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Mel Stride, the Conservative chair of the Commons Treasury committee, has become the latest senior Tory to say there is a case for looking at a windfall tax on energy companies.
Speaking on the Today programme, and referring to an interview yesterday in which Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, said a windfall tax would be a bad idea, Stride said:
I think you have to take a balanced view of all these things, Kwasi’s absolutely right that, in principle, putting up taxes unannounced, effectively, retrospectively, just puts a large sign up that says, ‘it’s not a good place to invest’, and we don’t want to do that.
At the same time, we are in extraordinary circumstances, the supernormal profits that these companies have made are vast, and I personally think there is a case now for looking at a one-off windfall tax and channelling that money in towards those who are really struggling and are bearing the brunt of these cost-of-living challenges.
Words don’t cut it for me. I need action … I want his words translated into clear action.