Sigh of relief in the City as govt calls idea of windfall tax on oil and gas profits ‘disastrous’
The Justice Secretary this morning dismissed Labour’s plan for a windfall tax on oil and gas companies to ease the cost-of-living crisis, calling the idea “disastrous”.
Dominic Raab told Sky News: “If you look at Labour’s policy, you asked about it – of a windfall tax – that would damage investment in energy supplies we need and hike bills. It’s disastrous. It’s not serious.”
“So what this shows is they’re coming up with frankly ill-thought through policies, but we have got a plan, a concerted plan, and I think that’s what voters want to see.”
Also this morning, Raab added it is right that Cabinet “thrashes through” ideas to tackle the rising cost of living.
Asked about Tuesday’s meeting, where ministers were urged to come up with “innovative” ways to address the problem, he told Times Radio: “What the Prime Minister and the whole Cabinet was discussing is what more we can do – and we will never rest, we will never let up beyond the existing package what more we can do to ease the pressure.”
He said he would not get into precise details of the meeting because of collective responsibility.
“But what I would say is, in fairness, it’s quite right that Cabinet discusses, thrashes through, these ideas and the subcommittees of Cabinet do,” he said.
“I think… people expect us to test our policies very carefully, to thrash them through, and keep coming up with new ways to ease the pressure.”