All The Times Tory Ministers Said A Windfall Tax Was A Bad Idea | Rishi Sunak is set to lead yet another government U-turn on Thursday, this time on a tax on oil and gas companies’ profits.

23 comments

  3. Perfectly timed distraction for partygate / Grey report, notice how this is announced as soon as the Sue Grey report is handed to no.10

    They must be so confident that their compliant media will manage to get the general public to ignore the blatantly obvious timing for distraction, it’s fucking disgusting and yet they will yet again get away with it all while the rabid pro Tory press such as the DM and Express will rant on about how fucking wonderful and how generous the Tories are while helping distract from all the lawbreaking and corruption

  5. Their list – see article for details

    * Boris Johnson: ‘Not for this government’ ([May 18](https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1526883764873445380))

    * Boris Johnson: ‘Not the right thing’ ([May 12](https://nitter.net/LBC/status/1524634165295075334))

    * Boris Johnson: Oil and gas companies ‘don’t want a windfall tax’ [*really?!*] ([May 4](https://nitter.net/ITVNewsPolitics/status/1521830814174130189))

    * Rishi Sunak: Not ‘naturally attracted’ to this idea ([May 12](https://nitter.net/BBCPolitics/status/1524696192755671046))

    * Sajid Javid: ‘I don’t like it’ ([May 22](https://www.tivysideadvertiser.co.uk/news/national/uk-today/20156964.sajid-javid-among-ministers-object-windfall-tax-tackle-cost-living-crisis/))

    * Liz Truss: ′There’s a cost in imposing such a tax’ ([May 18](https://news.sky.com/story/truss-bats-off-windfall-tax-call-but-admits-uk-in-very-very-difficult-economic-situation-12615693))

    * Kwasi Kwarteng: ‘Never been a supporter’ ([May 15](https://nitter.net/BBCPolitics/status/1525781461105881088))

    * Brandon Lewis: ‘Doesn’t work’ ([May 21](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/05/21/tory-windfall-tax-row-widens-two-cabinet-ministers-reject-policy/))

    * Suella Braverman: ‘Not a great idea’ ([May 20](https://www.conservativehome.com/highlights/2022/05/interview-braverman-says-that-what-may-emerge-from-russia-is-a-basis-for-charges-of-genocide.html))

    * Dominic Raab: ‘Frankly ill thought through’ ([27 April](https://news.sky.com/video/whole-range-of-cost-of-living-measures-listed-by-dominic-raab-12599901))

    * Jacob Rees-Mogg: ‘Retrospective taxation is difficult’ ([May 20](https://uk.style.yahoo.com/jacob-rees-mogg-warns-against-122852335.html))

     
    And for good measure one they *maybe* missed if [The *Times*’ anonymous source](https://archive.ph/qY3Zr#selection-1197.44-1213.366) was a minister:

    > Last week Bernard Looney, the chief executive of BP, said in an interview with The Times that his company would not reduce investment in the UK if it were hit with a windfall tax (Steven Swinford writes).

    > His comments, on the day that BP announced £5 billion in profits, caused consternation in government. Until that point Boris Johnson, the prime minister, and Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, had resolutely opposed calls by Labour for the tax. Now they had no choice but to countenance it.

    > “It was utterly bizarre,” a government source said. “It felt like he was goading us to tax him. **We really, really don’t want to do this — we’re ideologically opposed to it and it would hand Labour a significant win** — but when the chief executive of BP is effectively saying come and tax me if you think you’re hard enough, clearly the chancellor has to consider it.”

  6. Once again, The Conservatives refuse, deny, deflect, obfuscate, and avoid reality before eventually doing the thing they should have done at the beginning.

    Can we get to a point where this current situation is history?

  9. It’s not even a fucking windfall tax… There’s more fucking loopholes

    https://twitter.com/HugoGye/status/1529786680441458689

    > Sunak confirms a “temporary targeted energy profits levy”, to howls of delight/ridicule from Labour.

    > Tax set at 25% but investment tax relief is increased to 90% allowing firms to escape much of the burden if they invest.

    >**Slight correction – the actual new investment allowance rate is 80% but because of the various ways all the tax rates and allowances intersect, firms can write off 91% of all the investment in total.**

    >**Otherwise, overall tax rate on oil and gas profits is now 65% until Dec 2025.**

  11. Won’t this backfire when big Tory donors question why their low-tax expectations aren’t being met? What is the purpose of the modern Conservative Party other than as a ladder to power for an insider clique which will do anything to preserve its position.

  12. A windfall tax is an inherently bad idea though, because if companies are choosing between two locations and one has predictable taxation and one has less predictable taxation then the first one is more appealing even if the tax charge is higher overall. If they should be taxed more, come up with a transparent system to tax them more going forward.

  14. This will be a tax only in name, it’s just noise to push the people to forget and move on. There will be no tax put upon anyone and they will lie and give new excuses why down the line.

  15. The amount of staggering U turns already staged by the government is something else. What a fucking Con from the very beginning. Drag them out! even the greens wouldnt be so obviously and incredibly sleazy if in power. The county’s voters need to change their minds soon there’s too much US style politics in the commons and it’s disgusting.

  16. It was a bad idea then because they didn’t have a report showing their contempt for the country and it’s people doing the rounds

  17. The whole distraction debate to one side for a moment, this is in some senses a step in the right direction. However, if a windfall tax from energy companies is paying for grants that won’t quite cover the energy price rises, then that grant money goes back to the energy companies and they still profit? I feel like this is a deal where a low offer is being made as a gesture, that the public will naively accept as a good outcome.

  19. And try and make out it was there idea, to try and get credit for it. Be prepared for them doing more stuff to make out they are helping ordinary people, but also making sure the rich will benefit one way or another.

  23. This will be the x-th U-turn of this gov. Is it because they are flexible? Or because they didn’t have long-term planning and proper principle and therefore they just follow where the wind blows?

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