Responding to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s plans to weaken the
windfall tax on oil and gas producers, Green Co-leader Adrian
Ramsay said:
“It is beyond comprehension that the government seems happy to
allow these huge corporations to not only wreck the climate but
to profit off the back of the cost-of-living crisis which they
themselves have contributed to.
“The windfall tax was supposed to be designed to help cover the
cost of government support to ordinary people facing rocketing
heating bills over the winter, but because of existing loopholes
has only raised, at £2.8 billion, a small proportion of
what was expected. [1]
“Now the Chancellor wants to weaken it further by giving
companies a free pass when energy prices fall and to further
encourage investment in damaging new fossil fuel extraction.
“Instead, the government should be tightening the tax, closing
the loopholes and ensuring the money raised helps people through
the cost-of-living crisis and funds the sustainable green energy
jobs in the renewable sector we urgently need as our dependence
on fossil fuels reduces.
“Our ‘dirty profits tax’ [2] would force the biggest polluters to
pay for the damage they cause while protecting everyone else as
we transition to a carbon-free future.
“We would make the tax a stepping stone towards a permanent
carbon tax on polluting industries.”
NOTES
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jun/09/north-sea-oil-and-gas-industry-offered-get-out-clause-on-windfall-tax
[2] https://greenparty.org.uk/news/2022/02/08/greens-call-for-dirty-profits-tax/
