The Cult loves to give power to incompetents to hide its systematic demolition of human society.

 Labour is laying the ground for tax reforms this autumn that could spell misery for millions.

From September the Chancellor will be attempting to prepare the country for a difficult Budget that could be held in November, according to reports.

Rachel Reeves must find £50 billion in tax rises or spending cuts to balance the books, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said this week.

However, she has vowed to stick to her pledge to not raise income tax, national insurance or VAT – and will also keep her fiscal rules preventing more borrowing.

The NIESR said higher-than-expected public sector borrowing and weaker economic growth had left the Chancellor with an ‘impossible’ choice.

The Bank of England also warned that it is likely to slow the pace of interest cuts as soaring food prices caused by Labour’s tax increases threaten to drive inflation to 4 per cent this year.

Ms Reeves has already begun meetings with Sir Keir Starmer to draw up a plan for the Budget, according to The Guardian.

One tax that is almost certain to feature is a rise in gambling levies. The Chancellor said on Thursday: ‘We’ve launched a review into gambling taxes. We’ll set out our policies in our budget later this year.’

Another option that could be under consideration is to target a subsidy paid to High Street banks that costs taxpayers £20billion....<<<Read More>>>....

The UK’s Crisis Point is Fast Approaching

British viewers of Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday were treated to the spectacle of the Chancellor of the Exchequer visibly weeping as she glared, like a wronged spouse, at her boss, Sir Keir Starmer, from the front bench of the House of Commons.

We’ll come to the bigger story behind this image in due course, but the ‘optics’ of the moment, as the SpAds would put it, were too precious and too apposite not to memorialise. This is the nakedly visible representation not just of an individual in a spot of bother, but of an entire political order coming to an end. While all developed states are heading for economic, political, moral and spiritual crises, Britain is the leader of the pack. Its governing regime, the structure by which the ‘some’ have ruled the ‘many’ since 1997, is clapped out and beyond rescue. It has no ideas and it has, to use that old Match of the Day-ism, lost the dressing room. And one can almost see this realisation in Reeves’ expression – even while recognising that she may have had more personal reasons for her tears.

The reason why it is Britain that is at the cutting edge of global decline is that it is Britain that has most thoroughly embraced what Leo Strauss called ‘political hedonism’, meaning, essentially, the politicisation of the idea that the good is synonymous with the absence of displeasure....<<<Read More>>>...

Reeves in Tears as Starmer Refuses to Guarantee She Will Stay in Job

 Chancellor Rachel Reeves was visibly in tears during Prime Minister’s Questions today as Sir Keir Starmer refused to guarantee she would remain in role following last night’s welfare reform humiliation. The Telegraph has more.

Sir Keir Starmer failed to repeat a guarantee that Rachel Reeves will remain in her role as Chancellor for the whole of Labour’s first term in power as the Prime Minister remained under huge pressure over his welfare bill climbdown.

Kemi Badenoch took aim at a visibly emotional Ms Reeves during Prime Minister’s Questions and labelled the Chancellor a “human shield” for Sir Keir’s “incompetence”.

The Chancellor could be seen wiping tears from her face during PMQs although the exact reason why was not immediately clear.

Downing Street promised in January this year that Ms Reeves would remain as Chancellor for the duration of the five year parliament.

Mrs Badenoch asked Sir Keir to repeat the commitment.

Gesturing towards Ms Reeves, the Tory leader said: “She looks absolutely miserable. She looks absolutely miserable. Labour MPs are going on the record saying that the Chancellor is toast and the reality is that she is a human shield for his incompetence.

“In January he said that she would be in post until the next election. Will she really?”

Sir Keir said: “She certainly won’t [directed at Mrs Badenoch]. I have to say I am always cheered up when she asks me questions or responds to a statement because she always makes a complete mess of it and shows just how unserious and irrelevant they are.”

Mrs Badenoch then noted that Sir Keir had not guaranteed his Chancellor’s future.

“How awful for the Chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she will stay in place,” she said....<<<Read More>>>...

Spend Now, Tax Later! Reeves Splurges on NHS and Net Zero – But Where is the Money Coming From?

Rachel Reeves was accused of ‘spend now, tax later’ as she splashed the cash on the NHS and Net Zero today but with no clear sense of where the money was coming from. The Mail has more.

Unveiling the Spending Review in the Commons, the Chancellor claimed she is “renewing Britain”.

She is allocating huge sums to departments up to the end of the decade, after loosening the Government’s borrowing rules at the last Budget.

Ms Reeves boasted that her new approach means Labour can spend a staggering £300 billion more over the next five years than the Tories planned. That includes a 3% real-terms increase in day-to-day budgets for the NHS to 2029, worth £29 billion a year.

But Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride branded it the “spend now, tax later” review, warning the proposals are “fantasy” because Labour does not know where the money is coming from.

The generous fiscal envelope set last Autumn has been put under massive pressure by the economy slowing down and Donald Trump’s trade war.

There are demands to pump far more cash into defence, while Ms Reeves has already made an humiliating U-turn on winter fuel allowance cuts and is facing a Labour revolts on other benefits curbs.

That has led analysts and political rivals to argue that more tax increases are “inevitable” – although the funding gap will not crystalise until the next fiscal package.

Ms Reeves fuelled the speculation by telling MPs that there would be no change to her fiscal rules, and day-to-day spending must be covered by “tax receipts”. Doubts have also been raised about whether nearly £14 billion of ‘efficiencies’ pencilled into the plans will come to pass.

At PMQs before the Chancellor took to her feet, Keir Starmer dodged ruling out more tax rises – even though the Budget last year imposed the biggest increase for a single fiscal event in record.

The splurge was also not enough for some Labour figures, as the health service has sucked up so much of the available funding. London Mayor Sadiq Khan warned that Ms Reeves risked “levelling down” the capital by failing to sign off infrastructure projects, and said the funding settlement for police could mean fewer Met officers.

The backdrop to the decisions has been looking increasingly grim, with Labour trailing in the polls behind Reform – whom Ms Reeves repeatedly attacked from the despatch box.

Figures yesterday showed unemployment rising, and a survey found just 12% of Brits believe Ms Reeves is doing a good job.

Ministers have described the spending plans – equal to an extra £8,100 for every taxpayer in Britain – as “the end of austerity”....<<<Read More>>>....

Reeves’s Incompetence Means the UK is Heading for a Full-Blown Financial Crash, and Nothing Can Stop it Now

 Rachel Reeves’s disastrous mishandling of the thriving economy she inherited from the Tories means the UK is heading for a full-blown financial crash – and nothing can stop it now, says Matthew Lynn in the Telegraph. Here’s an excerpt.

In total, we borrowed a shocking £151.9 billion over the last 12 months, £20 billion more than the previous year, and much more than the Office for Budget Responsibility had forecast. Last month alone, we racked up another £16.4 billion in debt, the third highest March figure since records began.

In reality, the turmoil triggered earlier this month by Trump’s tariffs had obscured how precarious the UK’s financial position had become – and how rapidly the position is now deteriorating. The borrowing figures are getting relentlessly worse month-by-month.

It is not hard to work out why. The huge pay settlements for the public sector agreed by the Government over its first few weeks in office have driven up wage bills and added billions to the public sector payroll. Departments, led by Ed Miliband’s deranged green energy empire, have been spending far more than they were meant to. Local authorities have been left to pick up the welfare bills for the surge in asylum seekers.

Meanwhile, in a stagnant economy, corporation tax revenues have proved disappointing as companies struggle to make any money. VAT is no longer raising the amount expected as struggling households rein back their spending. Even worse, these are only the ‘provisional’ figures. If anyone feels like a bet, here is a certain winner. When the final numbers are tallied up, they will be far worse.

The borrowing numbers are only going to go higher over the course of the summer. The huge rise in National Insurance charges will hit the public sector as hard as any private sector employer; it will add hundreds of millions to the cost of employing the 6.1 million people who work for the Government...<<<Read More>>>....

UK Labour’s benefits crackdown ‘set to cut disability payments for 1million people’ – as Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves face backlash from own MPs

 One million people are set to lose their disability payments amid Labour‘s cost-cutting crackdown on benefits – causing uproar within the party.

The huge changes to the welfare system, due to be announced next week, are tipped to see only the most severely disabled people qualify for support amid an overhaul of eligibility criteria.

Cuts to the Personal Independence Payment (PIP), for those with a long-term condition which causes them to struggle with mobility or every tasks, will account for the bulk of the £5billion savings....<<<Read More>>>...

Rachel from accounts faces backlash – Labour MPs ‘mother of all rebellions’ over benefit cuts

 More than two dozen Labour MPs have broken ranks to oppose Rachel Reeves’s welfare cuts amid a growing backlash to her spring statement.

To date, nine MPs have confirmed they will vote against the proposals when they are put to a vote in the Commons. A further 19 have gone public with their opposition to the plans.

The Chancellor’s plans to bring down the benefits bill by £4.3 billion has prompted deep anger on the Left of the party.

According to the Government’s own impact assessment, its welfare cuts will push 250,000 people into poverty, including 50,000 children, while 3.2 million families will lose out financially....<<<Read More>>>...

UK Chancellor Spending Hundreds of Thousands on Legal Fees Defending Her VAT Raid on Private Schools

 In anticipation of an “unprecedented legal challenge”, Rachel Reeves is spending hundreds of thousands on legal fees to defend her controversial VAT raid on private schools. The Mail has the story.

Parents opposed to the 20% education tax are crowdfunding to enable them to launch next month’s landmark case at the High Court, on behalf of their children who have Special Educational Needs (SEN).

A legal source described them as “fighting to avert really dire scenarios on behalf of many claimants who are very, very vulnerable”.

Meanwhile the Chancellor, who is the defendant, has employed four KCs – the most experienced and expensive barristers in the land – to lead the Government’s case.

Losing in court could force the Government to abandon the tax, which affects all 550,000 pupils in the independent sector. Around 100,000 of these have special educational needs.

Legal experts said “the serried rank of barristers” was a clear sign the Government saw the case as a direct threat to “a manifesto promise” and an “unprecedented challenge”. One said: “It is very, very rare that a flagship piece of legislation like this is challenged in the courts.” …<<<Read More>>>...

Why is Rachel Reeves Cutting Benefits Before Defunding Gay Porn Studies?

 This week it was revealed that Chancellor Rachel Reeves is planning to make major cuts to benefits in her spring budget, with over £6 billion of welfare savings in the pipeline. These “will see far tougher tests imposed for a key disability benefit, some payments frozen in 2026, and major changes to the way Universal Credit is calculated”, according to one report.

Clearly the benefits system is a complete mess and one of many things bleeding Britain dry, with the UK forecast to spend £319.1 billion on the social security system in 2024-25. There’s no doubt that it needs a radical rethink and slimming down. But I wonder if Reeves could have picked on easier targets to make savings. Benefit cuts are controversial, and come with a real risk of harming vulnerable people, unfairly punished on behalf of others abusing the system. In short, why not go for some brazenly ridiculous things first (which I will show you in this article)?...<<<Read More>>>...

Keir Starmer warns Labour MPs that ‘unfair’ welfare bill must be slashed – as PM tries to defuse a growing rebellion over the issue

 Keir Starmer last night vowed to press ahead with benefit cuts as he branded the welfare system ‘unsustainable, indefensible and unfair.’

The Prime Minister tried to defuse a growing Labour rebellion over the issue by warning that failure to address welfare reform risked creating a ‘wasted generation’.

Rachel Reeves is looking to slash £6 billion off the benefits bill this month to help balance the books. Ministers are also looking at longer term reforms designed to curb a sickness benefits bill forecast to hit £70 billion by the end of the decade.

Addressing Labour MPs behind closed doors last night, the PM said: ‘We’ve found ourselves in a worst of all worlds situation – with the wrong incentives – discouraging people from working, the taxpayer funding a spiralling bill, £70 billion a year by 2030.’

He said one in eight young people were now not in education, employment or training, adding: ‘That’s unsustainable, it’s indefensible and it is unfair, people feel that in their bones.

‘It runs contrary to those deep British values that if you can work, you should. And if you want to work, the government should support you, not stop you.’

Sir Keir told his MPs that voters ‘want the status quo to be challenged’, as he vowed to be ‘ruthless and bold’ in driving through reforms.

His intervention came amid a growing Labour backlash over plans to balance the books by cutting benefits.

Labour sources say dozens of MPs are urging Rachel Reeves to change her ‘fiscal rules’ this month i to allow more borrowing and avoid cutting welfare.

Former frontbencher Rachel Maskell said the Chancellor should adopt ‘a carrot approach, not a stick approach’. She added: ‘We’ve got to make the right interventions and that doesn’t start with the stick.’

Asked about the mood among Labour MPs about the prospect of welfare cuts, she told the BBC: ‘All I have picked up is deep, deep concern and that’s clearly reflected from the stories we’re hearing from our constituents.’

Fellow Labour MP Neil Duncan Jordan said that cutting benefits would be ‘disastrous’ and urged the Chancellor to ‘tax the super-rich instead’.

Former Labour chancellor John McDonnell warned that welfare cuts would ‘cause great hardship and suffering,’ adding: ‘This is not what any Labour government was elected to do.’

Ministers are looking at long term reform of the benefits system as well as short term cuts as they try to bring the ballooning benefits bill under control.

Ms Reeves is seeking £6 billion in cuts this month after stuttering growth and rising government borrowing costs put her on course to break the fiscal rules she set out in October’s Budget....<<<Read More>>>...

Britain is heading for a deep, long recession

Labour MPs want a four-day working week. And they want more people to work from home. It’s going well. Nearly all civil servants will soon work from home and work a maximum of four days a week. Many nurses now work from home. (Honest.) Bus and train drivers will be next. Britain’s productivity is the lowest in the world and Labour seems determined to keep it that way. (Company bosses don’t agree on much but most do agree that working from home is a disaster, that a four-day week would result in massive bankruptcies and unemployment, that global warming doesn’t exist and that Net Zero is the route to disaster.) 

MPs in Britain have generously and reluctantly agreed to accept an inflation-busting pay rise. “We haven’t had an inflation-busting pay rise since our last pay rise!” said Daphne Grope-Gently the MP for the constituency of Fondling Under Water. 

UK’s Labour Party Chancellor Rachel Reeves increased the amount of financial support offered to vaccine manufacturer AstraZeneca from the initial proposal of £40 million but AstraZeneca says it isn’t enough and has waltzed off in a huff. (At which point Reeves should have told them they would not in future be allowed to sell their damned products to the NHS.) AstraZeneca is a £180 billion company which has forecast revenue of $80 billion by 2030, and makes such huge profits that it paid boss Pascal Soriot £14.7 million last year. Soriot has been paid nearly £120 million in the last decade. Reeves, happily throwing taxpayers’ money at AstraZeneca, is the woman who cut the winter fuel allowance for old age pensioners (“OAPs”), leaving thousands of impecunious old people to freeze to death.

Not long ago cancer affected one in three people. Today, after billions spent on research and screening, cancer affects one in two people. The war on cancer is going well, isn’t it?...<<<Read More>>>...

Britain Warned it May Already be in Recession as “Extended Agony” Hits Economy

 The UK may already be in recession as Rachel Reeves’s record tax raid brings “extended agony” for the economy, an investment bank has warned. The Telegraph has more.

National GDP may be shrinking after a swathe of Labour policies that have “notably damaged” economic growth, analysts at Shore Capital said.

The warning came as separate figures showed consumer confidence has plunged to a 12-month low as households worry that they will lose their jobs in the wake of the Budget.

Clive Black, of Shore Capital, said the UK may have entered 2025 in a “technical recession”, which is classed as two quarters of declining GDP.

He added: “The Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer have notably damaged the momentum of the UK economy since they came to power through their flawed messaging and policy announcements....<<<Read More>>>...

Rachel ‘the Grinch’ Reeves steals 45% of YOUR donations, charities say – as shocking cost of Chancellor’s National Insurance raid to good causes is revealed

 Rachel Reeves was dubbed the Christmas Grinch last night as it was revealed that her Budget tax grab means 45 pence in every pound donated to charity will now effectively go to the Government.

The Chancellor’s National Insurance raid will add an extra £1.4billion to wage bills in the already struggling voluntary sector, forcing bosses to decide whether to lay off staff or axe vital services.

Exclusive analysis by The Mail on Sunday shows that following Ms Reeves’ hikes, charities will hand over a total of £6.3 billion in National Insurance payments to HMRC next year – which is equivalent to 45 per cent of the £13.9 billion donated by the public.

Shadow Paymaster General Richard Holden called the Chancellor ‘a modern-day Grinch’ – the mean-spirited Dr Seuss character who steals a whole town’s Christmas gifts.

‘With her new National Insurance jobs tax snatching cash donated to those in need, she is dipping her hands deep in every charity collecting tin,’ he added. ‘People will be forced to rethink their generosity.’....<<<Read More>>>....

Government Hands Foreign Farmers £500m – the Same Amount the Inheritance Tax Raid is Projected to Raise

 Labour is continuing to hand out more than £500 million to foreign farmers – about the same amount projected to be raised by its inheritance tax raid on British farms that threatens to “destroy” them. The Telegraph has the story.

Fresh analysis shows more than £536 million is being spent across ten programmes in Africa, Asia, and South America, including in Brazil, the world’s 11th-richest country, where low-carbon agriculture is being funded.

Many of the schemes stretch for more than a decade, with one £206 million plan running until 2031 having launched in 2012.

One project worth £16 million is attempting to grow tea in Rwanda for the first time, according to figures from the Taxpayers’ Alliance seen by the Daily Express.

It comes after Chancellor Rachel Reeves sparked fury by cutting relief on death taxes for farms and businesses. The sweeping changes – predicted to raise £500m – mean farmers must now pay 20% tax on the value of their farm above £1 million.

Robert Jenrick, Shadow Cabinet Minister, criticised Labour for “spending hundreds of millions on foreign farmers while British livelihoods are destroyed by their cruel inheritance tax changes”.

He told the Express: “That will feel like a slap in the face for many British farmers. It’s not too late for Starmer to listen, admit he’s made a big mistake, and actually keep a promise he made at the election." ...<<<Read More>>>...

Starmer ‘fled like a rat’ as angry farmers besiege Welsh Labour conference

 Sir Keir Starmer was accused of “running out the back door like a flipping rat” to avoid scores of angry farmers outside protesting over controversial changes to death duties dubbed “the family farm tax”.

The prime minister had been giving a speech at the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno where he stood by the measures in Rachel Reeves’s much criticised Budget with a record £40bn in tax rises. But he didn’t directly acknowledge the growing backlash to inheritance tax changes which mean two-thirds of farmers would be liable to pay 20 per cent inheritance tax on family farms – a figure disputed by the Treasury. Hundreds of farmers had gathered on the promenade in Llandudno and were dismayed the PM did not appear to leave via the front of the conference centre....<<<Read More>>>...

Keir Starmer’s Labour Takes the Art of Political Lying to a Whole New Level

 Keir Starmer’s Labour has taken the ‘art’ of political lying to a whole new level, says Nick Timothy in the Telegraph. Denial after denial that it would raise taxes before the biggest tax-raising Budget in history. Here’s an excerpt.

Before the election Rachel Reeves said “we don’t need higher taxes. What we need is growth… and I have no plans to increase any taxes beyond those which we have already set out.” Then, Reeves said she would increase taxes by £8.5 billion, spending by £9.5 billion, and borrowing by £3.5 billion by 2028/29. Last week, she raised taxes by £40 billion, spending by £76 billion and borrowing by £36 billion.

This weekend, Reeves justified her broken promise, telling the BBC, “I didn’t know about the state of the public finances” before the election. But this was a lie on top of another lie. In June, before the election, her secret tax plans were reported in the Guardian. Labour sources had blabbed, saying upon arrival at the Treasury Reeves would claim to be surprised by her inheritance and seek a “doctor’s mandate” to raise taxes. “That is not what they are presenting the public with right now,” the sources admitted.

Such was the suspicion that Reeves would do this, she was forced to deny it in a pre-election interview in the Financial Times. “We’ve got the OBR now,” she said, explaining that the independent Office for Budget Responsibility meant “you don’t need to win an election” to know the details of the public finances. Among the tax rises she ruled out in that interview, two – capital gains tax and changes to inheritance tax reliefs – were in the Budget, and proposed in a report written by Reeves in 2018. …

And her claims about the so-called fiscal hole have also fallen apart. Before the Budget, the Treasury briefed the media that the OBR would publish a full breakdown of the £22 billion figure, and justify what Reeves has been saying since July. But that is not what happened. The OBR report identified £9.5 billion of in-year spending pressures – pressures of the kind that arise every year, and were never denied by the Tories – and said the remainder of Reeves’s claim was explained by Labour’s own public sector pay deals. “Nothing in our review,” the OBR Chairman said, “was a legitimisation of that £22 billion.” …

Reeves and her colleagues have taken the ‘art’ of political lying to a whole new level. Before the election the Environment Secretary, Steve Reed, said Labour had “no intention” of changing agricultural property relief for inheritance tax, and said it was “desperate nonsense” to claim otherwise. But the Budget cut the relief for thousands of farms. …<<<Read More>>>...

Starmer Suffers Biggest Fall in Popularity for New PM as Horror Budget Looms

 Sir Keir’s approval rating was at a high of plus-11 in July after Labour won the election with a landslide 174-seat majority – the biggest in 25 years – according to the poll, by More in Common.

But by this month, ahead of Rachel Reeves’ Budget on Wednesday, his personal rating had fallen to –38 – a net drop of 49.

It takes him below Rishi Sunak’s rating, which this month has improved from –37 when he lost the election to –31, according to the poll of 1,012 adults.

In comparison, Sir Tony Blair’s approval was still at plus-46 in August 1997, three months after his landslide victory, when the figure stood at plus-60. It took until summer 2000 before his rating turned negative.

David Cameron’s approval rating did not turn negative until the start of 2011, after he had defeated Labour and formed a coalition Government with the Liberal Democrats in 2010.

It was not until the “omnishambles” Budget of April 2012 that his rating dropped to just above –30.

Boris Johnson, who started off at –20 despite winning the 2019 election, had turned his rating around to plus three by January and then plus-14 by the following March....<<<Read More>>>...

Keir Starmer’s ‘insult’ to middle Britain: Furious row as PM suggests those with shares, property and savings are not ‘working people’

 Sir Keir Starmer was last night accused of plotting ‘class war’ against Middle Britain.

The Prime Minister faced a ferocious backlash after suggesting those who own shares, property and savings are not ‘working people’, and indicating that anyone with more than a few thousand pounds in assets was fair game for tax rises in next week’s Budget.

Labour has pledged to protect ‘working people’ in the October 30 statement when Chancellor Rachel Reeves is planning to hike taxes by a staggering £35 billion.

But asked to define the term yesterday, Sir Keir said it included someone who ‘goes out and earns their living, usually paid in a sort of monthly cheque’, but who does not have the resources to ‘write a cheque to get out of difficulties’.

Asked if someone who derives their incomes from assets, such as shares, property or savings would qualify as a working person, the Prime Minister said: ‘They wouldn’t come within my definition.’

His spokesman later scrambled to clarify that those with a ‘small amount of savings’ could still be defined as working people. This could include cash savings, or stocks and shares in a tax-free ISA, he suggested.

But landlords labelled the PM’s comments ‘insulting’ and ‘out of touch’. The focus on so-called ‘working people’ also alarmed pensioners, 10 million of whom have already been stripped of their winter fuel payments by Ms Reeves in her first act as Chancellor.

Tory MP Richard Holden said: ‘It appears that anyone with enough to pay for a minor emergency does not meet Sir Keir’s criteria of a “working person” and will be liable for big tax rises next week.’...<<<Read More>>>...

£22 Billion on Carbon Capture? It’s Hard to Think of a More Stupid Waste of Public Money

 The Government has pledged nearly £22bn for carbon capture and storage projects in a move that has united sceptics and alarmists in condemnation of the expensive and unproven technology. BBC News has more.

The Government said the funding for two “carbon capture clusters” on Merseyside and Teesside, promised over the next 25 years, would create thousands of jobs, attract private investment and help the U.K. meet climate goals.

Sir Keir Starmer, who is to visiting the north-west of England with Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband to confirm the projects, said the move would “reignite our industrial heartlands” and “kickstart growth”.

But some green campaigners have said the investment would “extend the life of planet-heating oil and gas production”.

Carbon capture and storage facilities aim to prevent carbon dioxide (CO2) produced from industrial processes and power stations from being released into the atmosphere.

Most of the CO2 produced is captured, transported, and then stored deep underground...<<<Read More>>>...

UK’s solution to unreliable “renewable” energy: Variable energy pricing plus smart meters means consumers will intermittently switch off their own electricity supply

 UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, despite his title of ‘Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero’, is facing criticism for policies that seem to contradict his duty to protect energy security. These policies include a proposed tax raid on North Sea oil and gas profits, effectively making the industry financially unviable, and a potential ban on new oil and gas fields in the North Sea.

The tax raid on North Sea oil and gas profits that Miliband is planning to impose, through Chancellor Rachel Reeves, will increase taxes on profits to a punitive 78 per cent.  This is in addition to stopping various tax breaks to the industry.

As Senior Research Fellow at the University of Bristol Rick Bradford argues, these policies will not decrease demand for oil and gas but rather benefit foreign suppliers at the expense of UK jobs and revenue. Furthermore, the government’s push for variable electricity pricing will make electricity unaffordable for most people when wind power is insufficient. “Less UK oil and gas production means a bonanza for foreign suppliers and a leaching of UK cash into their hands,” he said.

“Is the political class really that stupid, or is there an unrevealed agenda which explains this apparent absurdity?” he asked which leads to Bradford’s second point: variable electricity pricing.

Variable electricity pricing to consumers would mean prices vary every 30 minutes, as they do on the wholesale market, and be unknown in advance....<<<Read More>>>...