TUC – impose a
windfall tax on BP’s “obscene” profits
Commenting on BP’s $6.2bn profits for the first three months of
this year, TUC General Secretary Frances
O’Grady said:
“At a time when households across Britain are being hammered by
soaring bills and prices these profits are obscene.
“The government must stop making excuses and impose a windfall
tax on oil and gas companies.
“The money raised should bring down costs for struggling
families.
“The longer ministers delay taking action to deal with this
living standards emergency the more damage will be done.
“We need an Emergency Budget now.”
MP, Labour's Shadow Climate Change and Net Zero
Secretary, responding to BP’s Q1 2022 profits,
said:
“Yet again we see the oil and gas companies making billions upon
billions of profits coming directly from the pockets of the
British people and the government shamefully refuses to act.
“The oil and gas firms may be doing their job for the
shareholders of their companies but the government is negligently
failing to do its job for the people of this country.
“The refusal to levy a windfall tax to help cut energy bills is
deeply wrong, unfair, and tells you all you need to know about
whose side this government is on - and it’s not the British
people.
“A vote for Labour on Thursday is a vote to send the
Conservatives a message they can't ignore about why we need a
windfall tax to provide real help to families facing an energy
bills crisis.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- BP Q1 2022 Results: https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/news-and-insights/press-releases/first-quarter-2022-results.html
- The results confirm that BP made $6.2bn of underlying profit:
- “Underlying replacement cost profit was $6.2 billion,
compared with $4.1 billion for the previous quarter. This was
driven by exceptional oil and gas trading, higher oil
realizations and a stronger refining result, partly offset by
the absence of Rosneft from the first quarter underlying
result.”
- The results confirm that BP are spending the majority of
their dividend on share buybacks
- “For 2022, and subject to maintaining a strong investment
grade credit rating, BP remains committed to using 60% of
surplus cash flow for share buybacks and intends to allocate
the remaining 40% to further strengthen the balance sheet.”
