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Starmer is in tune with the public – politicalbetting.com

SystemSystem Posts: 11,002
edited September 2022 in General
Starmer is in tune with the public – politicalbetting.com

68% of Britons (including 64% of Tory voters) say that the government should introduce an increased windfall tax on oil and gas companies to help pay for Liz Truss's £2,500 cap on energy priceshttps://t.co/MZANQyroUx pic.twitter.com/dN4WeOgElP

Read the full story here

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Comments

  • JACK_WJACK_W Posts: 651
    Jack W in tune with Mrs Jack W .... (entirely necessary) :sunglasses:
  • HeathenerHeathener Posts: 5,096
    Totally agree with you TSE. In a time of crisis the profits that these companies are making is obscene.

    And what everyone realises is that someone has to pay for the capping. If it's not the companies themselves, then who?
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 12,415
    edited September 2022
    On topic. Thank you TSE. What is bizarre, in what way would it actually hurt the Truss government to extend the windfall tax a bit - rather than be at odds with the voters and focus groups, so not get enough credit they should get?

    It’s not Tory ideology they are following - Lady Thatcher was quick to take windfall tax from companies raking it in during recession and crisis, when everyone else was suffering. Truss is going the opposite way from how Lady Thatcher showed her the right way to go. Like I said, this government is confused and bizarre.

    The Energy companies could make more than £150B from this crisis, and up to one fifth cannot be taken without it being unfair or investment getting hammered? the Thatcher government would have taken at least a fifth from energy companies profits here to partly fund the crisis plan - basing my opinion confidently on fact this exactly what Thatcher government did do to banks and energy companies in the recession hit early eighties, because here was particular industry not suffering enough as the working families and businesses, which government chose to side with via redistribution of the windfall profit - such clever politics was the foundation of Lady Thatcher’s subsequent landslide wins. Remember it was Starmer’s very first PMQ question to the new PM - do you rule out any more windfall tax, I am convinced Truss got off to an awful start giving a straight answer to that.

    If the £170B ballpark figure for windfall profit is anywhere near accurate, taking one fifth, still leaving behind four fifths of massive windfall profit) the one fifth can be more than £30B. It clearly doesn’t pay all of a £150B or £220B package - everyone will be paying majority the debt off in both tax and higher bills for decades to come.

    Those are the fiscal truths. The political truth is not only it is now easier for opposition to paint Truss as in pocket of fat cats, but she chose this road. Margaret Thatcher will be turning in her grave at a Tory leader choosing this route.

    Truss has instantly proved she ain’t no Maggie Thatcher - she’s not in that league of politician.

  • TazTaz Posts: 10,703
    Of,course starmer is in tune with the public. People want stuff and they want others to pay for it.
  • TazTaz Posts: 10,703
    Sandpit said:

    Jeez, not this one again. Terrible poling question, based on political talking points with no context.

    The companies making money are Saudi Aramco and Qatargas - how does the UK government tax them?

    Taxes on UK domestic extraction are currently 69%, by how much should these rise?

    A question to which Starmer had no answer and just blustered in Parliament.
  • Taz said:

    Sandpit said:

    Jeez, not this one again. Terrible poling question, based on political talking points with no context.

    The companies making money are Saudi Aramco and Qatargas - how does the UK government tax them?

    Taxes on UK domestic extraction are currently 69%, by how much should these rise?

    A question to which Starmer had no answer and just blustered in Parliament.
    Good morning

    Starmer was caught out by Mark Harper in the HOC and his reaction showed he did not understand the difference between global profits (170 billion) and UK profits of 40 billion currently taxed at 65%

    I expect the COE in his emergency budget will call out Starmer and others on this misconception
  • In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474
  • In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474

    Indeed - it is already being used within the 37 billion package and let us not forget Starmer would cancel the £400 grant to be paid over 6 months from October
  • Part of the problem with electricity prices is they are set to the level of the most expensive component, which is gas whose price rocketed mainly thanks to Mr Putin. This gives windfall profits to companies generating electricity by other means, like wind or solar energy.

    Since Liz Truss has ruled out a windfall tax (as did Rishi but a rose by any other name is a temporary targeted energy profits levy) it might be possible to break this price link.

    As well as reducing the cost to the government of subsidising a lower price cap, this might also give political benefit to the government by attacking, or ending, windfall profits.
  • In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474

    Indeed - it is already being used within the 37 billion package and let us not forget Starmer would cancel the £400 grant to be paid over 6 months from October

    The Labour plan was a very simple one - no-one will pay more than they are paying now. And that will be funded by a windfall tax. This is all voters are going to hear. That's the politics of it.

  • Taz said:

    Sandpit said:

    Jeez, not this one again. Terrible poling question, based on political talking points with no context.

    The companies making money are Saudi Aramco and Qatargas - how does the UK government tax them?

    Taxes on UK domestic extraction are currently 69%, by how much should these rise?

    A question to which Starmer had no answer and just blustered in Parliament.
    Good morning

    Starmer was caught out by Mark Harper in the HOC and his reaction showed he did not understand the difference between global profits (170 billion) and UK profits of 40 billion currently taxed at 65%

    I expect the COE in his emergency budget will call out Starmer and others on this misconception

    And then what?

  • Sandpit said:

    Jeez, not this one again. Terrible poling question, based on political talking points with no context.

    The companies making money are Saudi Aramco and Qatargas - how does the UK government tax them?

    Taxes on UK domestic extraction are currently 69%, by how much should these rise?

    It's a polling question that reflects voter perceptions. This is the problem the Tories have.

  • In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474

    Indeed - it is already being used within the 37 billion package and let us not forget Starmer would cancel the £400 grant to be paid over 6 months from October
    Liz Truss's objection to windfall taxes is that they will deter future investment. We should note that (in the clip) Rishi includes an investment allowance. It is possible this device might provide some wriggle-room for the Prime Minister in future, should the government change its mind.

    The same is true on other corporate taxes.
  • Good morning, everyone.

    Shocked to learn voters want others to pay more tax to help them out.
  • In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474

    Indeed - it is already being used within the 37 billion package and let us not forget Starmer would cancel the £400 grant to be paid over 6 months from October

    The Labour plan was a very simple one - no-one will pay more than they are paying now. And that will be funded by a windfall tax. This is all voters are going to hear. That's the politics of it.

    It is until it is called out as a lie

    What is that about lying in politics?
  • In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474

    Indeed - it is already being used within the 37 billion package and let us not forget Starmer would cancel the £400 grant to be paid over 6 months from October

    The Labour plan was a very simple one - no-one will pay more than they are paying now. And that will be funded by a windfall tax. This is all voters are going to hear. That's the politics of it.

    It is until it is called out as a lie

    What is that about lying in politics?

    It will be called out as a lie by the government, of course it will be. But that is not the same as it either being a lie or being accepted as a lie.

    If you are relying on detailed dissections of Labour policy instead of government policy, I think you are going to be disappointed.

  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,571
    Heathener said:

    Totally agree with you TSE. In a time of crisis the profits that these companies are making is obscene.

    And what everyone realises is that someone has to pay for the capping. If it's not the companies themselves, then who?

    How do we make foreign companies making obscene profits contribute ?
    Jwhole there's nothing wrong with a windfall tax, it's not a magic button; indeed it can only be a relatively small part of the solution.

    Both sides are being somewhat dishonest
    here. Tories saying it's not necessary and Labour implying it's more than it is.
  • In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474

    Indeed - it is already being used within the 37 billion package and let us not forget Starmer would cancel the £400 grant to be paid over 6 months from October
    Liz Truss's objection to windfall taxes is that they will deter future investment. We should note that (in the clip) Rishi includes an investment allowance. It is possible this device might provide some wriggle-room for the Prime Minister in future, should the government change its mind.

    The same is true on other corporate taxes.

    Yes, Liz Truss not only wants to throw taxpayer money at energy companies, she also wants to give them tax cuts - along with all other deep pocket, profit-making businesses - at a time when public services are in a state of serious disrepair.

  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,571
    Ukrainian security service (#SBU) sent out mass-text messages to Russian soldiers located inside #Ukraine, with a phone number they can call to surrender. Audio recording of one such call.
    Transcript below -

    https://mobile.twitter.com/igorsushko/status/1568782102782709760

    The fear of Russian soldiers that they will be castrated if they surrender to Ukrainians underscores the difference between the two sides.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 60,001
    edited September 2022

    In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474

    Indeed - it is already being used within the 37 billion package and let us not forget Starmer would cancel the £400 grant to be paid over 6 months from October

    The Labour plan was a very simple one - no-one will pay more than they are paying now. And that will be funded by a windfall tax. This is all voters are going to hear. That's the politics of it.

    It is until it is called out as a lie

    What is that about lying in politics?

    It will be called out as a lie by the government, of course it will be. But that is not the same as it either being a lie or being accepted as a lie.

    If you are relying on detailed dissections of Labour policy instead of government policy, I think you are going to be disappointed.

    It is clearly misleading and in truth Truss will implement her policy and as inflation falls over the coming months and the effects of lower taxes are felt then I expect the conservatives may recover some of their polling but we are 2 years away from a GE with all kind of events intervening it is anyones guess who leads the country then
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614

    Sandpit said:

    Jeez, not this one again. Terrible poling question, based on political talking points with no context.

    The companies making money are Saudi Aramco and Qatargas - how does the UK government tax them?

    Taxes on UK domestic extraction are currently 69%, by how much should these rise?

    It's a polling question that reflects voter perceptions. This is the problem the Tories have.

    But it’s totally disengenuous, Starmer couldn’t possibly propose this solution if he were in government, because it’s simply not possible.

    Organisations such as the media and polling companies need to be calling out bulls… like this, but instead they pretend it’s simply a political argument rather than an impossible untruth.
  • In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474

    Indeed - it is already being used within the 37 billion package and let us not forget Starmer would cancel the £400 grant to be paid over 6 months from October
    Liz Truss's objection to windfall taxes is that they will deter future investment. We should note that (in the clip) Rishi includes an investment allowance. It is possible this device might provide some wriggle-room for the Prime Minister in future, should the government change its mind.

    The same is true on other corporate taxes.
    Truss is about a 25% chance to have a majority in just 2 years time. The idea that her current policies will have much influence on investment decisions for projects that last decades is frankly a touch narcissistic and deluded.
  • Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    Jeez, not this one again. Terrible poling question, based on political talking points with no context.

    The companies making money are Saudi Aramco and Qatargas - how does the UK government tax them?

    Taxes on UK domestic extraction are currently 69%, by how much should these rise?

    It's a polling question that reflects voter perceptions. This is the problem the Tories have.

    But it’s totally disengenuous, Starmer couldn’t possibly propose this solution if he were in government, because it’s simply not possible.

    Organisations such as the media and polling companies need to be calling out bulls… like this, but instead they pretend it’s simply a political argument rather than an impossible untruth.

    Yep - I agree. But they don't. And the Tories have benefited from that more than anyone else. It's good to see the tables turned for once.

  • In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474

    Indeed - it is already being used within the 37 billion package and let us not forget Starmer would cancel the £400 grant to be paid over 6 months from October

    The Labour plan was a very simple one - no-one will pay more than they are paying now. And that will be funded by a windfall tax. This is all voters are going to hear. That's the politics of it.

    It is until it is called out as a lie

    What is that about lying in politics?

    It will be called out as a lie by the government, of course it will be. But that is not the same as it either being a lie or being accepted as a lie.

    If you are relying on detailed dissections of Labour policy instead of government policy, I think you are going to be disappointed.

    It is clearly misleading and in truth Truss will implement her policy and as inflation falls over the coming months and the effects of lower taxes are felt then I expect the conservatives may recover some of their polling but we are 2 years away from a GE with all kind of events intervening it is anyones guess who leads the country then

    The main effects of lower taxes for most people will be even worse public services.

  • In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474

    Indeed - it is already being used within the 37 billion package and let us not forget Starmer would cancel the £400 grant to be paid over 6 months from October

    The Labour plan was a very simple one - no-one will pay more than they are paying now. And that will be funded by a windfall tax. This is all voters are going to hear. That's the politics of it.

    It is until it is called out as a lie

    What is that about lying in politics?

    It will be called out as a lie by the government, of course it will be. But that is not the same as it either being a lie or being accepted as a lie.

    If you are relying on detailed dissections of Labour policy instead of government policy, I think you are going to be disappointed.

    It is clearly misleading and in truth Truss will implement her policy and as inflation falls over the coming months and the effects of lower taxes are felt then I expect the conservatives may recover some of their polling but we are 2 years away from a GE with all kind of events intervening it is anyones guess who leads the country then

    The main effects of lower taxes for most people will be even worse public services.

    It is of course open for Starmer to campaign in 2024 to increase people's taxes
  • Betting Post

    F1: backed Ricciardo to top his group (versus Gasly, Ocon, and Vettel) at 3.1.

    https://enormo-haddock.blogspot.com/2022/09/italy-pre-race-2022.html
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,571
    How to choose a table for signing state documents.
    https://twitter.com/bbclysedoucet/status/1568739382072582144
  • In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474

    Indeed - it is already being used within the 37 billion package and let us not forget Starmer would cancel the £400 grant to be paid over 6 months from October

    The Labour plan was a very simple one - no-one will pay more than they are paying now. And that will be funded by a windfall tax. This is all voters are going to hear. That's the politics of it.

    It is until it is called out as a lie

    What is that about lying in politics?

    It will be called out as a lie by the government, of course it will be. But that is not the same as it either being a lie or being accepted as a lie.

    If you are relying on detailed dissections of Labour policy instead of government policy, I think you are going to be disappointed.

    It is clearly misleading and in truth Truss will implement her policy and as inflation falls over the coming months and the effects of lower taxes are felt then I expect the conservatives may recover some of their polling but we are 2 years away from a GE with all kind of events intervening it is anyones guess who leads the country then

    The main effects of lower taxes for most people will be even worse public services.

    It is of course open for Starmer to campaign in 2024 to increase people's taxes

    Yep. I imagine that some people will find out they will be paying more. What I like about the new government is that we do now face a proper dividing line. On one side, we have a party advocating for a low tax, US-style country in which wealthy people and businesses keep more of their money, debt is used as a tool to sustain that and the public realm exists in a permanent state of decay. On the other side, we have the option of a more European approach, in which taxes are higher, debt is used to fund longer term investment in infrastructure and th public realm works better. We need that debate as it is one we have avoided for too long.

  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 12,880
    Can some horse type tell me WTF is going on here.

    https://twitter.com/NoContextBrits/status/1568613008661958657
  • Dura_Ace said:

    Can some horse type tell me WTF is going on here.

    https://twitter.com/NoContextBrits/status/1568613008661958657

    Not allowed to use a stirrup, and too fat to get on any other way than the wriggle hump
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,742
    Dura_Ace said:

    Can some horse type tell me WTF is going on here.

    https://twitter.com/NoContextBrits/status/1568613008661958657

    Neigh.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,061

    In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474

    Indeed - it is already being used within the 37 billion package and let us not forget Starmer would cancel the £400 grant to be paid over 6 months from October

    The Labour plan was a very simple one - no-one will pay more than they are paying now. And that will be funded by a windfall tax. This is all voters are going to hear. That's the politics of it.

    It is until it is called out as a lie

    What is that about lying in politics?

    It will be called out as a lie by the government, of course it will be. But that is not the same as it either being a lie or being accepted as a lie.

    If you are relying on detailed dissections of Labour policy instead of government policy, I think you are going to be disappointed.

    It is clearly misleading and in truth Truss will implement her policy and as inflation falls over the coming months and the effects of lower taxes are felt then I expect the conservatives may recover some of their polling but we are 2 years away from a GE with all kind of events intervening it is anyones guess who leads the country then

    The main effects of lower taxes for most people will be even worse public services.

    It is of course open for Starmer to campaign in 2024 to increase people's taxes
    He is very likely to do so. People are in favour of other people being taxed. It is just taxes on themselves that they don't like!
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,742

    Sandpit said:

    Jeez, not this one again. Terrible poling question, based on political talking points with no context.

    The companies making money are Saudi Aramco and Qatargas - how does the UK government tax them?

    Taxes on UK domestic extraction are currently 69%, by how much should these rise?

    It's a polling question that reflects voter perceptions. This is the problem the Tories have.

    Indeed. If politicians had to create actual complete coherent costed policies rather than soundbites that win votes then Brexit for one would never had happened.

    According to the BBC, "BP and Shell both received more money back from the UK government than they paid every year from 2015 to 2020 (except 2017, when Shell paid more than it received). Shell also paid a negative amount of tax in 2021 - BP has yet to publish its figures for last year."

    The existing windfall levy allows tax savings of 91p for every £1 invested in fossil fuel extraction, so that could be reduced or changed to only apply to cleaner investment.

    It is pretty clear that BP and Shell have not been contributing a fair amount of tax to the UK over a sustained period even before their windfall gains. Sure they contribute correctly according to law, but it is not beyond the wit of HMRC to find ways to tax them more.
    Well, hang on a minute. Lots of things are beyond the wit of HMRC and HM Treasury. Keeping basic records springs to mind. Or doing simple arithmetic. Or reading maps.

    It shouldn't be beyond the wit of HMRC, but I wouldn't actually bet money on it.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614
    .

    Betting Post

    F1: backed Ricciardo to top his group (versus Gasly, Ocon, and Vettel) at 3.1.

    https://enormo-haddock.blogspot.com/2022/09/italy-pre-race-2022.html

    That’s not a bad bet, especially after McLaren’s performance in qualifying, and in this race last year.

    For those who don’t want to watch the news channels, the F3 race is about to start, to be followed by F2 and Porsche Supercup before the F1.
  • Mr. Sandpit, let's hope so, at least.

    I'm still a bit irked by how fate conspired to turn what should've been a major winner into a lesser one into a loss last time out.
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 5,226
    edited September 2022
    Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    Jeez, not this one again. Terrible poling question, based on political talking points with no context.

    The companies making money are Saudi Aramco and Qatargas - how does the UK government tax them?

    Taxes on UK domestic extraction are currently 69%, by how much should these rise?

    It's a polling question that reflects voter perceptions. This is the problem the Tories have.

    But it’s totally disengenuous, Starmer couldn’t possibly propose this solution if he were in government, because it’s simply not possible.

    Organisations such as the media and polling companies need to be calling out bulls… like this, but instead they pretend it’s simply a political argument rather than an impossible untruth.
    Truss needs to come right out on a bbc sofa and say “I believe the truth is important in politics. That is after all the very reason why I have found myself in this job. And the LOTO is simply not telling the truth when he pretends there’s a way to solve this problem by taxing businesses. His calculations are a fantasy. Tax on profits for oil and gas producers are 65%. Even if we raised them to 100%, which would obviously be self defeating and impossible, then at current profit rates we might raise £20bn. How much do you expect we might raise the year after if we did that?

    Keir Starmer is a pleasant individual and there’s common ground between us. But he’s been totally led astray here by his researchers and does not appear to know how to dig himself out of this hole other than to keep repeating mistruths.”

    Boom. Mike wins his bet.
  • moonshine said:

    Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    Jeez, not this one again. Terrible poling question, based on political talking points with no context.

    The companies making money are Saudi Aramco and Qatargas - how does the UK government tax them?

    Taxes on UK domestic extraction are currently 69%, by how much should these rise?

    It's a polling question that reflects voter perceptions. This is the problem the Tories have.

    But it’s totally disengenuous, Starmer couldn’t possibly propose this solution if he were in government, because it’s simply not possible.

    Organisations such as the media and polling companies need to be calling out bulls… like this, but instead they pretend it’s simply a political argument rather than an impossible untruth.
    Truss needs to come right out on a bbc sofa and say “I believe the truth is important in politics. That is after all the very reason why I have found myself in this job. And the LOTO is simply not telling the truth when he pretends there’s a way to solve this problem by taxing businesses. His calculations are a fantasy. Tax on profits for oil and gas producers are 65%. Even if we raised them to 100%, which would obviously be self defeating and impossible, then at current profit rates we might raise £20bn. How much do you expect we might raise the year after if we did that?

    Keir Starmer is a pleasant individual and there’s common ground between us. But he’s been totally led astray here by his researchers and does not appear to know how to dig himself out of this hole other than to keep repeating mistruths.”

    Boom. Mike wins his bet.

    The problem with that strategy is that it would mean Truss would then have to tell the truth. That would blow her approach to Brexit out of the water, for starters.

  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 7,168

    In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474

    Indeed - it is already being used within the 37 billion package and let us not forget Starmer would cancel the £400 grant to be paid over 6 months from October

    The Labour plan was a very simple one - no-one will pay more than they are paying now. And that will be funded by a windfall tax. This is all voters are going to hear. That's the politics of it.

    It is until it is called out as a lie

    What is that about lying in politics?

    It will be called out as a lie by the government, of course it will be. But that is not the same as it either being a lie or being accepted as a lie.

    If you are relying on detailed dissections of Labour policy instead of government policy, I think you are going to be disappointed.

    It is clearly misleading and in truth Truss will implement her policy and as inflation falls over the coming months and the effects of lower taxes are felt then I expect the conservatives may recover some of their polling but we are 2 years away from a GE with all kind of events intervening it is anyones guess who leads the country then
    Even with Truss’s plan, energy prices will be higher than they were and inflation will be higher than it was. I suspect the Tories will get the blame for that, more than they’ll get praise for energy prices not being as high as they otherwise would’ve been or inflation not being as high as it otherwise would’ve been.
  • Taz said:

    Sandpit said:

    Jeez, not this one again. Terrible poling question, based on political talking points with no context.

    The companies making money are Saudi Aramco and Qatargas - how does the UK government tax them?

    Taxes on UK domestic extraction are currently 69%, by how much should these rise?

    A question to which Starmer had no answer and just blustered in Parliament.
    Good morning

    Starmer was caught out by Mark Harper in the HOC and his reaction showed he did not understand the difference between global profits (170 billion) and UK profits of 40 billion currently taxed at 65%

    I expect the COE in his emergency budget will call out Starmer and others on this misconception
    It does seem bizarre that the government, after announcing a windfall tax, are being castigated by the opposition and the public for not introducing a windfall tax, but it does look like that is what is happening.

    Perhaps Labour should put a windfall tax slogan on the side of a bus, so that Tories can talk about why it is wrong-headed some more.

    No-one said politics was fair.
  • In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474

    Indeed - it is already being used within the 37 billion package and let us not forget Starmer would cancel the £400 grant to be paid over 6 months from October

    The Labour plan was a very simple one - no-one will pay more than they are paying now. And that will be funded by a windfall tax. This is all voters are going to hear. That's the politics of it.

    It is until it is called out as a lie

    What is that about lying in politics?

    It will be called out as a lie by the government, of course it will be. But that is not the same as it either being a lie or being accepted as a lie.

    If you are relying on detailed dissections of Labour policy instead of government policy, I think you are going to be disappointed.

    It is clearly misleading and in truth Truss will implement her policy and as inflation falls over the coming months and the effects of lower taxes are felt then I expect the conservatives may recover some of their polling but we are 2 years away from a GE with all kind of events intervening it is anyones guess who leads the country then
    Even with Truss’s plan, energy prices will be higher than they were and inflation will be higher than it was. I suspect the Tories will get the blame for that, more than they’ll get praise for energy prices not being as high as they otherwise would’ve been or inflation not being as high as it otherwise would’ve been.
    This debate will be turned on its head if Putin's war ends in his denouement and it seems it may not be an unrealistic dream
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614
    edited September 2022
    This F3 race is brilliant! It’s the last race of the season, and there’s six drivers who can win the championship.
  • IcarusIcarus Posts: 885
    From GOV.UK:

    "From 1st October, a new ‘Energy Price Guarantee’ will mean a typical UK household will now pay up to an average £2,500 a year on their energy bill for the next two years. This is automatic and applies to all households.

    This will save the average household at least £1,000 a year based on current energy prices from October and is in addition to the £400 energy bills discount for all households."

    Telling people they will save at least £1,000 a year is very, very, misleading. Am sure The Advertising Standards Authority would rule it out of order. More importantly is likely to seriously piss people off when they get their bills this winter.
  • moonshine said:

    Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    Jeez, not this one again. Terrible poling question, based on political talking points with no context.

    The companies making money are Saudi Aramco and Qatargas - how does the UK government tax them?

    Taxes on UK domestic extraction are currently 69%, by how much should these rise?

    It's a polling question that reflects voter perceptions. This is the problem the Tories have.

    But it’s totally disengenuous, Starmer couldn’t possibly propose this solution if he were in government, because it’s simply not possible.

    Organisations such as the media and polling companies need to be calling out bulls… like this, but instead they pretend it’s simply a political argument rather than an impossible untruth.
    Truss needs to come right out on a bbc sofa and say “I believe the truth is important in politics. That is after all the very reason why I have found myself in this job. And the LOTO is simply not telling the truth when he pretends there’s a way to solve this problem by taxing businesses. His calculations are a fantasy. Tax on profits for oil and gas producers are 65%. Even if we raised them to 100%, which would obviously be self defeating and impossible, then at current profit rates we might raise £20bn. How much do you expect we might raise the year after if we did that?

    Keir Starmer is a pleasant individual and there’s common ground between us. But he’s been totally led astray here by his researchers and does not appear to know how to dig himself out of this hole other than to keep repeating mistruths.”

    Boom. Mike wins his bet.

    The problem with that strategy is that it would mean Truss would then have to tell the truth. That would blow her approach to Brexit out of the water, for starters.

    And it would also invite questions about her attitude to the multitudinous untruths of her predecessor.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,835
    Surely the TV and radio have interviewed every single living person who ever met the Queen by now?
  • Mr. Punter, is Keir Starmer indelibly stained with having served under Corbyn's leadership?
  • Icarus said:

    From GOV.UK:

    "From 1st October, a new ‘Energy Price Guarantee’ will mean a typical UK household will now pay up to an average £2,500 a year on their energy bill for the next two years. This is automatic and applies to all households.

    This will save the average household at least £1,000 a year based on current energy prices from October and is in addition to the £400 energy bills discount for all households."

    Telling people they will save at least £1,000 a year is very, very, misleading. Am sure The Advertising Standards Authority would rule it out of order. More importantly is likely to seriously piss people off when they get their bills this winter.

    Even in your comment you refer to the average household and apart from the cap there is the £400 discount and it stops April's rise to £6000, so it is not misleading
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 40,950
    Some quite funny comments under that. Including the fact that the photo was taken 20 years ago.
  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 12,880
    dixiedean said:

    Surely the TV and radio have interviewed every single living person who ever met the Queen by now?

    I think there is still one Balmoral guest we'd like to comment.


  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,061
    Yeah, but the King Charles Spaniels are wagging their tails and having the time of their lives!
  • Vince Cable suffered a minor stroke when he was leader of the Liberal Democrats that seriously affected his performance when giving speeches and at other political events, he in a memoir published on Sunday.

    The former business secretary decided to keep his health issues secret for more than a year and to soldier on as leader, until he stepped down in July 2019.

    Now 79, he says in the memoir that he wrestled with whether to go public at the time, but came to the conclusion that people would have written him off as a “goner” had he done so.

    On one occasion in early summer 2018 he was addressing MPs in a Brexit debate in the House of Commons. “I totally lost my bearings and for what seemed an eternity I was paralysed,” he writes.

    “There weren’t many MPs in the chamber and those present were either half-asleep or working on their phones so I was able to get back into my stride without too much attention being paid. But my confidence was seriously shaken.”

    The revelation about the stroke, which happened when flying to Italy in May 2018, comes towards the end of Partnership & Politics In a Divided Decade. The book weaves together Cable’s account of the 10 years starting with the formation of the Tory-Lib Dem coalition in 2010, with the memories of his wife, Rachel Smith, who kept a diary of those times.


    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/sep/11/vince-cable-reveals-he-suffered-stroke-when-liberal-democrat-leader?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,061

    In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474

    Indeed - it is already being used within the 37 billion package and let us not forget Starmer would cancel the £400 grant to be paid over 6 months from October

    The Labour plan was a very simple one - no-one will pay more than they are paying now. And that will be funded by a windfall tax. This is all voters are going to hear. That's the politics of it.

    It is until it is called out as a lie

    What is that about lying in politics?

    It will be called out as a lie by the government, of course it will be. But that is not the same as it either being a lie or being accepted as a lie.

    If you are relying on detailed dissections of Labour policy instead of government policy, I think you are going to be disappointed.

    It is clearly misleading and in truth Truss will implement her policy and as inflation falls over the coming months and the effects of lower taxes are felt then I expect the conservatives may recover some of their polling but we are 2 years away from a GE with all kind of events intervening it is anyones guess who leads the country then
    Even with Truss’s plan, energy prices will be higher than they were and inflation will be higher than it was. I suspect the Tories will get the blame for that, more than they’ll get praise for energy prices not being as high as they otherwise would’ve been or inflation not being as high as it otherwise would’ve been.
    Yes, utility bills will be twice what they were last winter under the new price cap. I wouldn't expect a lot of gratitude.
  • Mr. Punter, is Keir Starmer indelibly stained with having served under Corbyn's leadership?

    Certainly didn't do him any favours, but I'm not sure that Corbyn was famous for being a Holy Friar - incompetent maybe, naive yes, but a purveyor of high quality Pork Pies? Not so sure.
  • Foxy said:

    In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474

    Indeed - it is already being used within the 37 billion package and let us not forget Starmer would cancel the £400 grant to be paid over 6 months from October

    The Labour plan was a very simple one - no-one will pay more than they are paying now. And that will be funded by a windfall tax. This is all voters are going to hear. That's the politics of it.

    It is until it is called out as a lie

    What is that about lying in politics?

    It will be called out as a lie by the government, of course it will be. But that is not the same as it either being a lie or being accepted as a lie.

    If you are relying on detailed dissections of Labour policy instead of government policy, I think you are going to be disappointed.

    It is clearly misleading and in truth Truss will implement her policy and as inflation falls over the coming months and the effects of lower taxes are felt then I expect the conservatives may recover some of their polling but we are 2 years away from a GE with all kind of events intervening it is anyones guess who leads the country then
    Even with Truss’s plan, energy prices will be higher than they were and inflation will be higher than it was. I suspect the Tories will get the blame for that, more than they’ll get praise for energy prices not being as high as they otherwise would’ve been or inflation not being as high as it otherwise would’ve been.
    Yes, utility bills will be twice what they were last winter under the new price cap. I wouldn't expect a lot of gratitude.
    Indeed, that's the point I made in the thread header and is kinda backs up the secondary questions in this poll, even Tory voters think the government's plans are too little.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614

    Foxy said:

    In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474

    Indeed - it is already being used within the 37 billion package and let us not forget Starmer would cancel the £400 grant to be paid over 6 months from October

    The Labour plan was a very simple one - no-one will pay more than they are paying now. And that will be funded by a windfall tax. This is all voters are going to hear. That's the politics of it.

    It is until it is called out as a lie

    What is that about lying in politics?

    It will be called out as a lie by the government, of course it will be. But that is not the same as it either being a lie or being accepted as a lie.

    If you are relying on detailed dissections of Labour policy instead of government policy, I think you are going to be disappointed.

    It is clearly misleading and in truth Truss will implement her policy and as inflation falls over the coming months and the effects of lower taxes are felt then I expect the conservatives may recover some of their polling but we are 2 years away from a GE with all kind of events intervening it is anyones guess who leads the country then
    Even with Truss’s plan, energy prices will be higher than they were and inflation will be higher than it was. I suspect the Tories will get the blame for that, more than they’ll get praise for energy prices not being as high as they otherwise would’ve been or inflation not being as high as it otherwise would’ve been.
    Yes, utility bills will be twice what they were last winter under the new price cap. I wouldn't expect a lot of gratitude.
    Indeed, that's the point I made in the thread header and is kinda backs up the secondary questions in this poll, even Tory voters think the government's plans are too little.
    If they’d spent any more, then the criticism would be that they were recklessly borrowing while failing to provide price singnals to reduce consumption.
  • RogerRoger Posts: 18,891
    Dura_Ace said:

    Can some horse type tell me WTF is going on here.

    https://twitter.com/NoContextBrits/status/1568613008661958657

    The Royal Horseguards were short of a rider so they filled in using the Royal Fountain Pen Mover who was not up to the task.
  • Sandpit said:

    Foxy said:

    In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474

    Indeed - it is already being used within the 37 billion package and let us not forget Starmer would cancel the £400 grant to be paid over 6 months from October

    The Labour plan was a very simple one - no-one will pay more than they are paying now. And that will be funded by a windfall tax. This is all voters are going to hear. That's the politics of it.

    It is until it is called out as a lie

    What is that about lying in politics?

    It will be called out as a lie by the government, of course it will be. But that is not the same as it either being a lie or being accepted as a lie.

    If you are relying on detailed dissections of Labour policy instead of government policy, I think you are going to be disappointed.

    It is clearly misleading and in truth Truss will implement her policy and as inflation falls over the coming months and the effects of lower taxes are felt then I expect the conservatives may recover some of their polling but we are 2 years away from a GE with all kind of events intervening it is anyones guess who leads the country then
    Even with Truss’s plan, energy prices will be higher than they were and inflation will be higher than it was. I suspect the Tories will get the blame for that, more than they’ll get praise for energy prices not being as high as they otherwise would’ve been or inflation not being as high as it otherwise would’ve been.
    Yes, utility bills will be twice what they were last winter under the new price cap. I wouldn't expect a lot of gratitude.
    Indeed, that's the point I made in the thread header and is kinda backs up the secondary questions in this poll, even Tory voters think the government's plans are too little.
    If they’d spent any more, then the criticism would be that they were recklessly borrowing while failing to provide price singnals to reduce consumption.
    This fits into a wider narrative, all that Boris Johnson grift is coming back to haunt the Tories.

    It gets mentioned so regularly in focus groups.

    If Labour want to ensure they win a majority at the next election they just have to list all the Tory grift in this parliament.
  • IcarusIcarus Posts: 885

    Icarus said:

    From GOV.UK:

    "From 1st October, a new ‘Energy Price Guarantee’ will mean a typical UK household will now pay up to an average £2,500 a year on their energy bill for the next two years. This is automatic and applies to all households.

    This will save the average household at least £1,000 a year based on current energy prices from October and is in addition to the £400 energy bills discount for all households."

    Telling people they will save at least £1,000 a year is very, very, misleading. Am sure The Advertising Standards Authority would rule it out of order. More importantly is likely to seriously piss people off when they get their bills this winter.

    Even in your comment you refer to the average household and apart from the cap there is the £400 discount and it stops April's rise to £6000, so it is not misleading

    "based on current energy prices from October " - What does that mean??
  • Since an even higher percentage agree with Liz Truss's cap policy, you could easily have retitled this piece "Truss is in tune with the public".

    That would have been nonsense too. I hope the editorials on this site don't try and push a party line over the next 2+ years.

    We're better than that.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 113,957
    edited September 2022

    Since an even higher percentage agree with Liz Truss's cap policy, you could easily have retitled this piece "Truss is in tune with the public".

    That would have been nonsense too. I hope the editorials on this site don't try and push a party line over the next 2+ years.

    We're better than that.

    Look at the supplementaries and your proposed headline wouldn't work but the wider point is that Truss and her government are unlikely to get any credit for averting a disaster especially as energy bills are going to be higher even after her proposals.


  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,540
    edited September 2022
  • Sandpit said:

    Foxy said:

    In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474

    Indeed - it is already being used within the 37 billion package and let us not forget Starmer would cancel the £400 grant to be paid over 6 months from October

    The Labour plan was a very simple one - no-one will pay more than they are paying now. And that will be funded by a windfall tax. This is all voters are going to hear. That's the politics of it.

    It is until it is called out as a lie

    What is that about lying in politics?

    It will be called out as a lie by the government, of course it will be. But that is not the same as it either being a lie or being accepted as a lie.

    If you are relying on detailed dissections of Labour policy instead of government policy, I think you are going to be disappointed.

    It is clearly misleading and in truth Truss will implement her policy and as inflation falls over the coming months and the effects of lower taxes are felt then I expect the conservatives may recover some of their polling but we are 2 years away from a GE with all kind of events intervening it is anyones guess who leads the country then
    Even with Truss’s plan, energy prices will be higher than they were and inflation will be higher than it was. I suspect the Tories will get the blame for that, more than they’ll get praise for energy prices not being as high as they otherwise would’ve been or inflation not being as high as it otherwise would’ve been.
    Yes, utility bills will be twice what they were last winter under the new price cap. I wouldn't expect a lot of gratitude.
    Indeed, that's the point I made in the thread header and is kinda backs up the secondary questions in this poll, even Tory voters think the government's plans are too little.
    If they’d spent any more, then the criticism would be that they were recklessly borrowing while failing to provide price singnals to reduce consumption.
    This fits into a wider narrative, all that Boris Johnson grift is coming back to haunt the Tories.

    It gets mentioned so regularly in focus groups.

    If Labour want to ensure they win a majority at the next election they just have to list all the Tory grift in this parliament.
    There's a wider issue here, the simple delays between a government decision, action on the ground, the actions having an effect and the voting public noticing the effect. It doesn't happen on the rhytmn of rolling news or top political blogs.

    Most new leader bounces dissipate after a few months, because changing the face at the top and the mood music doesn't affect how Mr and Mrs Voter experience their daily life.

    Most of the decisions that are going to decide the 2024 election have already happened and are making their way through the digestive tract of the British state.
  • Does it actually matter whonis in power. It will be the same arguments and little will change.. Well it's been like that for the last 70 yrs of my life
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 7,168
    .

    In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474

    Indeed - it is already being used within the 37 billion package and let us not forget Starmer would cancel the £400 grant to be paid over 6 months from October

    The Labour plan was a very simple one - no-one will pay more than they are paying now. And that will be funded by a windfall tax. This is all voters are going to hear. That's the politics of it.

    It is until it is called out as a lie

    What is that about lying in politics?

    It will be called out as a lie by the government, of course it will be. But that is not the same as it either being a lie or being accepted as a lie.

    If you are relying on detailed dissections of Labour policy instead of government policy, I think you are going to be disappointed.

    It is clearly misleading and in truth Truss will implement her policy and as inflation falls over the coming months and the effects of lower taxes are felt then I expect the conservatives may recover some of their polling but we are 2 years away from a GE with all kind of events intervening it is anyones guess who leads the country then
    Even with Truss’s plan, energy prices will be higher than they were and inflation will be higher than it was. I suspect the Tories will get the blame for that, more than they’ll get praise for energy prices not being as high as they otherwise would’ve been or inflation not being as high as it otherwise would’ve been.
    This debate will be turned on its head if Putin's war ends in his denouement and it seems it may not be an unrealistic dream
    If Putin was deposed tomorrow (which would be lovely), energy bills will still have been higher and some inflation would still be baked in. And the party in Government would still get blamed for that.

    There is, to use that word again, hysteresis in the system. If things get worse and then get better again by returning to the starting point, the Government are still going to get blamed.
  • Vince Cable suffered a minor stroke when he was leader of the Liberal Democrats that seriously affected his performance when giving speeches and at other political events, he in a memoir published on Sunday.

    The former business secretary decided to keep his health issues secret for more than a year and to soldier on as leader, until he stepped down in July 2019.

    Now 79, he says in the memoir that he wrestled with whether to go public at the time, but came to the conclusion that people would have written him off as a “goner” had he done so.

    On one occasion in early summer 2018 he was addressing MPs in a Brexit debate in the House of Commons. “I totally lost my bearings and for what seemed an eternity I was paralysed,” he writes.

    “There weren’t many MPs in the chamber and those present were either half-asleep or working on their phones so I was able to get back into my stride without too much attention being paid. But my confidence was seriously shaken.”

    The revelation about the stroke, which happened when flying to Italy in May 2018, comes towards the end of Partnership & Politics In a Divided Decade. The book weaves together Cable’s account of the 10 years starting with the formation of the Tory-Lib Dem coalition in 2010, with the memories of his wife, Rachel Smith, who kept a diary of those times.


    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/sep/11/vince-cable-reveals-he-suffered-stroke-when-liberal-democrat-leader?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

    I never really noticed any decline in his oratory powers - He always had quite an engaging style in the sense of he spoke slowly but intelligently and thoughtfully. Obviously a competent and shrewd guy that was probably more self aware (hence the above) than most politicians
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614
    edited September 2022

    Since an even higher percentage agree with Liz Truss's cap policy, you could easily have retitled this piece "Truss is in tune with the public".

    That would have been nonsense too. I hope the editorials on this site don't try and push a party line over the next 2+ years.

    We're better than that.

    Look at the supplementaries and your proposed headline wouldn't work but the wider point is that Truss and her government are unlikely to get any credit for averting a disaster especially as energy bills are going to be higher even after her proposals.

    img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/5020679/uploads/editor/jz/ova733hxcoiw.png" alt="" />
    How many people have any idea of what the government actually proposed, given that nothing about it has been discussed anywhere thanks to subsequent events?

    Dare I suggest that polling companies all take a week or two off, because pretty much everything they’re polling now is likely to be rubbish.
  • @AndyJS FPT - no, I haven't got over Barbados becoming a republic last year. I'm still upset about it and it preys on my mind even now. I didn't like why they did it, the reasons they gave, or how they rammed it through.

    It was desperately sad, and, I think, a big mistake.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 7,168
    Icarus said:

    From GOV.UK:

    "From 1st October, a new ‘Energy Price Guarantee’ will mean a typical UK household will now pay up to an average £2,500 a year on their energy bill for the next two years. This is automatic and applies to all households.

    This will save the average household at least £1,000 a year based on current energy prices from October and is in addition to the £400 energy bills discount for all households."

    Telling people they will save at least £1,000 a year is very, very, misleading. Am sure The Advertising Standards Authority would rule it out of order. More importantly is likely to seriously piss people off when they get their bills this winter.

    GOV.UK statements do not fall under the ASA’s remit. But I presume it comes under the Office for Statistics Regulation?
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614

    Icarus said:

    From GOV.UK:

    "From 1st October, a new ‘Energy Price Guarantee’ will mean a typical UK household will now pay up to an average £2,500 a year on their energy bill for the next two years. This is automatic and applies to all households.

    This will save the average household at least £1,000 a year based on current energy prices from October and is in addition to the £400 energy bills discount for all households."

    Telling people they will save at least £1,000 a year is very, very, misleading. Am sure The Advertising Standards Authority would rule it out of order. More importantly is likely to seriously piss people off when they get their bills this winter.

    GOV.UK statements do not fall under the ASA’s remit. But I presume it comes under the Office for Statistics Regulation?
    It’s a reduction of £1,000, from the already-announced OFGEM cap on October 1st.
  • Icarus said:

    From GOV.UK:

    "From 1st October, a new ‘Energy Price Guarantee’ will mean a typical UK household will now pay up to an average £2,500 a year on their energy bill for the next two years. This is automatic and applies to all households.

    This will save the average household at least £1,000 a year based on current energy prices from October and is in addition to the £400 energy bills discount for all households."

    Telling people they will save at least £1,000 a year is very, very, misleading. Am sure The Advertising Standards Authority would rule it out of order. More importantly is likely to seriously piss people off when they get their bills this winter.

    GOV.UK statements do not fall under the ASA’s remit. But I presume it comes under the Office for Statistics Regulation?
    Yes, but how many divisions does the Office for Statistics Regulation have?

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-60506565
  • RogerRoger Posts: 18,891

    moonshine said:

    Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    Jeez, not this one again. Terrible poling question, based on political talking points with no context.

    The companies making money are Saudi Aramco and Qatargas - how does the UK government tax them?

    Taxes on UK domestic extraction are currently 69%, by how much should these rise?

    It's a polling question that reflects voter perceptions. This is the problem the Tories have.

    But it’s totally disengenuous, Starmer couldn’t possibly propose this solution if he were in government, because it’s simply not possible.

    Organisations such as the media and polling companies need to be calling out bulls… like this, but instead they pretend it’s simply a political argument rather than an impossible untruth.
    Truss needs to come right out on a bbc sofa and say “I believe the truth is important in politics. That is after all the very reason why I have found myself in this job. And the LOTO is simply not telling the truth when he pretends there’s a way to solve this problem by taxing businesses. His calculations are a fantasy. Tax on profits for oil and gas producers are 65%. Even if we raised them to 100%, which would obviously be self defeating and impossible, then at current profit rates we might raise £20bn. How much do you expect we might raise the year after if we did that?

    Keir Starmer is a pleasant individual and there’s common ground between us. But he’s been totally led astray here by his researchers and does not appear to know how to dig himself out of this hole other than to keep repeating mistruths.”

    Boom. Mike wins his bet.

    The problem with that strategy is that it would mean Truss would then have to tell the truth. That would blow her approach to Brexit out of the water, for starters.

    "Truth" is always going to be a tricky one for this government with that great big Red Bus hanging over their heads
  • Sandpit said:

    Foxy said:

    In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474

    Indeed - it is already being used within the 37 billion package and let us not forget Starmer would cancel the £400 grant to be paid over 6 months from October

    The Labour plan was a very simple one - no-one will pay more than they are paying now. And that will be funded by a windfall tax. This is all voters are going to hear. That's the politics of it.

    It is until it is called out as a lie

    What is that about lying in politics?

    It will be called out as a lie by the government, of course it will be. But that is not the same as it either being a lie or being accepted as a lie.

    If you are relying on detailed dissections of Labour policy instead of government policy, I think you are going to be disappointed.

    It is clearly misleading and in truth Truss will implement her policy and as inflation falls over the coming months and the effects of lower taxes are felt then I expect the conservatives may recover some of their polling but we are 2 years away from a GE with all kind of events intervening it is anyones guess who leads the country then
    Even with Truss’s plan, energy prices will be higher than they were and inflation will be higher than it was. I suspect the Tories will get the blame for that, more than they’ll get praise for energy prices not being as high as they otherwise would’ve been or inflation not being as high as it otherwise would’ve been.
    Yes, utility bills will be twice what they were last winter under the new price cap. I wouldn't expect a lot of gratitude.
    Indeed, that's the point I made in the thread header and is kinda backs up the secondary questions in this poll, even Tory voters think the government's plans are too little.
    If they’d spent any more, then the criticism would be that they were recklessly borrowing while failing to provide price singnals to reduce consumption.
    This fits into a wider narrative, all that Boris Johnson grift is coming back to haunt the Tories.

    It gets mentioned so regularly in focus groups.

    If Labour want to ensure they win a majority at the next election they just have to list all the Tory grift in this parliament.
    Now that she needs to appeal to the country as a whole, rather than the Tory selectorate, I’d expect to see a lot less of the ‘my friend, Boris Johnson’.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614
    Roger said:

    moonshine said:

    Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    Jeez, not this one again. Terrible poling question, based on political talking points with no context.

    The companies making money are Saudi Aramco and Qatargas - how does the UK government tax them?

    Taxes on UK domestic extraction are currently 69%, by how much should these rise?

    It's a polling question that reflects voter perceptions. This is the problem the Tories have.

    But it’s totally disengenuous, Starmer couldn’t possibly propose this solution if he were in government, because it’s simply not possible.

    Organisations such as the media and polling companies need to be calling out bulls… like this, but instead they pretend it’s simply a political argument rather than an impossible untruth.
    Truss needs to come right out on a bbc sofa and say “I believe the truth is important in politics. That is after all the very reason why I have found myself in this job. And the LOTO is simply not telling the truth when he pretends there’s a way to solve this problem by taxing businesses. His calculations are a fantasy. Tax on profits for oil and gas producers are 65%. Even if we raised them to 100%, which would obviously be self defeating and impossible, then at current profit rates we might raise £20bn. How much do you expect we might raise the year after if we did that?

    Keir Starmer is a pleasant individual and there’s common ground between us. But he’s been totally led astray here by his researchers and does not appear to know how to dig himself out of this hole other than to keep repeating mistruths.”

    Boom. Mike wins his bet.

    The problem with that strategy is that it would mean Truss would then have to tell the truth. That would blow her approach to Brexit out of the water, for starters.

    "Truth" is always going to be a tricky one for this government with that great big Red Bus hanging over their heads
    I assume you’re referring to something done by opponents of the government in 2016, three prime Ministers ago?
  • Taz said:

    Sandpit said:

    Jeez, not this one again. Terrible poling question, based on political talking points with no context.

    The companies making money are Saudi Aramco and Qatargas - how does the UK government tax them?

    Taxes on UK domestic extraction are currently 69%, by how much should these rise?

    A question to which Starmer had no answer and just blustered in Parliament.
    Good morning

    Starmer was caught out by Mark Harper in the HOC and his reaction showed he did not understand the difference between global profits (170 billion) and UK profits of 40 billion currently taxed at 65%

    I expect the COE in his emergency budget will call out Starmer and others on this misconception
    There is a serious, really serious political problem for the Tories. Why you don't get this is puzzling. It may well be the case that the domestic energy companies aren't going to make intergalactic profits. Just vast ones. The public will not understand the nuanced differences, but they WILL understand the sneering arrogance of this government defending the profits of these companies over the taxpayer.

    Why can't you see this? Truss is wrong here on a galactic scale, and having backed the oil companies over individuals the political tax will be crippling.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,140
    Foxy said:

    Yeah, but the King Charles Spaniels are wagging their tails and having the time of their lives!
    Though one hopes not the Cavalier King Charles ones.
  • Does it actually matter whonis in power. It will be the same arguments and little will change.. Well it's been like that for the last 70 yrs of my life

    yes my observation of politics as well ! tbh I think when the tories are in power we become more socialist and when labour is in power we become less statist (just look at the record tax percentage take now) - my theory is that whichever party is in power they fear being painted as too extreme and want to court voters who they think will not like their ideology so go the other way
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 5,226

    .

    In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474

    Indeed - it is already being used within the 37 billion package and let us not forget Starmer would cancel the £400 grant to be paid over 6 months from October

    The Labour plan was a very simple one - no-one will pay more than they are paying now. And that will be funded by a windfall tax. This is all voters are going to hear. That's the politics of it.

    It is until it is called out as a lie

    What is that about lying in politics?

    It will be called out as a lie by the government, of course it will be. But that is not the same as it either being a lie or being accepted as a lie.

    If you are relying on detailed dissections of Labour policy instead of government policy, I think you are going to be disappointed.

    It is clearly misleading and in truth Truss will implement her policy and as inflation falls over the coming months and the effects of lower taxes are felt then I expect the conservatives may recover some of their polling but we are 2 years away from a GE with all kind of events intervening it is anyones guess who leads the country then
    Even with Truss’s plan, energy prices will be higher than they were and inflation will be higher than it was. I suspect the Tories will get the blame for that, more than they’ll get praise for energy prices not being as high as they otherwise would’ve been or inflation not being as high as it otherwise would’ve been.
    This debate will be turned on its head if Putin's war ends in his denouement and it seems it may not be an unrealistic dream
    If Putin was deposed tomorrow (which would be lovely), energy bills will still have been higher and some inflation would still be baked in. And the
    party in Government would still get blamed for
    that.

    There is, to use that word again, hysteresis in the system. If things get worse and then get better again by returning to the starting point, the Government are still going to get blamed.
    There’s a no longer implausible scenario of European gas and power prices collapsing before winter sets in. Slava Ukraine. The general inflation seen in the world is in my view because of monetary policy bedwetting two years ago during covid. The energy and supply chain issues in China are a one time hit. The fed will soon realise that if they raise much further, they will risk needlessly turning a recession into a depression.

    Despite the time I spend here, I’m not a bettor. But if I were, I would say Tory majority is underpriced right now. We’re almost at the nadir and by spring 2024 we could be seeing fast catch-up growth and an election under newly beneficial boundaries for the govt.
  • NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,263
    Sandpit said:

    Since an even higher percentage agree with Liz Truss's cap policy, you could easily have retitled this piece "Truss is in tune with the public".

    That would have been nonsense too. I hope the editorials on this site don't try and push a party line over the next 2+ years.

    We're better than that.

    Look at the supplementaries and your proposed headline wouldn't work but the wider point is that Truss and her government are unlikely to get any credit for averting a disaster especially as energy bills are going to be higher even after her proposals.

    img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/5020679/uploads/editor/jz/ova733hxcoiw.png" alt="" />
    How many people have any idea of what the government actually proposed, given that nothing about it has been discussed anywhere thanks to subsequent events?

    Dare I suggest that polling companies all take a week or two off, because pretty much everything they’re polling now is likely to be rubbish.
    As I've said before, I think people have stopped panicking about energy, feeling the issue has been kept within bounds, but they're still very worried about the cost of living more generally. On the whole, the interruption in normal politics has been unhelpful to Truss - the media won't go back to discussing the energy package in detail in two weeks' time.

    Pollsters definitely should continue to track what people think so we can see how events are shaping the mood. They're mirrors, not predictions.
  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 20,901
    edited September 2022
    I thought we weren’t doing British politics until the funeral.

    Glad to see Starmer recognised. The Tories have been playing catch up since day one. Their argument that you can’t tax all of it so don’t tax any of it is daft. They are still behind the curve.
  • Does it actually matter whonis in power. It will be the same arguments and little will change.. Well it's been like that for the last 70 yrs of my life

    Day to day it probably matters a lot less than politicos like to think. The short term answers to how much to tax and spend are mostly set by our demographics and the global economy rather than political ideology.

    For some whose personal economy is closely linked to the state, public sector workers, pensioners, unemployed there is a slightly bigger connection and more chance of being a winner or loser depending on the colour of rosette.

    The big positive influence governments could have, but rarely do, is investing for the future. Such a government would make a real difference, but it is hard for one to be elected because people prefer to eat the cake and keep the cake, but never to bake the bloody thing.
  • Jonathan said:

    I thought we weren’t doing British politics until the funeral.

    Glad to see Starmer recognised. The Tories have been playing catch up since day one. Their argument that you can’t tax all of it so don’t tax any of it is daft. They are still behind the curve.

    It was either this or a thread on AV.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/it-s-official-sarah-palin-cost-the-gop-a-house-seat/ar-AA11EJmA?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=c0c6897f73c346b2bf5e7919b7c1a14e
  • NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,263
    Dura_Ace said:

    dixiedean said:

    Surely the TV and radio have interviewed every single living person who ever met the Queen by now?

    I think there is still one Balmoral guest we'd like to comment.


    Who are they?
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,061
    moonshine said:

    .

    In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474

    Indeed - it is already being used within the 37 billion package and let us not forget Starmer would cancel the £400 grant to be paid over 6 months from October

    The Labour plan was a very simple one - no-one will pay more than they are paying now. And that will be funded by a windfall tax. This is all voters are going to hear. That's the politics of it.

    It is until it is called out as a lie

    What is that about lying in politics?

    It will be called out as a lie by the government, of course it will be. But that is not the same as it either being a lie or being accepted as a lie.

    If you are relying on detailed dissections of Labour policy instead of government policy, I think you are going to be disappointed.

    It is clearly misleading and in truth Truss will implement her policy and as inflation falls over the coming months and the effects of lower taxes are felt then I expect the conservatives may recover some of their polling but we are 2 years away from a GE with all kind of events intervening it is anyones guess who leads the country then
    Even with Truss’s plan, energy prices will be higher than they were and inflation will be higher than it was. I suspect the Tories will get the blame for that, more than they’ll get praise for energy prices not being as high as they otherwise would’ve been or inflation not being as high as it otherwise would’ve been.
    This debate will be turned on its head if Putin's war ends in his denouement and it seems it may not be an unrealistic dream
    If Putin was deposed tomorrow (which would be lovely), energy bills will still have been higher and some inflation would still be baked in. And the
    party in Government would still get blamed for
    that.

    There is, to use that word again, hysteresis in the system. If things get worse and then get better again by returning to the starting point, the Government are still going to get blamed.
    There’s a no longer implausible scenario of European gas and power prices collapsing before winter sets in. Slava Ukraine. The general inflation seen in the world is in my view because of monetary policy bedwetting two years ago during covid. The energy and supply chain issues in China are a one time hit. The fed will soon realise that if they raise much further, they will risk needlessly turning a recession into a depression.

    Despite the time I spend here, I’m not a bettor. But if I were, I would say Tory majority is underpriced right now. We’re almost at the nadir and by spring 2024 we could be seeing fast catch-up growth and an election under newly beneficial boundaries for the govt.
    The battles in Ukraine have a long way to go, and at yesterday's conference a Ukrainian definition of victory was made: Russia leaves all of Ukraine, pays reparations and war crimes trials take place.

    https://twitter.com/anneapplebaum/status/1568681541668143109?t=_UsSS4pVL1WgfaHCN3R9TA&s=19

    I cannot see sanctions being dropped until a new Russian government agrees all of that. It won't all be over by Christmas.
  • moonshine said:

    Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    Jeez, not this one again. Terrible poling question, based on political talking points with no context.

    The companies making money are Saudi Aramco and Qatargas - how does the UK government tax them?

    Taxes on UK domestic extraction are currently 69%, by how much should these rise?

    It's a polling question that reflects voter perceptions. This is the problem the Tories have.

    But it’s totally disengenuous, Starmer couldn’t possibly propose this solution if he were in government, because it’s simply not possible.

    Organisations such as the media and polling companies need to be calling out bulls… like this, but instead they pretend it’s simply a political argument rather than an impossible untruth.
    Truss needs to come right out on a bbc sofa and say “I believe the truth is important in politics. That is after all the very reason why I have found myself in this job. And the LOTO is simply not telling the truth when he pretends there’s a way to solve this problem by taxing businesses. His calculations are a fantasy. Tax on profits for oil and gas producers are 65%. Even if we raised them to 100%, which would obviously be self defeating and impossible, then at current profit rates we might raise £20bn. How much do you expect we might raise the year after if we did that?

    Keir Starmer is a pleasant individual and there’s common ground between us. But he’s been totally led astray here by his researchers and does not appear to know how to dig himself out of this hole other than to keep repeating mistruths.”

    Boom. Mike wins his bet.

    The problem with that strategy is that it would mean Truss would then have to tell the truth. That would blow her approach to Brexit out of the water, for starters.

    And the public simply point to the vast profits being made by these very same companies and call Truss a liar.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,061

    Dura_Ace said:

    dixiedean said:

    Surely the TV and radio have interviewed every single living person who ever met the Queen by now?

    I think there is still one Balmoral guest we'd like to comment.


    Who are they?
    Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislane Maxwell
  • Sandpit said:

    Since an even higher percentage agree with Liz Truss's cap policy, you could easily have retitled this piece "Truss is in tune with the public".

    That would have been nonsense too. I hope the editorials on this site don't try and push a party line over the next 2+ years.

    We're better than that.

    Look at the supplementaries and your proposed headline wouldn't work but the wider point is that Truss and her government are unlikely to get any credit for averting a disaster especially as energy bills are going to be higher even after her proposals.

    img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/5020679/uploads/editor/jz/ova733hxcoiw.png" alt="" />
    How many people have any idea of what the government actually proposed, given that nothing about it has been discussed anywhere thanks to subsequent events?

    Dare I suggest that polling companies all take a week or two off, because pretty much everything they’re polling now is likely to be rubbish.
    As I've said before, I think people have stopped panicking about energy, feeling the issue has been kept within bounds, but they're still very worried about the cost of living more generally. On the whole, the interruption in normal politics has been unhelpful to Truss - the media won't go back to discussing the energy package in detail in two weeks' time.

    Pollsters definitely should continue to track what people think so we can see how events are shaping the mood. They're mirrors, not predictions.
    However in two weeks time after the Queen's funeral and once the Special Financial Statement has appeared, the public's focus will once again be very much focused on energy bills and cost of living and we will see the public's assessment as to whether the government's proposals are any good.
  • NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,263
    moonshine said:

    Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    Jeez, not this one again. Terrible poling question, based on political talking points with no context.

    The companies making money are Saudi Aramco and Qatargas - how does the UK government tax them?

    Taxes on UK domestic extraction are currently 69%, by how much should these rise?

    It's a polling question that reflects voter perceptions. This is the problem the Tories have.

    But it’s totally disengenuous, Starmer couldn’t possibly propose this solution if he were in government, because it’s simply not possible.

    Organisations such as the media and polling companies need to be calling out bulls… like this, but instead they pretend it’s simply a political argument rather than an impossible untruth.
    Truss needs to come right out on a bbc sofa and say “I believe the truth is important in politics. That is after all the very reason why I have found myself in this job. And the LOTO is simply not telling the truth when he pretends there’s a way to solve this problem by taxing businesses. His calculations are a fantasy. Tax on profits for oil and gas producers are 65%. Even if we raised them to 100%, which would obviously be self defeating and impossible, then at current profit rates we might raise £20bn. How much do you expect we might raise the year after if we did that?

    Keir Starmer is a pleasant individual and there’s common ground between us. But he’s been totally led astray here by his researchers and does not appear to know how to dig himself out of this hole other than to keep repeating mistruths.”

    Boom. Mike wins his bet.
    Bring it on. Any Conservative Minister under Johnson going on a perfect accuracy campaign is bringing a knife to a gunfight.
  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 12,880

    Dura_Ace said:

    dixiedean said:

    Surely the TV and radio have interviewed every single living person who ever met the Queen by now?

    I think there is still one Balmoral guest we'd like to comment.


    Who are they?
    Philip Schofield and Fiona Bruce.
  • Sandpit said:

    Icarus said:

    From GOV.UK:

    "From 1st October, a new ‘Energy Price Guarantee’ will mean a typical UK household will now pay up to an average £2,500 a year on their energy bill for the next two years. This is automatic and applies to all households.

    This will save the average household at least £1,000 a year based on current energy prices from October and is in addition to the £400 energy bills discount for all households."

    Telling people they will save at least £1,000 a year is very, very, misleading. Am sure The Advertising Standards Authority would rule it out of order. More importantly is likely to seriously piss people off when they get their bills this winter.

    GOV.UK statements do not fall under the ASA’s remit. But I presume it comes under the Office for Statistics Regulation?
    It’s a reduction of £1,000, from the already-announced OFGEM cap on October 1st.
    Yes, but it's not a 'saving' as the government statement claims, is it?

    It's reminiscent to me of my other half. She buys an item of clothing for £50 in a sale, full price was £150, and she is completely convinced that we are £100 better off than would otherwise have been the case.
    Yes, in a sale your biggest saving is always if you don't buy it at all! 👍
  • Foxy said:

    moonshine said:

    .

    In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474

    Indeed - it is already being used within the 37 billion package and let us not forget Starmer would cancel the £400 grant to be paid over 6 months from October

    The Labour plan was a very simple one - no-one will pay more than they are paying now. And that will be funded by a windfall tax. This is all voters are going to hear. That's the politics of it.

    It is until it is called out as a lie

    What is that about lying in politics?

    It will be called out as a lie by the government, of course it will be. But that is not the same as it either being a lie or being accepted as a lie.

    If you are relying on detailed dissections of Labour policy instead of government policy, I think you are going to be disappointed.

    It is clearly misleading and in truth Truss will implement her policy and as inflation falls over the coming months and the effects of lower taxes are felt then I expect the conservatives may recover some of their polling but we are 2 years away from a GE with all kind of events intervening it is anyones guess who leads the country then
    Even with Truss’s plan, energy prices will be higher than they were and inflation will be higher than it was. I suspect the Tories will get the blame for that, more than they’ll get praise for energy prices not being as high as they otherwise would’ve been or inflation not being as high as it otherwise would’ve been.
    This debate will be turned on its head if Putin's war ends in his denouement and it seems it may not be an unrealistic dream
    If Putin was deposed tomorrow (which would be lovely), energy bills will still have been higher and some inflation would still be baked in. And the
    party in Government would still get blamed for
    that.

    There is, to use that word again, hysteresis in the system. If things get worse and then get better again by returning to the starting point, the Government are still going to get blamed.
    There’s a no longer implausible scenario of European gas and power prices collapsing before winter sets in. Slava Ukraine. The general inflation seen in the world is in my view because of monetary policy bedwetting two years ago during covid. The energy and supply chain issues in China are a one time hit. The fed will soon realise that if they raise much further, they will risk needlessly turning a recession into a depression.

    Despite the time I spend here, I’m not a bettor. But if I were, I would say Tory majority is underpriced right now. We’re almost at the nadir and by spring 2024 we could be seeing fast catch-up growth and an election under newly beneficial boundaries for the govt.
    The battles in Ukraine have a long way to go, and at yesterday's conference a Ukrainian definition of victory was made: Russia leaves all of Ukraine, pays reparations and war crimes trials take place.

    https://twitter.com/anneapplebaum/status/1568681541668143109?t=_UsSS4pVL1WgfaHCN3R9TA&s=19

    I cannot see sanctions being dropped until a new Russian government agrees all of that. It won't all be over by Christmas.
    I think that’s probably right, but a palace coup, which would be quick if it happened, could be the one thing that might mean it’s all over by Christmas.
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 5,226
    edited September 2022
    Foxy said:

    moonshine said:

    .

    In May, Rishi Sunak announced a "temporary, targeted energy-profits levy". The good people at Bloomberg tweeted a video clip of the then-Chancellor's announcement.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1529788086976233474

    Indeed - it is already being used within the 37 billion package and let us not forget Starmer would cancel the £400 grant to be paid over 6 months from October

    The Labour plan was a very simple one - no-one will pay more than they are paying now. And that will be funded by a windfall tax. This is all voters are going to hear. That's the politics of it.

    It is until it is called out as a lie

    What is that about lying in politics?

    It will be called out as a lie by the government, of course it will be. But that is not the same as it either being a lie or being accepted as a lie.

    If you are relying on detailed dissections of Labour policy instead of government policy, I think you are going to be disappointed.

    It is clearly misleading and in truth Truss will implement her policy and as inflation falls over the coming months and the effects of lower taxes are felt then I expect the conservatives may recover some of their polling but we are 2 years away from a GE with all kind of events intervening it is anyones guess who leads the country then
    Even with Truss’s plan, energy prices will be higher than they were and inflation will be higher than it was. I suspect the Tories will get the blame for that, more than they’ll get praise for energy prices not being as high as they otherwise would’ve been or inflation not being as high as it otherwise would’ve been.
    This debate will be turned on its head if Putin's war ends in his denouement and it seems it may not be an unrealistic dream
    If Putin was deposed tomorrow (which would be lovely), energy bills will still have been higher and some inflation would still be baked in. And the
    party in Government would still get blamed for
    that.

    There is, to use that word again, hysteresis in the system. If things get worse and then get better again by returning to the starting point, the Government are still going to get blamed.
    There’s a no longer implausible scenario of European gas and power prices collapsing before winter sets in. Slava Ukraine. The general inflation seen in the world is in my view because of monetary policy bedwetting two years ago during covid. The energy and supply chain issues in China are a one time hit. The fed will soon realise that if they raise much further, they will risk needlessly turning a recession into a depression.

    Despite the time I spend here, I’m not a bettor. But if I were, I would say Tory majority is underpriced right now. We’re almost at the nadir and by spring 2024 we could be seeing fast catch-up growth and an election under newly beneficial boundaries for the govt.
    The battles in Ukraine have a long way to go, and at yesterday's conference a Ukrainian definition
    of victory was made: Russia leaves all of Ukraine,
    pays reparations and war crimes trials take place.



    https://twitter.com/anneapplebaum/status/1568681541668143109?t=_UsSS4pVL1WgfaHCN3R9TA&s=19

    I cannot see sanctions being dropped until a new Russian government agrees all of that. It won't all be over by Christmas.
    I don’t claim it’s likely. But it’s not implausible. The route would be a continued route of Russian forces in the coming days. And then the fall of Donetsk perhaps. Followed by one of two things. An elite level coup. Or Putin being granted asylum, the Middle East probably. Pretty much every world leader will be in London next weekend, perfect backdrop for some whispered conversations.

    Edit: bear in mind that the oil sanctions have had almost no impact on world supply or price levels. And gas prices have been high as everyone in Europe has assumed Russian gas will be unavailable to it. As soon as a new leader is installed and the army leaves post 2014 occupied territory, I reckon the taps will open again. Doesn’t change medium term need to pivot to other supplies but no longer such an urgency.
  • Jonathan said:

    I thought we weren’t doing British politics until the funeral.

    Glad to see Starmer recognised. The Tories have been playing catch up since day one. Their argument that you can’t tax all of it so don’t tax any of it is daft. They are still behind the curve.

    I can't speak for others but I'm not.

    I'm not at all interested in Labour, Conservative, SNP or Liberal Democrats right now. That can wait.

    This is about the whole country, focusing on understanding and processing what's just happened, what that means for us going forwards, and who we are, and stabilising our sense of ourselves, before we turn to debating who has the best policy solutions.
  • Taz said:

    Sandpit said:

    Jeez, not this one again. Terrible poling question, based on political talking points with no context.

    The companies making money are Saudi Aramco and Qatargas - how does the UK government tax them?

    Taxes on UK domestic extraction are currently 69%, by how much should these rise?

    A question to which Starmer had no answer and just blustered in Parliament.
    Good morning

    Starmer was caught out by Mark Harper in the HOC and his reaction showed he did not understand the difference between global profits (170 billion) and UK profits of 40 billion currently taxed at 65%

    I expect the COE in his emergency budget will call out Starmer and others on this misconception
    There is a serious, really serious political problem for the Tories. Why you don't get this is puzzling. It may well be the case that the domestic energy companies aren't going to make intergalactic profits. Just vast ones. The public will not understand the nuanced differences, but they WILL understand the sneering arrogance of this government defending the profits of these companies over the taxpayer.

    Why can't you see this? Truss is wrong here on a galactic scale, and having backed the oil companies over individuals the political tax will be crippling.
    For me I am fully aware a windfall tax won't raise a significant proportion of the energy handouts the government is giving. The principle of everyone, including businesses, doing their bit in a crisis is an important one however, so even if it raises another £5bn out of £200bn I think it very much worthwhile.
This discussion has been closed.