A minister today insisted the Government is “intrinsically opposed” to imposing a windfall tax on oil and gas giants amid claims No 10 is resisting pressure from the Treasury to go ahead with the levy.
Kit Malthouse, the policing minister, said that Rishi Sunak “reserves the right to take all steps he thinks necessary” to address the cost of living crisis.
But asked specifically about rolling out a tax on the excess profits of energy firms, Mr Malthouse told Times Radio that “we are intrinsically opposed to that kind of taxation”.
His comments came after it was claimed that Boris Johnson’s advisers are blocking a push from Treasury officials to go ahead with the tax.
Treasury officials believe imposing the levy is now “politically unavoidable”, according to The Times, as Labour continues to call for more action to help struggling families.
But advisers in No 10 reportedly fear the tax would be seen as an attack on business, with one apparently saying it would be an “ideologically unconservative thing to do”.
Follow the latest updates below.
09:50 AM
Pictured: Sir Keir Starmer meets with Labour’s Wakefield by-election candidate
Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, and Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, are in Wakefield today to meet with Simon Lightwood, the party’s candidate in the forthcoming Wakefield by-election.
A date is yet to be formally set for the Wakefield by-election but it is thought it could take place on June 23.
The Wakefield contest was triggered by the resignation of ex-Conservative MP Imran Ahmad Khan after his conviction for sexually assaulting a teenage boy.
09:38 AM
Parliament now in a ‘different era’ on heavy drinking
Sir Lindsay Hoyle has insisted Parliament is now in a “different era” to the heavy drinking culture of the 1990s.
The Commons Speaker was told during an interview with Times Radio that there had been reports of MPs turning up to vote while drunk.
Asked if the Commons should introduce a “fitness to vote” or breathalyser test, Sir Lindsay, who first became an MP in 1997, said: “I’ll be quite honest, I do know in 1997 they were going through, there were heavy drinkers, that were going through.
“I would say there was a very strong smell of alcohol in those days. I think we are in a different era.”
09:32 AM
Commons Speaker urges MPs to be ‘more responsible’
Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, said last month that he would advise MPs to avoid parliament’s bars and go home after they have finished their day’s work.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, has now said he believes people just need to be “more responsible”.
He told Times Radio: “Look, Ben is my [parliamentary] neighbour, I have got the greatest of respect. I have not seen Ben close many bars down within the Armed Forces. If the culture is fine there, why can’t we use the same kind of culture here? And what I would say is going off the estate and coming back on drunk is not an answer either.
“You forget, close the bar here, you are 100 yards from the pub on the corner. I can’t bar people from every pub in London.”
He added: “It is about people being more responsible and it is about making sure that people don’t indulge too much.”
08:59 AM
‘Unless the rules change in the House, a member has the right to come in’
Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, said that unless the current rules change, an MP has the right to come to the House of Commons while under police investigation.
His comments came as a Conservative MP is under police investigation after being accused of rape and sexual assault offences. Sir Lindsay was asked if this MP should be kept away from entering the House while the police are investigating.
“Unless the rules change in the House, a member has the right to come in,” he told Times Radio.
“What we believe is it’s in the best interest of both the member and the staff to stay away while there is a police investigation,” Sir Lindsay added.
The Commons Speaker said “conversations are going on at the moment” on whether to change the rules.
08:42 AM
‘I don’t know what the Government is waiting for’
Jonathan Reynolds, Labour’s shadow business secretary, said the country already knows “how bad” the cost-of-living crisis is and the Government should act now and impose a windfall tax on energy firms in order to fund extra help for struggling families.
He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme: “Every day this week and last week and almost certainly next week we have got another piece of information that tells us about the scale of this crisis.
“I don’t know what the Government is waiting for. Are they waiting to find out how bad this is? Because I think we know that already.
“The thing about a windfall tax is it is exactly that. It is a windfall that these companies weren’t expecting. They have said themselves in many cases it won’t affect investment plans and they are still going to do very well out of these absolutely unprecedented levels of prices which they are then receiving the benefit of.”
08:33 AM
Minister insists police will not ‘turn a blind eye’ to shoplifting
Kit Malthouse, the policing minister, insisted the Government will make sure the police do not ‘turn a blind eye’ to people who shoplift because of the cost-of-living crisis (see the post below at 09.31).
He told LBC Radio: “Absolutely right and in fact I wrote to chief constables just a year or so ago saying that they should not be ignoring those seemingly small crimes.”
08:31 AM
Minister criticises new chief inspector of constabulary
The new chief inspector of constabulary Andy Cooke suggested in an interview with The Guardian that police officers should use their discretion during the cost-of-living crisis when it comes to punishing people who steal food in order to eat.
Mr Cooke had said there are “no two ways about” the impact of poverty leading to an increase in crime and that he “fully support officers using their discretion” more often.
The comments have prompted a swift rebuke from Kit Malthouse, the policing minister, who has accused Mr Cooke of “old-fashioned thinking”.
He told LBC Radio: “I have a lot of respect for Any Cooke, he is a fellow Scouser, we get on very well. But I am afraid I find it a bit old-fashioned thinking. We first of all believe that the law should be blind and police officers should operate without fear or favour in the prosecution of the law.
“But secondly also that it is not quite right to say that as the economy fluctuates so does crime. We have seen economic problems in the past or not when crime has risen or not.”
08:01 AM
Lib/Lab by-election pact ‘absolutely not on the cards’
A formal date has not yet been set for the Tiverton and Honiton by-election but it is thought it could take place on June 23.
The Devon constituency is expected to be heavily targeted by the Liberal Democrats as they try to win it from the Tories.
Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Lib Dems, today rubbished suggestions of an electoral pact in the seat between his party and Labour.
He told Sky News: “It is absolutely not on the cards and it is not happening.”
07:52 AM
Sir Ed Davey accuses Rishi Sunak of ‘dither and delay’
Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, said he does not believe Rishi Sunak understands the growing pressures on household budgets.
He told Sky News: “I just don’t think he is doing anywhere near enough, he doesn’t seem to get it.
“There are millions of families and pensioners who are hurting now and we have seen a government that has first of all not done enough and then it is dithering and delaying and they have got to do something now.”
07:50 AM
Naming must be done ‘proportionately and sensibly’
The police and the Conservative Party have not named the Tory MP arrested on suspicion of rape.
Kit Malthouse, the policing minister, was asked if he believed an MP accused of rape should be named and he said the naming of an individual should be done “proportionately and sensibly”.
He told Times Radio: “I think the naming of any person who has been accused of a particular crime has to be done proportionately and sensibly.
“There is a stage in every enquiry where the police charge somebody and then name them, sometimes in the hopes that other victims may come forward.
“But that generally is post-charge. We have to be sensitive about the anonymity in particular crime types of the accused until the police are in a position to take further steps.”
07:38 AM
‘We have to take care’
Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, has suggested he could seek powers to allow MPs accused of serious criminal offences to be banned from the Parliamentary estate.
A Tory MP arrested on suspicion of rape has been told to stay away from Parliament but there is currently no formal way for the authorities to ban someone who is under police investigation from entering the estate.
Kit Malthouse, the policing minister, was asked about the idea of banning MPs and he told Times Radio: “We have to take care here. First of all I obviously can’t comment on current investigations and far be it for me to give advice to the Speaker.
“But we have to take care when we are overriding the democratic decisions of the British public. I have been elected by the good people of North West Hampshire, I am there to do a job for them, fundamentally if anybody is accused of a crime they are innocent until proven guilty.
“And so we just need to be slightly sensitive about that but I would be interested to see where the Speaker concludes after he has consulted with all the members of the House of Commons and the various people who are much more expert in these issues than me.”
07:24 AM
Minister: ‘Retrospective taxation is to be avoided’
Downing Street advisers are resisting Treasury pressure to roll out a windfall tax on energy firms, according to The Times.
One adviser in No 10 is said to have said it would be an “ideologically unconservative thing to do”.
Kit Malthouse, the policing minister, was asked if he agreed that a levy on excess profits would be “ideologically unconservative” and he told Times Radio: “Well, as I said to you before, my predilection as a Conservative generally is to have low and stable and predictable taxes and that retrospective taxation is to be avoided.
“But there are Conservative administrations in the past who have felt the need to tax retrospectively and sometimes the circumstances might warrant that.”
07:20 AM
Kit Malthouse: Government ‘intrinsically opposed’ to windfall tax
Kit Malthouse, the policing minister, was asked during an interview on Times Radio if he could say with certainty that the Government will not impose a windfall tax on energy firms.
He said: “Well, obviously that is way above my pay grade… we are intrinsically opposed to that kind of taxation. We want to see a pattern of investment from that industry that will help us with our medium and long term energy problems. We are very focused on that.
“But the Chancellor reserves the right to take all steps he thinks necessary and he is in conversation with that industry all the time I am sure.”
07:18 AM
Good morning
Good morning and welcome to today’s politics live blog.
The cost of living crisis continues to dominate the agenda in Westminster, with the Government under growing pressure to do more to help struggling families.
The question of whether to impose a windfall tax on oil and gas giants is refusing to go away for the Government and Kit Malthouse, the policing minister, has been sent out on the broadcast round to set out the latest position.
I will guide you through the key developments.
