The UK Government’s response to business concerns over energy price rises is nowhere near good enough.
Energy Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg announced the cost of wholesale gas and electricity for business customers will be cut for six months from October.
Any measures to ease the burden on businesses and protect jobs are welcome but bosses are right to be less than enthusiastic.
Scottish Chambers of Commerce chief executive Liz Cameron has asked what will happen “once the cap is lifted”?
It is a fair question.
The war in Ukraine, which has exacerbated the problem, does not look like it is ending any time soon.
There is every chance wholesale energy prices will be just as high – if not higher – in the new year.
A long-term strategy is needed and what we heard from Rees-Mogg yesterday was anything but.
The Tory Government’s plans are a sticking plaster over a gaping wound.
They refuse to implement a proper windfall tax on the obscene profits made by energy firms and have decided to burden future taxpayers with the debt.
A fair distribution of excess profits to help people and businesses through this unprecedented crisis would be a start. It would demonstrate the Government is on the side of those who pay the bills and not fatcat energy bosses.
The only certainty the Tories can provide is that somehow they’ll find a way to keep more money in the hands of those who need it least.
Even if that means leaving everyone else running on empty.
New clear danger
Be IN no doubt, the sabre-rattling from the Kremlin is serious.
Vladimir Putin may look like he’s mad but he is certainly a man of his word. He promised years ago to take back Ukraine and his only mistake was to believe his own propaganda.
His ill-equipped forces proved entirely incapable and he now has to summon conscripts to the front line.
Putin announced the country’s first partial mobilisation since World War II, renewed his nuclear threats and timetabled referendums in four occupied parts of Ukraine all before the week is out.
His nuclear threat is real. He could use a tactical weapon, low yield, to take out a military target as a signal to the West that he is willing to go further if they do not back off.
The West has to present a united response behind Ukraine, with more military backing and sanctions, to show that we will not blink first.
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