Sunak package will be devastating for climate
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, has finally unveiled a package of support to help tackle the cost of living crisis, after insisting for months that no action was necessary.
Mr Sunak, the UK’s wealthiest politician, has been shamed into acting in a transparent attempt to distract from Boris Johnson’s partygate scandal.
In an environmentally devastating sop to oil and gas corporations though, the Chancellor has given them the opportunity to avoid his windfall tax if they increase their extraction of fossil fuels from UK fields.
It remains to be seen what consequential spending the Scottish Government will receive from this announcement.
Commenting, Scottish Greens finance spokesperson Ross Greer MSP said:
“Rishi Sunak has presided over record food prices, record fuel prices and record household energy bills, yet for months he claimed there was nothing he could do.
“In a transparent attempt to distract from his own government’s outrageous behaviour he has now finally been forced to act. These measures don’t go nearly far enough to support struggling families, but its actually much worse than that.
“The Chancellor has provided a perverse incentive for oil and gas companies to double down on their climate-wrecking activities. Big energy companies will be allowed to dodge the windfall tax if they spend more money drilling for oil and gas in UK waters, despite clear warnings that the planet is at its tipping point and needs to move away from fossil fuels immediately.
“At a time when the UK should be investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency programmes such as home insulation, proven ways to bring down bills, the Chancellor is doubling down on expensive fossil fuels.
“There is also little clarity about exactly what consequential spending the Scottish Government will receive. It’s vital that this is clarified urgently so we can get to work supporting those most in need.”