the times | Monday May 2 2022 7News
A windfall tax on oil and gas companies
would be a disincentive to investment,
the business secretary has said, days
after Rishi Sunak suggested he was
considering the idea.
Kwasi Kwarteng said that an extra
tax on energy companies’ profits would
be “arbitrary and unexpected”.
With Shell and BP poised to an-
nounce their highest profits for a
decade, the chancellor warned them
last week to invest more in the North
Sea and British renewable projects if
they want to escape a windfall tax.
Sunak’s intervention provoked some
surprise as a windfall tax is a flagship
Labour policy which the government
has consistently opposed.
But yesterday Kwarteng made clear
his continued opposition to the idea.
“I’ve never been a supporter of wind-
fall taxes,” he told Sky News. “I’ve been
very clear about that publicly. I think
they discourage investment.”
Kwarteng also told the BBC that “it
doesn’t make much sense to me to then
hit them with a windfall tax which is ar-
bitrary and unexpected”. He added: “I
don’t think that is the right way but I
would say that is not for me. That is for
the chancellor of the exchequer.”
Questioned over whether he was on
the same page as Sunak, Kwarteng
replied: “He is the chancellor of the ex-
chequer, he is responsible for tax policy.
“From my point of view, I want to see
investment in the North Sea, I really
want to see these assets developed and
also driving new technologies which
are going to green our economy and are
going to reduce carbon emissions, tech-
nologies like carbon capture.
“In order to get that going, in order to
get jobs, in order to get people working
in these exciting new technologies we
need investment and that investment is
going to come from the private sector.”
He has written to the industry de-
manding a “very clear plan” to spend
profits on accelerating domestic pro-PM is safe from rivals ‘whatever happens’
Henry ZeffmanBoris Johnson is “absolutely” safe as
prime minister whatever the local
election results on Thursday, a cabinet
minister said, amid claims that Jeremy
Hunt is preparing a leadership bid.
Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secre-
tary, said that Johnson’s leadership of
the Conservatives was not “at threat at
all”, even though the run-up to the polls
has been dominated by stories of
Downing Street parties.
Kwarteng also dismissed the pro-
spect of Hunt taking over. The former
health and foreign secretary, a distant
second to Johnson in the 2019 leader-
ship election, would be likely to have
the support of the One Nation group of
Tory MPs were there to be a contest.
His more low-key demeanour could
also appeal to others in contrast to
Johnson’s bombastic style and he could
benefit from the recent decline in the
political fortunes of Rishi Sunak, theambition to lead the Conservatives has
not “completely vanished”. He left the
cabinet when Johnson became prime
minister after declining a demotion
from foreign secretary to defence sec-
retary. He said that he was willing to ac-
cept only three roles: foreign secretary,
chancellor or deputy prime minister.
He is now chairman of the health and
social care select committee and has
been a prominent critic of the govern-
ment’s pandemic response.
One MP who wants Hunt to run said:
“A lot of colleagues have concluded
that the party requires someone who is
uncontaminated by Boris, who has
experience, and who is moral.” The Mail
on Sunday quoted another supporter
saying: “He’s definitely running. There’s
a significant groundswell of support.”
Hunt is understood to have been tell-
ing Tory MPs that he is an “economic
Thatcherite” and making overtures to
the 2019 intake, who do not know him
as well as other putative candidates.chancellor and previously undisputed
frontrunner to succeed.
Asked on Sky News about Hunt’s
ambitions, Kwarteng said: “Well,
Jeremy is a very capable colleague, he’s
a great friend. I don’t know what he’s up
to but as far as I’m concerned Boris
Johnson is the right man by far to lead
us into the next election.” He added:
“There are lots of rumours in Westmin-
ster. I wouldn’t believe all of them.”
Rehearsing the arguments loyalists
are expected to use if there is a move
against Johnson, Kwarteng said: “I
don’t think his leadership is at threat at
all. What he’s delivered is really a
remarkable series of successes. Brexit,
he’s delivered on that. I think the fact
that he was very widely appreciated in
Ukraine [shows] he is widely held as
someone who has led the Ukrainian
effort, the overseas effort to help
Ukraine. And also look at the vaccine
rollout, that was again a great success.”
Hunt, 55, has previously said that hisstarted Basic Instinct story
ample for his MPs. The Labour
leader told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on
Sunday: “We need to listen to
women and I’ve spoken to a
number of women in the last
few days and they’re very clear
that whilst there does need to
be culture change, those who
are engaged in this sort of ac-
tivity, whether it’s com-
ments about Angela
Rayner or whether it’s
watching porn in the
House of Commons,
have to take responsi-
bility.”
Johnson has threat-
ened to unleash “the
terrors of the earth” on
the MP behind the
claims about Rayner. He
has described the story as
“the most appalling load
of sexist, misogynist
tripe”.It has been alleged that she later
joked with colleagues about this
comparison and the Conserva-
tives say this was the incident
that was leaked to The Mail on
Sunday.
The newspaper has defend-
ed its article in the face of vo-
ciferous criticism from across
the political spectrum.
Rayner denied making
the comments attributed to
her by the paper and said
she felt “crestfallen”.
Sir Keir Starmer called
for behavioural and cul-
tural change to tackle
sleaze in Westminster,
suggesting Boris John-
son must set a better ex-Angela Rayner said she
was “mortified” by
memes comparing her
to Sharon StoneNews
to replace MP in porn shame
Kwarteng at odds
with chancellor on
energy windfall tax
Henry Zeffman duction and clean energy before a
meeting in the coming weeks.
In an online discussion with Mums-
net last week, Sunak toyed with the pos-
sibility of a windfall tax. “If we don’t see
that type of investment coming for-
ward, and if the companies are not
going to make those investments in our
country and in our energy security,
then of course that’s something I would
look at,” he said.
Boris Johnson is due to meet energy
companies this week in the hope of
confirming further commitments on
UK energy after Shell announced plans
for £25 billion in projects over the next
decade.
Ministers are adopting a tougher
posture as they fear the political fallout
of results statements from BP and Shell.
They are expected to show underlying
profits surging to a combined £10 bil-
lion for the first three months of the
year, double the same period last year.
The companies have benefited from
surging oil and gas prices after Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine. BP is today fore-
cast to report an underlying net profit
of £3.6 billion — up from £2.1 billion re-
ported a year earlier.
Government sources accept that
they cannot be seen to be defending
rising energy company profits when
voters in Thursday’s local elections are
struggling with the cost of living.
Ministers have repeatedly rejected
the idea of a windfall tax and Johnson’s
spokesman said last week that the gov-
ernment “don’t think this particular ap-
proach is the right one”.
However, he added: “It’s right that we
keep all options on the table because
these companies must step up to in-
vest.”
Power and gas prices for millions of
households rose 54 per cent from April
when the regulator Ofgem increased
its cap on the most widely used tariffs
after wholesale global gas prices hit
record highs. Since the new cap,
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has driven
global gas prices even higher.ELLIOTT FRANKS