Rishi Sunak announces £350 support for households

[Chippy_Tea]

What are members thoughts on this?

Do you agree with Rachel Reeves that its a "buy now, pay later scheme that loads up costs for tomorrow".





Labour criticised the government's plans, with shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves calling it a "buy now, pay later scheme that loads up costs for tomorrow".
Instead, her party called on the government to scrap the 5% VAT rate on domestic energy bills for 12 months from April.
Labour also wants an extra £3.5bn spent on the Warm Home Discount, increasing it from £140 to £400 per year, and trebling the number of households eligible to 9.3 million, around a third of the UK total.
The party says it would pay for its plans through a year-long 10 percentage point increase to the corporation tax paid by North Sea oil producers on their profits.
The Liberal Democrats have also backed a windfall tax on energy firms to pay more generous support for poorer households.
But Mr Sunak rejected the idea of a windfall tax, arguing it would deter investment in the energy sector. He also rejected a VAT cut, insisting it would "disproportionately benefit wealthier households".
Citizens Advice says a record number of people have turned to the charity for advice on energy debt in recent months.
The cost of living is forecast to rise further this year, with individuals and companies reporting price pressures.
The cost of broadband and mobile phones, raw materials, transport and fuel, and food and drink are among a wide range of products and services now on the rise.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60245696

 

[Agentgonzo]

Classic lie. "£350" is the headline figure, but £200 of that will have to be paid back in installments, so it's only £150 in the end.

It's like the manifesto "pledge" to recruit 50,000 new NHS nurses, of which they included 18,500 nurses who already worked for the NHS, so the target was only ever 31,500 (and they never even got close to that figure).

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Classic lie.

Well not really, he didn't say they are giving £350 to everyone its a support package for those that are going to struggle to keep warm i was actually surprised they are not asking for the £150 council tax rebate to be paid back.

 

[Leon103]

It's a load of crap.

The £200 is pointless and dangerous.

The £150 Off council tax is England only although Wales will get money, they haven't decided what to do with it. Plus council tax will increase in April so that will take a dent into the £150.
Cut to council tax will hit important services. Why not concentrate on sorting the energy crisis. They are just causing another. We are 12 months away from another financial crisis and I think it will be bigger than 2008.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Plus council tax will increase in April so that will take a dent into the £150.
Cut to council tax will hit important services. Why not concentrate on sorting the energy crisis. They are just causing another. We are 12 months away from another financial crisis and I think it will be bigger than 2008.

Why not stop the VAT increase we are all about to be hit with for a start.

 

[Leon103]

Why not stop the VAT increase we are all about to be hit with for a start.

Plus NI, plus interest rate increase etc etc

 

[Rodcx500z]

It's a bit like those shops that do buy now pay later, and how are they going to get it back a lot of people have no spare money now, will they take it out of their benefits which will just add more debt, i don't know what the answer is only it can't keep going on

 

[allotment_fox]

They ( That's politicians ) always seem to take the electorate for fools When prices rise at the pumps they rake in extra VAT by the bucket load, When prices rise in the shops they rake in extra VAT it seems to me they will also rake in loads more in VAT or be it at a lower rate on the electricity / gas price increase I for one do not want a Loan from the conservative's just reduce the VAT Rate to zero would rarely help bill payers

 

[trueblue]

France to force EDF to take €8.4bn hit with energy bill cap | EDF Energy | The Guardian

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I wish our lot would follow suit but they won't.

 

[Mrhandsome]

At the risk of sounding like a loony lefty (I'm actually quite centrist these days).

I believe that any service that is a necessity should be in public ownership. Water/Gas/Electricity etc would benefit greatly from not having to make profit for shareholders, and instead any revenue flowing through it could be circulated back into the system to keep it running more efficiently and cut costs to the consumer.

 

[Leon103]

At the risk of sounding like a loony lefty (I'm actually quite centrist these days).

I believe that any service that is a necessity should be in public ownership. Water/Gas/Electricity etc would benefit greatly from not having to make profit for shareholders, and instead any revenue flowing through it could be circulated back into the system to keep it running more efficiently and cut costs to the consumer.

To some extent I agree but effectively the government will be share holders and the money will find it's way into their pockets. The current bunch could run a bar tab, and we know how pissed they like to get

 

[DocAnna]

Fundamentally this is about energy security and efficiency, there needs to be much more joined up strategic thinking that has a genuine plan to improve energy efficiency of businesses and homes, and move away from gas dependency. Short term, this is a situation that should not ever have been reached and was seen coming. Now we're here, there needs to be some form of equitable pain through the production chain to supplier, and some form of increased costs on the supplier be that taxation or something else. I don't necessarily agree with any of the political approaches so far put forward as they all seem very short sighted and not addressing the underlying issues.

 

[Mrhandsome]

To some extent I agree but effectively the government will be share holders and the money will find it's way into their pockets. The current bunch could run a bar tab, and we know how ****** they like to get

It couldn't be run any worse than it already is, could it?......

 

[Justin Dean]

Damned if you do, Damned if you don't. It is to soften the impact of increased cost of living due to global energy prices rising. And a tax refund on council tax is nice but i would not put it past some councils to put bill up by 200 and then take 200 off. They have gone up plenty as it is as the aged population sector increasing and social care cost go higher and higher. I am interested in views here on repaying the cost of covid furlow etc re growing economy and tax increase. Unemployment is as low as it has been for a long time. That has to be a factor too. Plenty of moans here but what would you do? I believe eu tactic of bashing energy companies pushes energy costs higher. It is not like energy company is not expecting it to happen.

 

[Justin Dean]

At the risk of sounding like a loony lefty (I'm actually quite centrist these days).

I believe that any service that is a necessity should be in public ownership. Water/Gas/Electricity etc would benefit greatly from not having to make profit for shareholders, and instead any revenue flowing through it could be circulated back into the system to keep it running more efficiently and cut costs to the consumer.

It is a good theory but in practice maybe a mutual is a better solution for water. For electric renewables too but for gas it is a global pressure regardless of of ownership structure. Public ownership gives memories of brown outs and strikes and crumbling infrastructure.

 

[Brewnaldo]

It shouldnt be possible to put a 54% hike on a fundamental, living neccessity such as heating and power. If that neccessitates a nationlised energy supplier then so be it.

This is, incidentally, the sort of thing that saw our media (and state broadcaster) superimposing communist imagery onto pics of Jeremy Corbyn just a short while ago......

 

[Justin Dean]

Macro economics. Blame the Russian state.

 

[Leon103]

It couldn't be run any worse than it already is, could it?......

I haven't looked into how these businesses are run. I don't really see how the business are at fault. The wholesale price is sky high so they are passing on that cost. Profit is needed to improve the infrastructure of the business. Dwr Cymru is not for profit but bosses still get massive wages and bonuses whilst price go up each year

 

[Leon103]

It shouldnt be possible to put a 54% hike on a fundamental, living neccessity such as heating and power. If that neccessitates a nationlised energy supplier then so be it.

This is, incidentally, the sort of thing that saw our media (and state broadcaster) superimposing communist imagery onto pics of Jeremy Corbyn just a short while ago......

Blame the government for putting the price cap too low previously.