OPINION – LEE ANDERSON MP: Rachel Reeves is poised to do what she does finest.
Rachel Reeves Chancellor of the Exchequer. (Picture: Ian Vogler)
Weeks into the Iran battle, one factor is obvious: it isn’t ending any time quickly. The standoff within the Strait of Hormuz has thrown international oil markets into turmoil – and it’s odd Brits who’re footing the invoice. We’ve been right here earlier than. Increased costs on the pump imply the price of on a regular basis errands just like the meals store and the college run are rising, consuming into family budgets. For the households and small enterprise house owners already stretched to breaking level, it is a second cost-of-living disaster in all however title.
Sadly, the worst is but to come back. Successive governments have did not again British vitality, that means we import the vast majority of our fuel and are dangerously uncovered to international shocks just like the warfare in Iran. The end result? Our development forecast has been downgraded greater than another G7 financial system, and inflation is about to spiral.
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Learn extra: Rachel Reeves confirms new £360 cost for drivers
Whereas different governments are stepping in to assist their folks, this Authorities is doing what it does finest – dithering.
Australia, Germany and Canada have all slashed gas obligation for the summer season. Poland has capped pump costs. They get it. When there’s a disaster, you act.
Right here in Britain? Now we have Rachel from Accounts pulling vitality bosses into the Treasury for stern phrases and finger wagging, and eco-zealot Ed Miliband stopping us from exploiting our oil reserves within the North Sea. All this while the Prime Minister bumbles round making an attempt to arrange an completely meaningless ‘Strait of Hormuz Maritime Navigation Initiative’.
These measures aren’t going to get costs down. And everybody is aware of it.
The reality is, this Authorities isn’t simply failing to assist – it’s actively making issues worse.
Even earlier than the Iran disaster, the Chancellor was stoking inflation by way of deliberate selections designed to placate her personal backbenchers, on the nation’s expense.
Now, as households grapple with a world vitality shock, Rachel Reeves is urgent forward with additional inflationary tax rises.
Gasoline obligation remains to be set to extend in September. Let that sink in. Simply as motorists are being hammered on the pumps, the Treasury is making ready to push costs even increased.
And it doesn’t cease there.
A raft of stealth taxes is being piled on – increased duties on alcohol, vaping, and tobacco. Small will increase in isolation, however collectively they add as much as a gradual squeeze on family budgets. Easing these taxes, which this Authorities can do if it chooses, would scale back inflation and make folks higher off. As a substitute, they do the alternative.
You don’t want a level in economics to see what occurs subsequent. Costs go up. It prices extra to move items. Extra to run a enterprise. Extra to stay your life.
And guess who pays? The hard-working households of Britain. As a result of except you are sponging off the state, this authorities doesn’t look after you.
That’s the truth of what’s coming – a double squeeze: international occasions pushing costs up on one aspect. And a Authorities right here at house is making it even worse on the opposite.
It doesn’t need to be like this.
The options are staring us within the face.
Grant new North Sea licences now. The reserves are there, the infrastructure exists, and each barrel we extract is a barrel we don’t purchase from another person at disaster costs. Scrap the September gas obligation rise. Freeze the deliberate tax will increase on on a regular basis items for an outlined interval.
Different nations didn’t sit round scratching their heads. They acted. As a result of that’s what governing in a disaster requires.
Governments are answerable for defending their folks. This authorities is taxing them as an alternative, and households are paying the worth.
Come the Might elections, we’ll see what worth the Authorities pays.
Lee Anderson is the Reform Occasion MP for Ashfield
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