Commons Chamber

Tuesday 24th March 2026

(began 2 hours, 7 minutes ago)

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11:34
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None Portrait Q1. Whether he has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on global taxes on oil and gas companies in the context of the proposed UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation. (908481)
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Question number one. Although we remain closely engaged, the UN Framework Convention is focussed on improving effective and inclusive international tax cooperation, not on creating cooperation, not on creating specific global taxes on oil and gas companies.
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Claire Coutinho Portrait Rt Hon Claire Coutinho MP (East Surrey, Conservative)
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Shadow Secretary of State Claire Coutinho you. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Speaker. This government is taxing people up the wazoo and piling cost after cost onto their energy bills. People on 30 or £40,000 a year who are not well off are being hammered to pay for welfare when they are already working all hours to support their own families. Now we hear the Labour Party are about to go back to the taxpayer again to subsidise

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those on welfare, but their first port of call should be to adopt our cheap power plan. Yes.

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Yes. It would cut electricity electricity bills by 20% for electricity bills by 20% for everybody by cutting green taxes and levies, and it wouldn't cost the taxpayer a penny. Why won't

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they? Their their plan is totally incredible, Mr. Speaker, and she incredible, Mr. Speaker, and she knows it. Their their plan, their plan on renew their plan on renewables is just to tear up the contracts. And they had 14 years to do it and they didn't do it. Why? Because they know they can't. But I have to say to her, if she is talking about tax, it is quite extraordinary that her position is now to abolish the windfall tax, now to abolish the windfall tax, which has raised £12 billion since it was introduced in 2022.

The difference between us and them is difference between us and them is that we're willing to tax the oil and gas companies to help ordinary families.
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None Portrait Q7. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of trends in the level of methane harvested from landfill sites on energy security. (908487)
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Sarah Hall Mr. Speaker.
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Rachel Reeves Portrait Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP, The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Leeds West and Pudsey, Labour)
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to the House today about the government's continued response to government's continued response to the war in the Middle East. Let me start by paying tribute to our armed forces. And my thoughts and armed forces. And my thoughts and those of the whole House remain with them, and those whose lives have been disrupted by this have been disrupted by this conflict since I last addressed this House, the costs of oil and this House, the costs of oil and gas have remained high, and last week the Bank of England estimated that inflation could be between 3 and 3.5% in the next few quarters.

The full economic impact of the war remains uncertain, but it makes our economic plan even more important to build prosperity that is secure and resilient, and to bear down on the cost of living and protect the public finances delivered through our ironclad fiscal rules. And today, I will set out further action that I am taking first on global collaboration. Last week, the Prime Minister authorised the US to use UK military bases to defend the Strait of Hormuz. It remains the case that the best way to protect families and businesses is rapid de-escalation of this conflict, and to strengthen our collective security, I have announced that we will explore new defence financing and procurement mechanism with the Netherlands, Finland and other EU and NATO partners.

I welcome the IEA decision to authorise a coordinated release of our collective reserves to alleviate the immediate pressure on supply, and the UK has now begun the release of our share of 13.5 million barrels of oil. Second, on our energy security, the last government's failure to invest in energy was a failure to protect our country. But through determined action, this government is taking control of our own energy supply. Investing in renewables, lifting the ban on onshore wind and streamlining grid connections, running the biggest offshore wind auction in European history last year, and bringing the next renewable auction forward to this July, and driving forward negotiations on the UK's participation in the EU internal energy electricity market.

We must guarantee our domestic oil and gas industry can also play a role in our energy system for decades to come, and so I can confirm that we are encouraging investment in Tiebacks to make the most of our existing production facilities. We are rewriting the story on nuclear to construction, on Sizewell C, agreeing an extension to Sizewell B, and we are due to sign the contracts on the UK's first small modular reactors in Anglesey, in partnership with Rolls-Royce.

I will not tolerate red tape and vested interests holding back our energy security, so our new planning rules will unblock the pipeline of critical infrastructure projects. I can announce today that we will legislate to implement the Finkel review in the next parliamentary session. And I recently wrote to industry and regulators to get them to set out their plans to fast track that implementation in full to the parties opposite who like to talk big about energy security, but then vote against the very infrastructure to build it.

Let me say this it is time to put our country first, and I can confirm today that we are developing options to back critical energy projects with indemnities if their planning consent is challenged, so that we don't waste a single moment in protecting our energy security. Because energy security is national security. Third, on households and businesses, I know that when prices rise and incomes are squeezed, people look to the government and ask, what are you doing to help? That is why, since the election, we have delivered and funded 30 hours of free childcare for working parents.

Wages are rising faster than prices for every month that I have been Chancellor, and free breakfast clubs being rolled out at our primary schools from next week. The two child limit gone. They've day one sick pay in and another rise in the National Living wage. Prescription charges, frozen train fares frozen, the fuel duty frozen and the State Pension increasing next week by £575. And for businesses, £4.3 billion in business rate support. The Regulation Action Plan, cutting admin costs for businesses and the supercharger discount, followed next year by the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme to take money off business energy bills.

But I know that there is more to do on trade. I can confirm to the House that we are aiming to conclude negotiations with the EU this year on the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement, which will directly impact food prices in our shops, and I have asked officials to look at where there are targeted reductions to agri food tariffs, which can help bring down food prices too. Balancing this with implications on domestic producers and food security. And later this week, I am holding meetings with supermarkets and with banks to discuss how they can further support their customers.

We have a world class competition and consumer protection regime, and since my last statement, the Competition and Markets Authority have stepped up their statutory monitoring of fuel prices and I will update on fuel pricing within the next month. They are working with government to monitor the cost of household essentials for both price rises and disruption, and they've launched a market study into heating oil. Today I can announce that we are going further to make sure that the Competition and Markets Authority have the powers that they need that were denied to them by the previous government to detect and to crack down on price gouging, bringing in a new Anti-profiteering framework and considering time limited targeted powers for the CMA and other regulators.

This week, the Business Secretary and I will convene the Regulators Council to discuss their work to protect consumers. Because let me say again, this government will not tolerate any company exploiting this crisis at consumers expense. Finally, I want to update the House on how I am preparing for this conflict as it goes on. I know that families and businesses are worried about the impact of rising prices. I have said that we will be responsive to a changing world and responsible in the national interest.

And today I want to set out in more detail what that means. First, responsive. We do not yet know what the full impact of this conflict will be, so we must be agile in responding appropriately. At each moment. We extended the £0.05 fuel duty cut and we have pushed out the cheaper fuel finder, empowering people to avoid rip off prices and chasing down the last few filling stations to reach 100% compliance when hosting kerosene prices. Wholesale kerosene prices more than doubled overnight.

We stepped in with £53 million of support to those who needed it most within a matter of days, and from next week, households will benefit from £150 off of their energy bills. Thanks to the action that I took in my Budget, with the price cap giving households certainty on their bills until July ahead of the winter months, when people use 78% of their gas. Second, we will be responsible. The spring forecast showed that the government has the right economic plan, restoring stability to our country's finances and family finances.

I will not put that stability at risk as we respond to this crisis. We must learn the mistakes of the past. The previous government, the previous government pushed up borrowing, interest rates, inflation and mortgage costs with an unfunded untargeted package of support under Liz Truss that gave the support to the most wealthiest of households between 2022 and 2024. Under the last government, households in the top income decile received an average of £1,350 of Direct Energy bill support.

That left us with high levels of national debt. A check written then for a bill that is still being paid today, I can confirm to the House that contingency planning is taking place for every eventuality, so that we can keep costs down for everyone and provide support for those who need it most. Acting within our ironclad fiscal rules to keep inflation and interest rates as low as possible. Mr. speaker, this is not a war that we started, nor is it a war that we joined.

Unlike the advice of the parties opposite. But it is a war that will have an impact on our country. The challenges may be significant, but I promise to do what is right and fair. Being responsive in a changing world and responsible in the national interest. And I commend this statement to the House.
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Mel Stride Portrait Rt Hon Sir Mel Stride MP (Central Devon, Conservative)
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Shadow Chancellor, Mel Stride. >> Mr. Speaker, and can I thank the of. >> Her statement.

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Her statement. Mr. speaker, the right hon. Lady comes to this House with an economy comes to this House with an economy in tatters. She would have us believe that she has delivered the stability and resilience that can weather the storm ahead. But she has done nothing of the kind. When she came into office, she ramped up borrowing and spending and hiked taxes to record levels. She was warned at the time by the OBR and others that her policies would mean higher inflation, higher borrowing costs, higher interest rates and that she would destroy jobs.

Yes, all of that, Mr. Speaker, has come to pass. Yes, her mismanagement and foolish choices have given us the highest inflation in the G7, the highest borrowing costs of any major advanced economy, with gilt yields higher than Greece and Morocco, fragile fiscal headroom, the highest unemployment since the pandemic, and rising, and GDP per capita falling under this government. Mr. speaker, we are getting poorer and our economy is increasingly fragile and far from secure and resilient.

And despite what the right hon. Lady has just said about tie backs, nothing exemplifies this government's economic folly more than its approach to oil and gas. The utterly misguided net zero obsessions of the Energy Secretary have led to the absurdity of reduced extraction. Whilst we see jobs destroyed, tax revenues forgone and energy security smashed and the greatest tragedy of all, Mr. Speaker, that in Jackdaw and Rosebank we have fields ready to go. In just months they could be pumping vital relief to millions.

Jackdaw alone has enough gas to supply over 1.5 million homes, yet the right hon. Lady has nothing to

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say on that matter. You've done that today. And less oil and gas extraction

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And less oil and gas extraction means greater dependency and less security. This road leads to ruin.

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security. This road leads to ruin. Yes. On energy, on the cost of living, on jobs, on growth, on public on jobs, on growth, on public finances, on every measure that matters. This Chancellor has left matters. This Chancellor has left us weak, weak, weak. And in the face of this energy shock, there are millions who are about to suffer as a result. So, with respect to her statement today, could I ask her how many fuel retailers have yet to engage with the new Fuel Finder service? And can she comment on the widespread reports of technical glitches and out of date price information? She mentions a small modular reactor planned for Will Forster, but given the need, can she explain why she has chosen not to go ahead with the large scale nuclear site that was signed off by the last conservative government, and specifically on energy costs support? Can I ask her what fiscal capacity does the right hon.

Lady believe she has to support those in need? What is her plan to ensure that any targeted approach truly reaches all those who are in need? And on the matter of targeting? In her statement, Mr. Speaker, the Chancellor criticised the last conservative government support package for not being targeted. But what she failed to mention is that the now Prime Minister was then urging for support to be universal. Indeed, he said at that time that Labour's approach would ensure, and I quote, that no household would pay a penny more on their bills, no consistency from the right hon.

Lady. How is she going to ensure that support for those depending on heating oil reaches those who need it most? This support, Mr. Speaker, will, of course, under this government, be funded through the taxes of hard working people. Indeed, the reduction to energy bills this April is simply being taken from bills and being dumped onto the

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shoulders of hard pressed taxpayers. Yes. But it does not need to be this

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But it does not need to be this way, for it is not the critical question. This where is the control question. This where is the control of public spending? Where is the renewed resolve to grasp the welfare bill, to get people off welfare bill, to get people off benefits and into work? I will tell you, Mr. Speaker, it is nowhere because the right hon. Lady is a captive of her own Back benchers, and she has brought our economy one step from its knees.

She knows it, the country knows it. And now we must all brace ourselves for what is to come, not from a position of strength, as the right hon. Lady is so desperate to have us believe, but from a position of weakness of her own making.
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Rachel Reeves Portrait Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP, The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Leeds West and Pudsey, Labour)
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Of the Exchequer. revealed that the Shadow Chancellor is utterly out of his depth. Mr. speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, in the last 20 months, we've had six cuts in interest rates. We have more than doubled the fiscal headroom compared with the headroom that I inherited from the party opposite. For the first time in six years, our deficit is less than 5% of GDP, and wages have increased by more than inflation. For every single month that I have been Chancellor of the Exchequer, compared to the record of the previous conservative government, which is the only Parliament on record where people were poorer at the end of it than they were at the beginning.

So I prefer my record to their record any day of the week now. Mr. Mr. speaker, the Shadow Chancellor says that we should act. Well, we have acted, but what the Shadow Chancellor fails to mention is that his party supported us being involved in this conflict. Whilst we have called for de-escalation, the Leader of the Opposition said that we should be a participant in this conflict. The damage that that would have done to our economy would have been immense.

And yet they make no apology for that. The Leader of the Opposition said yesterday about the Prime Minister that if he is creating a support package that is going to be done with taxpayers money, then he thinks that she thinks that we should be doing things that aren't going to cost the taxpayers money. So on the one hand, you've got the shadow Chancellor saying that we should do more and put in more money, and then you've got the Leader of the Opposition saying we shouldn't do anything.

So where do the party opposite now sit on the £53 million support that we gave on heating oil, because that was using taxpayers money to support those who needed it most. It was the right thing to do. But now the Leader of the Opposition seems to suggest that that was the wrong thing to do. Now, the shadow Chancellor asked a few specific questions on the cheaper fuel finder that we have introduced. More than 90% of retailers have now signed up to it, and of that 90%, all of them are updating their prices regularly.

And we, along with the Competition and Markets Authority, are chasing down the final few that have not submitted their prices on small modular reactors. The party opposite say they supported it. They had 14 years and they put not a single penny of money into it. And the same is true of Sizewell C. You can't, on the one hand, say that you think that we should spend less money and then at the same time say that we should be supporting Sizewell C and small modular reactors because everything has to be paid for in terms of fiscal capacity.

We have more than doubled the headroom compared to what I inherited from the Conservatives. It was less than £10 billion when I became Chancellor of the Exchequer. It is now nearly £24 billion because of the actions that I have taken. The Shadow Chancellor says that we haven't built contingency where the exact opposite is the case. Now the Shadow Chancellor says, what about Rosebank and Jackdaw? Well, it was because of the failure to do the work properly that it was challenged in the courts and one month after the previous government left office because they were kicked out, the courts came back and said that we had to re consider scope three emissions.

The regulator, the energy companies, Shell and Equinor, resubmitted their plans at the end of last year. The regulators.

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Sorry, between both of you, you can both go and have that discussion outside. If you can't be quiet in here.

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quiet in here. Chancellor of the Exchequer this is important because the energy companies came back. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Came back at the end of Speaker. Came back at the end of last year with their revised plans. The regulators are now considering those. And my right hon. Friend, those. And my right hon. Friend, the Energy Secretary will make a decision ahead of the autumn to decision ahead of the autumn to decide whether it is legal to go ahead with those. But we made a commitment in our manifesto to honour existing licences.

It's only because of the failure of the previous government to consult that we are in this position in the first place, and the the hon. Gentleman, the right hon. Gentleman says that if we cut the welfare bill we will be able to help people. Well, I'm afraid they had 14 years, and he was the Welfare Secretary when the bills ballooned. So, frankly, we'll take no lessons from the party opposite. It is only Labour that can be responsive to the immediate challenges, because we have been responsible with the public finances, committed to our long term energy security and committed to making the right decisions in the national interest.

Finance.
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Daisy Cooper Portrait Daisy Cooper MP (St Albans, Liberal Democrat)
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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Chancellor for advance sight of the Chancellor for advance sight of her statement and our thoughts are also with our brave armed forces at this time. I agree that the last government's failure to invest in energy was a failure to protect our country. Today, we face the stark reality where we cannot guarantee our national security, our energy security, or our food security. When Liberal Democrats were in government, we launched the auction for onshore wind and we established the Green Investment Bank, helping drive down costs and quadruple renewable energy.

The Conservatives decision to scrap the green Investment Bank has left our energy system more exposed, and should be worn as a badge of shame to shore up our energy security and to tackle the energy crisis. We Liberal Democrats have consistently argued for a three pronged approach first, to reduce energy demand by incentivising households and businesses to invest in energy efficiency without the tax penalties built into the business rate system or prohibitive upfront costs. Second, to fix the broken energy market that is unfairly inflating prices, especially for small businesses on our high streets.

And third, to provide targeted support for the most vulnerable and for those with the highest energy needs. So I urge the Chancellor to consider our proposals to create an energy security bank to offer low interest loans for energy saving improvements for households and small businesses, to reverse the cuts to home insulation programs, and to exempt business investment in energy efficiency from business rates calculations. Whilst action from the Competition and Markets Authority is welcome, it is not enough. Small businesses have been blocked from the best energy deals for years.

Well before Donald Trump started bombing Iran. Yet there has still been no CMA investigation into suppliers blocking access to these fair deals. So I ask the Chancellor again, will she please instruct the CMA to do this investigation without delay on targeted support? Families are fearful. Will the Chancellor consider zero rating VAT on heating oil and LPG? Will she consider introducing a price cap mechanism for off grid fuels? Will she commit to halving energy bills over the next decade by reforming pricing structures? And if bills rise to more than £400 a year, as some are warning, will the Chancellor commit to coming back to this House and outlining a broader support package so that all struggling households, or many struggling households, do not face a crippling hit of that scale?
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Rachel Reeves Portrait Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP, The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Leeds West and Pudsey, Labour)
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I thank the hon. Lady for her questions. Nick Clegg once said it will take ten years to get nuclear power up and running, so there wasn't any point in doing it. It would only come in in the 2020s. Well, imagine if that deputy Prime Minister hadn't blocked investment in nuclear energy then, and we would be able to get the benefits of it today. Well, you had a chance when you were in government and you did absolutely nothing. And the party opposite oppose onshore wind, which is also helping to bring down bills in terms of supporting investment in renewables and energy security.

We have created the National Wealth Fund, which is prioritising investment in defence and also in energy security, including in things like critical minerals in Cornwall, carbon capture and storage, and the rollout of chargers for electric vehicles. And we have also put £14 billion into the Warm Homes Plan to help subsidise and support people to make energy improvements in their home to reduce their energy consumption and therefore reduce their bills alongside the Warm Homes discount and where we have doubled the number of people who are eligible for it on businesses, we are through the business rates consultation looking at improvement relief to ensure that if people do make improvements, including on energy efficiency, that they won't then be whacked with higher business rates and on heating oil.

The hon. Lady said we should cut VAT on it. When they were in government, they increased VAT on everything. So it's a bit rich to say that they want to cut it now. But we have asked the Competition and Markets Authority to do a review on inter heating oil, which I set out today, as well as the £53 million of support that we've put in. But there seems to be a sort of slight contradiction in what the hon. Lady is saying between whether she wants targeted support or blanket support.

And I would argue that the progressive, universal approach that we're taking is the right one £150 off everyone's energy bills, but then targeted support for those who need it most, because we cannot repeat what happened when Liz Truss was Prime Minister, because a check was written then and we are now paying the price with higher interest rates, inflation and taxes than we would otherwise have to have.
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