Nicola Sturgeon has pledged that “every single penny” of additional money Scotland receives from energy bill and council tax rebates will be used to support people with the cost of living crisis.
The First Minister was asked about the decision by energy regulator Ofgem to hike the price cap to a record £1,971 for a typical household, with bills expected to rise by £693 per year from the beginning of April.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that all households will get a £200 discount on bills from October, but that will have to be repaid over five years.
Homes in England will also get a £150 council tax rebate for properties in bands A-D.
The UK Government estimates that devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are expected to receive approximately £565m of Barnett funding as a result of the council tax rebate.
Speaking at First Minister’s Questions, Sturgeon said: “I’ve not heard all of the detail because he was still on the seat as I came into the chamber, but the chancellor has just announced what sounded like welcome steps to help mitigate [the rising price cap] but steps that, in my view, do not go far enough.
“They seem to offer around £350 of help against energy bill increases of around £700.
“I also don’t yet know what the position on consequentials will be, but I give a commitment here that - assuming there are consequences, which I would expect there to be - every single penny of them will go in Scotland to helping people deal with the cost of living crisis.”
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar challenged Sturgeon to back proposals for a one-off windfall tax on the profits being made by oil and gas companies, following news that Shell has announced profits of more than £14bn.
He criticised SNP MPs who voted against proposals for a windfall tax in the House of Commons on Tuesday, stating: “This is a government that would rather play politics with the cost of living crisis rather than take the action using the powers they have; a government lacking ambition and failing to use this parliament; a government that stands with energy companies making £27,000 a minute and not with people struggling to pay their bills.
“They have refused to use the powers of this Parliament to prop-up winter fuel payments, they have refused to back Labour’s proposals on a windfall tax on energy companies, and they have refused to stop rises to rail fares and water charges.”
Sturgeon replied: “I am not opposed to oil and gas companies making a contribution because their profits are rising.
“I am not opposed to that, I’m simply saying these approaches should be fair and equitable – that is the point I’m making, and I’m also making the basic point that I don’t have the power over that.
“We’ve actually acted ahead of other governments to try to deal with the cost of living crisis, and particularly the energy cost crisis.
“The Winter Support Fund that we have recently established - £41m in total - [including] £10m to help people are struggling to pay fuel bills, including access to top-up vouchers, better support for those in remote and rural areas, £6m for third-sector partners so that they can directly support low-income families, and £25m of flexible funding to help local authorities support people in financial insecurity.”
Following the chancellor’s announcement, Scottish Conservative finance spokeswoman Liz Smith said: “Rishi Sunak and the UK Government have taken a big step toward tackling the cost of living crisis with these measures. Now the SNP must act urgently.
“The new money for Scotland must be passed on to local councils and the tax cut matched pound for pound.
“The SNP has no excuse to avoid passing on this funding boost from the UK Government to working people across Scotland.”
Andrew McRae, the Federation of Small Businesses policy chair in Scotland, said: “The measures outlined by the Chancellor today do nothing to protect local and independent businesses from punishing increases to their energy bills.
“Small businesses aren’t included in the price cap, and don’t have the negotiating power of the biggest firms - that means that Scottish businesses are under the same pressure as households with none of the protections.
“The UK Government is right to help households with rising costs, but ministers need to extend the support to include smaller firms - and with cash from today’s announcement heading to Holyrood, we’d urge decision-makers in Edinburgh to look at what they can do to help.”
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