(Rochdale) (Lab):...Undoubtedly,
the biggest issue in this country is the cost of living crisis. I
have not personally had such a large number of emails on an
issue. Again, we have a tale of two countries. Companies such as
Centrica, BP and Shell are making
record profits, much of which goes to their already well-heeled
shareholders, and yet my constituents—and those of Members on
both sides of this House—have seen a 50% increase in the energy
price cap and are likely to see an equivalent increase later this
year. Our constituents are frightened about what that will mean.
People really are frightened to put on the heating or to use the
oven. They simply do not know how they will make it through to
the end of the month...
(Newport East) (Lab):...If
the Government have run out of ideas of their own, it is still
not too late for them to adopt our proposal to keep energy bills
lower through a one-off windfall tax on oil and gas profits. That
move was referred to by the CEO of Tesco on Radio 4 today, and it
would save every household hundreds of pounds a year on their
fuel bills and provide much-needed additional support to the
lowest-income households. That is the right and fair thing to do,
but the Government continue to side with major firms, such as
Centrica, which today announced that it expects
its profits to hit the top of their expected range, and oil and
gas companies that describe their situation as having more money
than they know what to do with, rather than those ordinary
families. That speaks volumes...
