far too long, leaving working families skint whilst the wealthiest in society add more zeroes to their bank accounts and trash our environment.
“Scotland’s workers and communities deserve investment in their future, not UK and Scottish Governments hell-bent on drilling for what little is left in the North Sea."