Labour is still searching for an energy fix for a new world
Source: The Guardian ·
The chancellor is right to focus on pure affordability, but £100 handouts and delayed decisions won’t shield consumers from the next wave of price hikesAmid the myriad of small measures, virtually everything in John Healey’s budget came back to the cost of energy. The higher energy prices that have resulted from the Iran war have pushed up inflation, are eating into households’ incomes, are a…
From the source
Amid the myriad of small measures, virtually everything in John Healey’s budget came back to the cost of energy. The higher energy prices that have resulted from the Iran war have pushed up inflation, are eating into households’ incomes, are a drag on businesses – and are the main reason why the forecast for GDP growth next year was cut from 1.6% to just 1%. And energy was the focus of Healey’s sole surprise in his consumer-facing policies – the £100 payment to 20m households in A-D council tax bands to help with fuel bills this winter. It will be funded, in effect, by tapping the banks for a few quid for 15 months via the bank surcharge. But the chancellor will know that £100 won’t look generous when the bills land. Gas prices are still rising, and leading supplier EDF’s latest prediction is that the regulator’s price cap will be hiked by £466 in January, pushing the annual rate for an average household to £2,189. When Labour took office in July 2024, talking naively about taking…