Power invoice assist for companies will begin from October even when funds must be backdated, says No 10 – UK politics reside | Politics

0

[ad_1]

No 10 says companies will get assist with vitality payments from October, even when funds must be backdated

Companies will obtain cash to assist them with will increase to their gas payments from October, Downing Avenue has introduced. It made the dedication in response to in the present day’s Monetary Occasions story saying that enterprise figures have been instructed the vitality assist scheme for corporations is probably not in operation till November. (See 10.06am.)

In response to the preliminary FT story, the federal government simply stated it was working to get the enterprise assist scheme up and operating as quickly as potential.

However in the present day Downing Avenue stated that, even when it isn’t operational in the beginning of October, funds can be backdated to that time in order that they didn’t lose out. The PM’s spokesperson instructed reporters:

We are going to affirm additional particulars of the enterprise assist scheme subsequent week. The scheme will assist companies with their October vitality payments and that features by way of backdating if mandatory.

10 Downing Street.
10 Downing Avenue. {Photograph}: Toby Melville/Reuters

Key occasions

Filters BETA

On the Downing Avenue foyer briefing the prime minister’s spokesperson was requested what companies ought to do if they’re requested in the beginning of October to signal an vitality contract charging them 5 instances or extra what they have been paying, at a degree the place the federal government scheme for companies just isn’t but operational. Ought to they simply enroll, and assume the federal government will cowl the distinction?

The spokesperson replied:

I don’t wish to be prescriptive with out understanding particular person circumstances. What we now have stated at this level is that we’ll look to provide equal assist to what we now have completed with with households and there’ll be a bit extra element on that subsequent week.

We’re chatting with stakeholder teams as nicely to offer as a lot data as potential so that they have readability if they’re required to make these choices.

The federal government has promised that corporations will get “equal assist” to what’s accessible for households. Requested if that meant an equal saving in money phrases, or an equal saving as a proportion of the rise proposed, the spokesperson was unable to reply, saying he couldn’t set out the small print of the scheme at this level.

No 10 says companies will get assist with vitality payments from October, even when funds must be backdated

Companies will obtain cash to assist them with will increase to their gas payments from October, Downing Avenue has introduced. It made the dedication in response to in the present day’s Monetary Occasions story saying that enterprise figures have been instructed the vitality assist scheme for corporations is probably not in operation till November. (See 10.06am.)

In response to the preliminary FT story, the federal government simply stated it was working to get the enterprise assist scheme up and operating as quickly as potential.

However in the present day Downing Avenue stated that, even when it isn’t operational in the beginning of October, funds can be backdated to that time in order that they didn’t lose out. The PM’s spokesperson instructed reporters:

We are going to affirm additional particulars of the enterprise assist scheme subsequent week. The scheme will assist companies with their October vitality payments and that features by way of backdating if mandatory.

10 Downing Street.
10 Downing Avenue. {Photograph}: Toby Melville/Reuters

Taxpayers’ Alliance welcomes experiences that Truss set to scrap anti-obesity technique

The Taxpayers’ Alliance (TPA) has welcomed my colleague Denis Campbell’s report that the federal government is contemplating abandoning its anti-obesity technique, which entails measures to cease individuals consuming an excessive amount of junk meals. John O’Connell, its chief govt, stated:

Junking these nanny state insurance policies is lengthy overdue.

Plans to finish buy-one-get-one-free have been solely going to pile strain on hard-hit households throughout a price of dwelling disaster.

Authorities can not count on taxpayers to additional tighten their belts and Truss is correct to row it again.

The TPA, which campaigns for low taxes and towards some authorities spending (what it describes as “waste”), has by no means been seen as one in all Whitehall’s extra highly effective thinktanks or strain teams because it was arrange virtually 20 years in the past. However that may be about to alter. Liz Truss, the brand new prime minister, is sympathetic to the alliance’s pondering and he or she has simply employed Matthew Sinclair as her chief financial adviser. Sinclair spent six years on the TPA, ending up turning into its chief govt in 2012.

The previous Lib Dem adviser Polly Mackenzie reckons that, on this coverage, the TPA has acquired its logic all mistaken; eliminating the anti-obesity technique will result in larger prices for taxpayers, she argues. (See 10.30am.)

Abstract of Von der Leyen’s state of union speech to MEPs

You may learn the state of the union speech by Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Fee, to MEPs right here. Here’s a abstract of the bulletins in it from the fee. And listed below are a number of the key passages.

She was a relentless all through the turbulent and remodeling occasions within the final 70 years.

Stoic and steadfast in her service.

However greater than something, she at all times discovered the correct phrases for each second in time …

And once I consider the scenario we’re in in the present day, her phrases on the peak of the pandemic nonetheless resonate with me.

She stated: “We are going to succeed – and that success will belong to each one in all us.”

She at all times reminded us that our future is constructed on new concepts and based in our oldest values.

EU proposes income from vitality companies ought to go ‘to those that want it most’ – video

  • She stated the EU was “in it for the lengthy haul” by way of supporting Ukraine. And she or he stated it was not only a conflict on Ukraine, however “a conflict on our vitality, a conflict on our economic system, a conflict on our values and a conflict on our future”.

The fee will work with Ukraine to make sure seamless entry to the only market. And vice-versa.

Our single market is one in all Europe’s best success tales. Now it’s time to make it a hit story for our Ukrainian pals, too.

And because of this I’m going to Kyiv in the present day, to debate this intimately with President Zelenskiy.

We launched laws to display international direct funding in our corporations for safety issues.

If we try this for our economic system, shouldn’t we do the identical for our values?

We have to higher defend ourselves from malign interference.

For this reason we’ll current a defence of democracy bundle.

It is going to carry covert international affect and shady funding to gentle.

We won’t permit any autocracy’s Trojan horses to assault our democracies from inside.

Ursula von der Leyen delivering her state of the union speech to MEPs.
Ursula von der Leyen delivering her state of the union speech to MEPs. {Photograph}: Frederick Florin/AFP/Getty Pictures

Faisal Islam, the BBC’s economics editor, says the EU plan for a windfall tax on vitality corporations (see 9.35am) might impact the UK authorities’s plan to renegotiate the contracts that decide how a lot low-carbon producers receives a commission for his or her vitality.

If the EU is to boost €140 billion from “extra income” of electrical energy producers and oil and fuel extractors, then they are going to be doing so on a number of the exact same corporations that offer the UK… & presumably UK corporations that offer the EU too…

— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) September 14, 2022

To be clear – present extra income levy is constant in UK, and there are ongoing discussions about electrical energy producers swapping present large gas-linked costs, for long run not so excessive however nonetheless elevated worth. Existence of great EU Cap/ tax will have an effect on negotiations

— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) September 14, 2022

YouGov has launched a brand new polling giving Labour a 10-point lead over the Conservatives – down 5 factors from its final ballot, carried out as Liz Truss took over as prime minister.

As my colleague Denis Campbell experiences, a overview of measures meant to cease individuals consuming an excessive amount of junk meals ordered by Liz Truss might end result within the governing scrapping its complete anti-obesity technique.

Polly Mackenzie, who was Nick Clegg’s coverage adviser when he was the Lib Dem deputy prime minister within the coalition authorities, says Truss can not abandon regulation that reduces weight problems, and maintain taxes low, and fund a well being service capable of cope with the results of weight problems all on the similar time.

Right here’s the factor:

You may have a low regulation society wherein individuals and companies are allowed to create harms like weight problems, office stress, air air pollution.

However your well being prices are going to be huge. So that you want excessive taxes to pay for low regulation… https://t.co/2SupFjPUf0

— Polly Mackenzie (@pollymackenzie) September 14, 2022

Now – regulation is price, simply utilized otherwise. So individuals will disagree about which is best:

Tax to pay for the externalities individuals/companies create – leaving extra freedom for innovation.

Regulate to cut back the externalities – reducing taxes however curbing freedom…

— Polly Mackenzie (@pollymackenzie) September 14, 2022

What you shouldn’t do (however everybody appears to faux you’ll be able to)…

Is declare it’s potential to have low tax AND low regulation AND inexpensive public companies.

You may solely have two.

— Polly Mackenzie (@pollymackenzie) September 14, 2022

Sharon Graham, the Unite common secretary, says the UK is going through a “disaster of revenue”. She says employees ought to get a greater share of company income.

Rocketing #inflation might have been eased final month however that gained’t final. Present ranges proceed to threaten the dwelling requirements of hundreds of thousands of employees. That is now a disaster of revenue. 1/2

— Sharon Graham (@UniteSharon) September 14, 2022

Solely the wealthy and highly effective are protected. It’s time for the remainder of us to organise into commerce unions and take again our share of the company income we create. #JoinAUnion 2/2

— Sharon Graham (@UniteSharon) September 14, 2022

This has parallels with the purpose Ursula von der Leyen was making about income in her speech this morning (see 9.35am), though Von der Leyen, a German Christian Democrat who has little in widespread with Graham, was simply speaking concerning the vitality sector.

Authorities fails to disclaim experiences companies might have to attend till November till assist with vitality payments turns into accessible

When Liz Truss introduced her “vitality worth assure” final week, households have been comparatively clear about what they’d obtain, however the promise of assist for companies was rather more imprecise. Corporations and company teams are nonetheless very nervous, and yesterday one commerce affiliation stated its members have been “on the finish of their tether” not understanding if they’d survive this winter.

Based on a report within the Monetary Occasions in the present day, company Britain is correct to be nervous. Daniel Thomas, Jim Pickard and Nathalie Thomas say the assist scheme promised by Truss is probably not operational till November. Of their report they are saying:

Executives have been instructed in current conferences with the federal government of the chance the scheme is probably not prepared till November, though officers stated they nonetheless hoped the scheme would go reside subsequent month.

“It’s not labored by way of but,” stated one authorities official. “I don’t know whether or not it is going to are available in earlier than November. There’s some debate about whether or not it may be introduced ahead and occur earlier than then.”

Truss stated final week that unit costs for households can be capped, so {that a} typical family can pay not more than £2,500 a 12 months on vitality payments for the subsequent 12 months. She stated companies would get “equal assist”. However companies usually are not lined by the Ofgem worth cap that applies to customers, and the FT says “with no present mechanism in place, ministers and officers are nonetheless struggling to work out find out how to restrict corporations’ vitality payments.” The report goes on:

The federal government would supply vitality suppliers with the distinction between a brand new cheaper price and what vitality retailers would in any other case cost enterprise prospects.

However whereas ministers have outlined this broad framework, they’ve but to resolve on the exact system for implementing it.

The federal government has not denied that the scheme is probably not prepared till November. A authorities spokesperson stated officers have been working “at tempo” to ship the assist scheme for companies and that particulars of the scheme, and timings for when it could begin, can be introduced as quickly as potential.

EU requires windfall tax on vitality companies, saying income should go ‘to those that want it most’

Good morning. There may be little or no public politics happening in Britain proper now (though the occasions following the demise of the Queen are political in a broader sense, and anybody accustomed to how a political marketing campaign operates can have been watching what King Charles has been doing in current days, little question with sympathy, but in addition immense admiration for his professionalism.) However in Brussels regular politics continues, and this morning Ursula von der Leyen, the European Fee president, has simply delivered her state of the union speech to the European parliament.

There was loads in it, notably about Ukraine, and I’ll put up a full abstract later, however for readers within the UK what she stated about vitality was notably fascinating – as a result of it was so completely different from what the British authorities is saying.

  • Von der Leyen proposed recouping cash from vitality corporations, saying “income should be channelled to those that want it most”. She stated there needs to be a cap on income for corporations making vitality from renewables, and he or she stated fossil gas corporations also needs to pay extra throughout the disaster – calling in impact for a windfall tax, though she described it as a “disaster contribution”. She stated:

Thousands and thousands of Europeans want assist.

EU member states have already invested billions of euros to help weak households.

However we all know this won’t be sufficient.

For this reason we’re proposing a cap on the revenues of corporations that produce electrical energy at a low price.

These corporations are making revenues they by no means accounted for, they by no means even dreamed of.

In our social market economic system, income are good.

However in these instances it’s mistaken to obtain extraordinary file income benefitting from conflict and on the again of customers.

In these instances, income should be shared and channelled to those that want it essentially the most.

Our proposal will elevate greater than €140bn for member states to cushion the blow instantly.

And since we’re in a fossil gas disaster, the fossil gas business has a particular responsibility, too.

Main oil, fuel and coal corporations are additionally making large income. In order that they must pay a justifiable share – they’ve to provide a disaster contribution.

These are all emergency and momentary measures we’re engaged on, together with our discussions on worth caps.

Though Liz Truss, the brand new UK prime minister, just isn’t reversing the windfall tax on vitality corporations introduced early this 12 months when Boris Johnson was in No 10, in her first PMQs final week she firmly acknowledged her opposition to windfall taxes on precept.

Consider the employees in ceramics factories in central Italy who’ve determined to maneuver their shifts to the early morning to profit from the decrease vitality costs.

And simply think about the moms and dads amongst these employees having to go away residence early when the youngsters are nonetheless sleeping due to the conflict they haven’t chosen.

That is one instance in one million of examples of Europeans adapting to the brand new actuality.

I need our union to take instance from its individuals. So lowering demand throughout peak hours will make provide last more and it’ll carry costs down.

For this reason we’re placing ahead measures for member states to cut back the general electrical energy consumption.

Once more, it is a distinction with the UK, the place the federal government has been reluctant to encourage individuals to make use of much less vitality, or to advertise something that may smack of vitality rationing.

I attempt to monitor the feedback beneath the road (BTL) however it’s unimaginable to learn all of them. If in case you have a direct query, do embrace “Andrew” in it someplace and I’m extra more likely to discover it. I do attempt to reply questions, and if they’re of common curiosity, I’ll put up the query and reply above the road (ATL), though I can’t promise to do that for everybody.

If you wish to entice my consideration rapidly, it’s in all probability higher to make use of Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

Alternatively, you’ll be able to electronic mail me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com

Ursula von der Leyen delivering her state of the union speech to the European parliament in Strasbourg
Ursula von der Leyen delivering her state of the union speech to the European parliament in Strasbourg {Photograph}: Frederick Florin/AFP/Getty Pictures

Leave A Reply

Your email address will not be published.