Extracts from Scottish
Questions
(Edinburgh South) (Lab): It has been a momentous
week in Scottish politics, and I am sure the whole House will
want to wish all the best in whatever
she does next in politics. I also pass our deepest sympathies on
to everyone at Hibernian football club, who lost their owner, Ron
Gordon, suddenly yesterday.
According to the Together Through This Crisis initiative, which
is a coalition of charities, almost a quarter of people across
the country regularly run out of money for essentials. At the
same time, BP and Shell have
made more than £1 billion a week in profits, while avoiding a
proper windfall tax because of the loopholes the Prime Minister
created in his scheme. Will the Minister listen to those
charities, recognise the impact the cost of living crisis is
having on working people and put in place a proper windfall tax
to help them?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (): As the hon. Gentleman
well knows, the cost of living support provided by the Government
is worth over £26 billion in 2023-24. As a compassionate
Government, we have taken appropriate steps to support the most
vulnerable households across the UK through additional cost of
living payments, including £900 for households on means-tested
benefits, £300 for pensioner households and £150 for disabled
people. When it comes to taxing energy companies, the Government
have raised the rate of tax on companies such as BP
and Shell to
75%, which we consider fair, given the current circumstances.
(Inverclyde)
(SNP): Scotland is a net energy exporter, but, as a
consequence of being in the UK, people in energy-rich Scotland
face electricity costs that are 30% higher than those in the
Netherlands and Germany. Does the Secretary of State think it
right that Scots face the highest bills in Europe while the UK
Government allow energy companies to make billions in profit?
: As I have set out during
this session, the Government are putting in place tax
arrangements to ensure that excessive profits made by
BP, Shell and
others are taxed at 75%. I do not accept the hon. Gentleman’s
further analysis about the situation in Scotland; this Government
have put in place measures to support households during this
difficult winter period and we will continue to assess what other
measures we can take to do so.
Extract from
Westminster Hall debate on Energy Suppliers: Customer
Credit
(Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch
and Strathspey) (SNP):...Shell Energy says that
all requests are triggered so it will pay them back; it talks
about the licence conditions
“that ensure we don’t allow a customer to build up debt which
guides us to set an appropriate DD to cover usage across the year
and adjust if it won't cover usage”,
and about the option to choose a variable direct debit. There are
some meagre attempts out there to try to smooth out this
situation for people, but it is simply not enough...
For context, OPEN HERE
