Good morning. While partygate has dominated the headlines for weeks, most politicians believe that the cost of living crisis is the story that will affect lives most this year and frame the battleground for the next election. And today it is bursting right to the top of the news agenda.
Ofgem, the energy regulator, will this morning announce a rise in the cap on energy bills that will effectively amount to the steepest increase in the amount people pay for heating ever recorded. The announcement has been brought forward so that it can be timed to coincide with a parallel announcement from Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, about what the government is going to do to help.
As Jillian Ambrose and Rowena Mason report in their overnight story, Sunak is expected to announce a series of measures, combining loans to energy companies to allow them to offer consumers discounts – a measure that should help everyone – plus targeted measures for poorer families, which are likely to involve council tax discounts and the extension of benefits that help with fuel costs.
However, for most consumers, these measures are only expected to lessen the impact of rising bills; people are still expected to face soaring costs.
This morning Labour has renewed its calls for a windfall tax on the profits of energy companies to help fund measures that would help families pay their bill. After Shell declared that 2021 had been a “momentous” year for the company as it announced its latest earning figures, Ed Miliband, the shadow secretary of state for climate and net zero, said:
With oil and gas profits booming in recent months because of the spike in energy prices, it is clearer than ever that the North Sea oil and gas producers who have made a fortune recently should be asked to contribute.
Labour would keep energy bills low, and we wouldn’t be landing costs with bill payers as they head into a spring of higher taxes and rising prices.
Our plan, part paid for with a one-off windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas profits, would save most households £200 off their bills, with targeted support of up to £400 on top of that to the squeezed middle, pensioners and the lowest earners.
Labour will reform our broken energy system so we deliver the green transition we need, energy security, and bills that are affordable.
It was Miliband, of course, who first proposed an energy price cap when he was Labour leader in 2013. At the time the Conservatives rubbished the ideas as Marxist, but Theresa May subsequently adopted the proposal and now it is one of those policies (like the minimum wage, devolution or gay marriage) that has gone from being highly controversial to having such strong cross-party support that it is probably here for good.
I shall be covering the political aspects of this story, but my colleague Graeme Wearden will be covering the business side, including the probable announcement of a rise in interest rates from the Bank of England, his business live blog. It’s here.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9am: Keir Starmer gives a speech on trust at Edelman.
10am: Tony Danker, the CBI director general, gives a speech to the Centre for Policy Studies.
After 10.30am: Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, takes questions from MPs on next week’s Commons business.
11am: Ofgem makes its announcement about the energy price cap.
11am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
Around 11.30am: Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, makes a statement to MPs on measures to help households with the cost of living.
12pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, takes questions in the Scottish parliament.
5pm: Sunak holds a press conference.
Also, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, are on a visit in the north-west.
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