A This Morning competition has been dubbed “dystopian” and like something out of Black Mirror after offering viewers the chance to have their energy bills paid for as a prize.
Monday’s edition of the ITV daytime show saw the return of its popular Spin To Win game, which usually sees cash prizes or holidays up for grabs.
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However, amid the energy crisis, a change to the format has seen the introduction of the chance to win four-months’ worth of bills covered.
Many fans couldn’t quite believe things had reached a level where this was being offered as a competition prize, as the nation looks towards a bleak winter amid soaring energy costs.
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That spin to win your energy bills on this morning is so bleak. We’re living in an episode of black mirror.
#ThisMorning having ‘energy bills’ as a prize on their Spin To Win is the most dystopian and sad reflection on society right now… How did we get to this point? Madness.
HuffPost UK has contacted an ITV spokesperson for comment.
Monday’s edition of Spin To Win did indeed see the caller – who said he had a pre-payment metre, which he described as “absolutely murder” – win the cost of his energy bills covered.
Truss promised to introduce help to all struggling households facing soaring energy bills within a week during a BBC interview on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, but did still did not reveal any more details.
Nicola Sturgeon has said renationalising energy firms should be kept “on the table” to combat the deepening cost of living crisis.
Scotland’s first minister said the energy price cap rise, due to be announced on Friday, should not “be allowed to go ahead”, as she warned it would push families into “destitution and devastation”.
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Sturgeon said the country faces a “looming disaster” with energy bills as she prepares to convene a summit of major energy suppliers Scottish Power, OVO Energy and E.ON next week.
The current price cap is set at £1,971 but is expected to reach £3,576 in October and will gradually rise to more than £4,000 by the new year before peaking at £6,000 by April.
Speaking on BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show, Sturgeon said: “This further increase in people’s energy bills can’t be allowed to go ahead because it is making it impossible for people to provide the basics for themselves and their families, but it is also continuing to fuel inflation, which, of course, is causing the problem in the first place.
“I want to make sure that the Scottish government, working with energy companies, other stakeholders in Scotland, that we are genuinely doing everything we can at our own hand to help here.”
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The first minister said she wanted renationalisation to be kept on the table but warned that the Scottish government did not have the power to do this itself.
“I want us to come together to call on the UK government to take the action only it can take,” she said.
“There is a looming disaster that is already unfolding but it is going to get worse.
“This is going to cause destitution and devastation, this will cause loss of life if real action is not taken to stem this crisis.”
Under Brown’s plan, the energy price cap would be scrapped and new, lower prices would be negotiated with the companies. Those who are not able to arrange lower prices should be bought into public ownership “as a last resort”.
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Chris Philp, the former technology minister who is backing Liz Truss for the Tory leadership, criticised proposals to freeze the price cap as way to ease pressure on struggling households.
“Obviously, there’s nothing for free in life,” he told Times Radio. “And if Labour are planning to freeze the price cap for an extended period that will ultimately have to be paid for probably in the form of higher taxes.”
Asked whether higher taxes on energy firms could fund a potential price cap freeze, Philp replied: “I don’t think it’s wholly going to be funded by energy companies because there isn’t enough efficient profit to do that.
“And of course, we have already introduced a windfall tax that amounts to 5 billion pounds a year on energy companies. That was two and a half times bigger than the windfall tax Labour had proposed a few weeks beforehand.”
He added: “What I think is most important is two things: firstly, to get through this winter, which the emergency budget will make sure we do.
“And secondly, put the country on the right footing in the medium term, which means firstly, lower taxes to promote growth, which I strongly believe in, because growth will ultimately increase wages and produce more tax yields, and to fund public services like health and education.”
People struggling with the rising cost of living will receive more help this winter, a Cabinet minister has suggested.
Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, who is backing Liz Truss in the Tory leadership contest, said the government was “working on options for the new prime minister”.
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In an article for the Mail on Sunday, Kwarteng said he understood the “deep anxiety” rising prices were causing.
“As winter approaches, millions of families will be concerned about how they are going make ends meet,” he added.
“But I want to reassure the British people that help is coming.”
Kwarteng said Truss, who is currently the favourite to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister, “will look at what more can be done to help families”.
However, he said it was “entirely reasonable not to detail the exact shape of that support until she has all the information to hand”.
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The government is under pressure to act as inflation hit a 40-year high of 10.1 per cent this week, largely owing to a spike in the price of household staples.
And projections from experts have found that the energy price cap, currently at £1,971 a year, could rocket to £6,000 next April.
Energy consultancy Auxilione said the cap is expected to reach £3,576 in October, rising to £4,799 in January, and finally hitting £6,089 in April.
Labour has vowed to freeze the price cap at its current level while Truss has said she would temporarily scrap green levies on energy bills to bring them down.
Both leadership rivals have also said they will study proposals from the Treasury over how to bring bills down for families.
One such option to help struggling households, reported by the Sun on Sunday, is to allow GPs to write prescriptions to knock money off energy bills for those most in need.
The GP would verify through a consultation whether the patient needed help and if they did, money could be made available via the local council or in the form of a voucher for gas and electricity.
In response, Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said the Conservatives had “lost the plot on the cost of living and haven’t got a clue about the level of pressure on the NHS”.
The Conservatives have lost the plot on the cost of living crisis and haven’t got a clue about the level of pressure on the NHS.
Labour already has the right prescription for dealing with rising energy bills. We need a Labour government to deliver it.https://t.co/KbXCuUxKwU
Elsewhere, Kwarteng said shoring up the UK’s energy independence was vital for Truss, saying she would look at building more nuclear power stations and allowing fracking to take place where local communities approve.
The business secretary poured cold water on the idea of further windfall taxes, saying the country instead needed to “incentivise investment in domestic oil and gas for our own energy security”.
“I appreciate windfall taxes are sometimes popular. But popularity won’t keep the lights on.”
Last week saw the grimmest development yet for people struggling with the cost of living crisis, with experts predicting that already-unaffordable energy bills could reach an eye-watering £4,000 in January.
Energy bills, which have already risen as a consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, are set to soar further as the ongoing conflict puts a squeeze on supplies throughout Europe.
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The energy price cap, which currently stands at £1,971, is set to increase to £3,582 in October.
The forecasts have prompted a sense of panic and a national conversation about what should be done to help people who may find themselves unable to pay their bills in the winter.
Here HuffPost UK takes you through what the main parties and figures are proposing and how their ideas have been received.
Liz Truss
Liz Truss has hardened her stance against a further windfall tax, dismissing the policy as “bashing business”.
Ian Forsyth via Getty Images
The frontrunner in the race to replace Boris Johnson has emphasised tax cuts as the main way she would help people struggling with bill hikes.
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The foreign secretary has vowed to immediately reverse the 1.25 percentage point increase in national insurance as well as temporarily scrap green levies on energy bills.
In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Truss said she would hold an emergency budget to outline a new approach to the problem, which she said she wanted to be in the “Conservative way of lowering the tax burden, not giving out handouts”.
That prompted a U-turn of sorts by Truss who said that despite criticism, she was not ruling out further direct support for households completely.
She is said to be considering proposals from the Treasury that could see the price cap fall by scrapping a new allowance suppliers will be allowed to charge families in the winter, in a move that could reduce bills by a further £400.
Instead the shortfall would be made up by the government providing loans to suppliers. However, it is too late to have an effect in October, when the cap is expected to rise once again.
Last week, analysis by the Tony Blair Institute found that Truss’s national insurance reversal would save the poorest families just 76p a month on average while the most wealthy households would benefit from by £93 a month from the policy.
Truss’s leadership rival, Rishi Sunak, also attacked her plan to scrap green levies, saying it would only claw back £150 a year.
Truss has also hardened her stance against a further windfall tax on energy giants, dismissing the policy as “bashing business”.
Rishi Sunak
Sunak has indicated he would expand existing support schemes when the price cap rises again in the winter.
Ben Birchall – PA Images via Getty Images
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The former chancellor has committed to scrapping VAT on energy bills for a year and has also said he will expand the emergency support schemes already in place.
So far that scheme includes £650 off for the lowest income households, £300 off for eight million pensioner households, £150 off for those receiving non-means tested disability benefits and a £400 energy grant for every household.
In an article for the Times, Sunak said if he is elected PM he would extend the scheme that knocks £400 off bills for every household, rising to £1,200 for pensioners and those on benefits.
He also said he would “drive a programme to identify savings across Whitehall” in order to pay for expanding the help on offer, which The Times said would cost around £10 billion.
Sunak signalled the government could need to raise more revenue from the energy profits levy — the so-called windfall tax —and also refused to rule out “some limited and temporary one-off borrowing as a last resort to get us through this winter”.
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According to the Institute of Fiscal Studies, removing VAT on bills would cost £4.3 billion to implement and would provide households with a relief of about £154 on their energy bills.
Labour
Finnbarr Webster via Getty Images
After initially facing criticism for being absent as the new energy projections were revealed, Keir Starmer has offered what he calls a “radical” response to the cost of living crisis.
The scheme would cost £29 billion and would be funded by increasing the windfall tax on energy firms’ massive profits by backdating it to January, in a move that would raise £8 billion.
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The party argues that reducing energy bills would also have a knock-on effect on inflation which would lead to cut in government debt interest payments of £7bn.
The government’s current plan to offer £400 off energy bills for every household would be ditched as a result.
Responding to the proposals, the Paul Johnson, the director of the thinktank the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said inflation will continue to climb unless Labour continues to subsidise energy bills beyond the six-month period it has suggested.
He also told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme that Labour’s plan to cancel the rise in energy price cap would be “looking at the cost of furlough” if extended from six months to a year.
The Liberal Democrats
Ed Davey said Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak were Truss “more interested in speaking to their party than taking the action our country needs”.
Finnbarr Webster via Getty Images
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Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey called on the government to cancel the price cap rise in October to help people save hundreds of pounds off their energy bills.
Davey said energy suppliers could supply customers with their current rates if the government covers the shortfall to allow them to do so.
The Lib Dems said the policy would cost £36 billion and said the windfall tax on oil and gas company profits should be increased to help cover it.
…And former PM Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown criticised the Tory leadership candidates, saying: “Time and tide wait for no one. Neither do crises. They don’t take holidays, and don’t politely hang fire – certainly not to suit the convenience of a departing PM and the whims of two potential successors.”
Jeff J Mitchell via Getty Images
Perhaps the most radical response to the energy crisis has come from former Labour leader Gordon Brown, who is no stranger to navigating the country through a crisis.
Under Brown’s plan, the energy price cap would be scrapped and new, lower prices would be negotiated with energy giants, who are all raking in bumper profits as gas prices surge.
If firms fail to bring prices down, the government should consider bringing them into public ownership“as a last resort … until the crisis is over”.
Boris Johnson has been slammed after a crunch meeting with energy bosses ended with no new help for people struggling with the cost of living crisis.
The prime minister, chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng held talks with energy and gas executives this morning amid dire warnings that energy bills could reach an eye-watering £5,000 next April.
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But despite calls for government action, Johnson told the companies that any “significant fiscal decisions” would be for the next prime minister to take after they take office on September 6.
Shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband said: “Britain faces a national emergency with rising energy bills and a cost of living crisis. Families are worried about how they will pay their bills.
“But instead of showing leadership, the Conservatives are missing in action. The prime minister and chancellor have gone AWOL, whilst the candidates for the leadership have no substantive ideas about how to help working people meet the challenges they face.”
Following today’s meeting, the PM said: “We will keep urging the electricity sector to continue working on ways we can ease the cost-of-living pressures and to invest further and faster in British energy security.”
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The Treasury said that Zahawi and the energy firms agreed to “work closely” over the coming weeks to ensure that the public, including vulnerable customers, are supported in the face of rising costs.
“In the spirit of national unity, they agreed to work with us to do more to help the people who most need it,” Zahawi added.
In response, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said it was “appalling that the Conservatives still haven’t announced any extra support for families and pensioners facing the hardest winter in decades”.
“The cruellest element of this chaos is that those who could actually help, Truss and Sunak, are more interested in speaking to their party than taking the action our country needs,” he added.
“Whether it’s Johnson or Zahawi, Truss or Sunak, not one of them has a big enough plan to help millions of families cope with soaring energy bills.
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“That is why the Liberal Democrats are calling on the government to cancel the energy price hike to avoid a country-wide catastrophe.”
The meeting comes as forecasts released today by energy consultancy Auxilione predicted that the energy price cap could increase to £5,038 per year for the average household in the three months beginning next April.
It is an even worse than a forecast provided by Cornwall Insight earlier this week which said energy bills could hit £4,200 per year in January.
Liz Truss has been accused of “a major U-turn” after pledging to “do all that I can to help struggling households” cope with the cost of living crisis.
The Tory leadership favourite has been under pressure since the weekend, when she told the Financial Times: “The way I would do things is in a Conservative way of lowering the tax burden, not giving out handouts.”
Both Truss and Sunak have also been urged to meet with Boris Johnson to agree an emergency cost of living support package – something which has been ruled out by the government.
In an apparent change of tack from her previous stance, Truss said today: “As a Conservative I am clear that our first port of call should always be to let people keep more of their own money.
“I understand how difficult the rising cost of living is making life for many, and if elected I will do all that I canto help struggling households.
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“As it stands we are hurtling towards a recession. If we don’t get our economy growing we won’t be able to help anyone.
“That’s why I have a bold plan to cut taxes, for individuals and businesses, to turbocharge our economy, grow the size of the pie and increase prosperity for everyone.”
A spokesperson for Sunak’s campaign said: “This is a major u-turn on the biggest issue currently facing the country.
“It’s all very well offering empty words about ‘doing all you can’. But there aren’t lots of different ways to act on this. Taking action means providing direct support, which Truss had previously dismissed as ‘handouts’.
“Twice now, Truss has made a serious moral and political misjudgement on a policy affecting millions of people, after last week reversing plans to cut the pay of teachers and the armed forces outside London. Mistakes like this in Government would cost the Conservative Party the next General Election.”
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A spokesperson for Truss said: “Rishi Sunak wouldn’t know how people benefit from a tax cut because he has never cut a tax in his life. People didn’t vote for the Conservative Party to be subjected to old fashioned Gordon Brown style politics of envy.
“You cannot tax your way to growth and Liz’s agenda is to build a high wage, high growth, low tax economy that supports people.
“Liz believes in people keeping more of their own money, not Rishi’s socialist tax and spend which will lead us to recession.”
Boris Johnson will not intervene in the cost of living crisis this summer, Downing Street has said.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said it was up to his successor to make policy and he would not make any “new fiscal interventions”.
It means another four weeks of paralysis until the next prime minister is announced on September 5.
Former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown claimed there is a “vacuum” at the centre of government which has stopped it tackling the cost of living crisis.
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He has called on the UK government’s emergency response committee, Cobra, to come together to tackle the looming crisis.
Brown warned that the country was facing a “poverty time bomb” and added: “Even if Boris Johnson has gone on holiday, his deputies should be negotiating to buy new oil and gas supplies from other countries and urgently creating the extra storage capacity we currently lack.
“We should be persuading homes and buildings – as Germany is now doing – to cut back on energy usage wherever possible in the hope we can prevent formal rationing.”
But Downing Street rejected his calls saying they introduced a number of measures to help the public at the start of the summer.
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The prime minister’s official spokesman said Johnson – who is back in No.10 following his holiday in Slovenia – would be speaking to chancellor Nadhim Zahawi to ensure that support measures due to come into effect later in the year remained on track.
However, the spokesman said that any further measures would be a matter for the next prime minister.
“Clearly these global pressures mean challenging times for the public. The government recognised that the end of the year will present wider challenges with things like changes to the [energy] price cap,” the spokesman said.
“That is why, at the start of the summer, we introduced a number of measures to help the public. Clearly some of the global pressures have increased since that was announced.
“By convention it is not for this prime minister to make major fiscal interventions during this period. It will be for a future prime minister.”
The prime minister returned from his holiday today after facing accusations he had been “missing in action” while the UK was mired in political and economic crisis.
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The Labour Party has attacked the prime minister for presiding over a “zombie government” just as the Bank of England warned of a looming recession and energy bills are expected to rise to almost £4,000 in October.
According to The Telegraph Johnson and his wife Carrie stayed at an eco-hotel in Jezersko in the remote Kokra Valley in Slovenia following their delayed wedding celebration.
The Vila Planinka, where rooms range from £242 to £542 per night, is a five-star boutique hotel which promises guests they will “slow down, harmonising your rhythm with your inner balance”.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves.
Yui Mok – PA Images via Getty Images
Rachel Reeves MP, Labour’s shadow chancellor, said: “People are worried sick about how they’ll pay their bills and do their weekly food shop, and all this Tory prime minister does is shrug his shoulders.
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“An economic crisis like this requires strong leadership and urgent action – but instead we have a Tory party that’s lost control and are stuck with two continuity candidates who can only offer more of the same.
“Labour would start by scrapping tax breaks on oil and gas producers and providing more help to people who are struggling to pay their energy bills. Only a Labour government can tackle this crisis and deliver the stronger, more-secure economy that Britain needs.”
Boris Johnson will not intervene in the cost of living crisis this summer, Downing Street has said.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said it was up to his successor to make policy and he would not make any “new fiscal interventions”.
It means another four weeks of paralysis until the next prime minister is announced on September 5.
Former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown claimed there is a “vacuum” at the centre of government which has stopped it tackling the cost of living crisis.
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He has called on the UK government’s emergency response committee, Cobra, to come together to tackle the looming crisis.
Brown warned that the country was facing a “poverty time bomb” and added: “Even if Boris Johnson has gone on holiday, his deputies should be negotiating to buy new oil and gas supplies from other countries and urgently creating the extra storage capacity we currently lack.
“We should be persuading homes and buildings – as Germany is now doing – to cut back on energy usage wherever possible in the hope we can prevent formal rationing.”
But Downing Street rejected his calls saying they introduced a number of measures to help the public at the start of the summer.
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The prime minister’s official spokesman said Johnson – who is back in No.10 following his holiday in Slovenia – would be speaking to chancellor Nadhim Zahawi to ensure that support measures due to come into effect later in the year remained on track.
However, the spokesman said that any further measures would be a matter for the next prime minister.
“Clearly these global pressures mean challenging times for the public. The government recognised that the end of the year will present wider challenges with things like changes to the [energy] price cap,” the spokesman said.
“That is why, at the start of the summer, we introduced a number of measures to help the public. Clearly some of the global pressures have increased since that was announced.
“By convention it is not for this prime minister to make major fiscal interventions during this period. It will be for a future prime minister.”
The prime minister returned from his holiday today after facing accusations he had been “missing in action” while the UK was mired in political and economic crisis.
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The Labour Party has attacked the prime minister for presiding over a “zombie government” just as the Bank of England warned of a looming recession and energy bills are expected to rise to almost £4,000 in October.
According to The Telegraph Johnson and his wife Carrie stayed at an eco-hotel in Jezersko in the remote Kokra Valley in Slovenia following their delayed wedding celebration.
The Vila Planinka, where rooms range from £242 to £542 per night, is a five-star boutique hotel which promises guests they will “slow down, harmonising your rhythm with your inner balance”.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves.
Yui Mok – PA Images via Getty Images
Rachel Reeves MP, Labour’s shadow chancellor, said: “People are worried sick about how they’ll pay their bills and do their weekly food shop, and all this Tory prime minister does is shrug his shoulders.
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“An economic crisis like this requires strong leadership and urgent action – but instead we have a Tory party that’s lost control and are stuck with two continuity candidates who can only offer more of the same.
“Labour would start by scrapping tax breaks on oil and gas producers and providing more help to people who are struggling to pay their energy bills. Only a Labour government can tackle this crisis and deliver the stronger, more-secure economy that Britain needs.”
A campaign group is calling for people to stop paying their energy bills – and it comes as BP reported its biggest quarterly profit for 14 years.
The UK is in the midst of a cost of living crisis, with prices for petrol and gas soaring for British households. Typical household energy bills are expected to be more than £3,600 this winter, with bills set to rise again in October.
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Suppliers have blamed the war in Ukraine and surging wholesale prices for the hikes, but on social media, some have dubbed the current situation “the cost of greed crisis”.
BP recorded a profit of $8.45bn (£6.9bn) between April and June, more than triple the amount it made in the same period last year. And it is not the only energy firm to report a staggering profit – both British Gas owner Centrica and rival Shell have recorded huge earnings recently, too.
Rising energy bills are one of the main reasons for the cost of living crisis. The government did introduce a one-off windfall tax on oil and gas companies in July, but it does not apply to profits announced by BP and other energy firms between April and June.
And as more households continue to struggle to pay bills, people aren’t happy – which is why the ‘Don’t Pay’ campaign is demanding action.
The campaign group is trying to get at least one million people to pledge not to pay their energy bills if the government continues with its goal to increase the price cap on October 1.
“We started this campaign because we were worried about how we will pay our energy bills. Everyone around us is struggling and we know it will only get worse with no end in sight,” the campaign group says.
“So far around 1,300 people have expressed an interest to become an organiser in their town, village and city. From there we will fan out the campaign with a local presence.”
Speaking on ITV’s programme Peston, money saving expert Martin Lewis previously warned a bill payment strike could be on the horizon.
“The big movement that I am seeing is an increase of growth in people calling for a non-payment of energy bills, mass non-payment. Effectively a consumer strike on energy bills and getting rid of the legitimacy of paying that,” he said. “It’s small at the moment, there’s a Twitter handle with about 5,000 followers.
“We are getting close to a Poll Tax moment on energy bills coming into October and we need the Government to get a handle on that, because once it starts becoming socially acceptable not to pay energy bills people will stop paying energy bills and you’re not going to cut everyone off.”
‘Don’t Pay UK’ began trending on Twitter following the BP profit release, but there are some things you need to consider before taking part in the protest.
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What are the risks of taking part?
Of course, not paying your bills will have some consequences and you’ll need to look at the terms and conditions for your individual energy supplier to see what these may be.
SSE Energy, for example, says it will try to contact customers first regarding unpaid bills, but adds: “In some cases we might also try to visit you at home to work out the best way to pay, but we’ll add the cost of this visit to your account.
“We may take a case to court to obtain a warrant to enter your home. We don’t want to, but sometimes we’re left with no choice.”
Similarly, British Gas says it may do the following when met with unpaid bills:
Pass your details to a debt collection agency
Apply for a warrant to install a Pay As You Go meter to make it easier to pay back the money you owe
If possible, switch your smart meter to a smart Pay As You Go meter remotely.
Utility Bidder says if you haven’t paid a bill for 28 days, you cannot come to a repayment agreement and you refuse to have a prepayment meter installed without good reason, “your provider can disconnect your power supply”.
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It’s worth noting that the Don’t Pay campaign is discouraging anyone on prepayment meters who face self-disconnection if their credit runs out to get involved. This also goes for those whose energy bills are included in rent and risk eviction if bills go unpaid. Instead, they want those people to support them online.
If Rishi Sunak had any doubts that the shine has gone off his reputation among Tory MPs, the last few weeks will have removed them entirely.
Once seen as Boris Johnson’s heir apparent, the chancellor saw his popularity nosedive recently over an underwhelming Spring Statement and revelations about his wife’s tax affairs.
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HuffPost UK has learned that Sunak has been meeting with groups of Conservative backbenchers to get their views on how he should tackle the cost of living crisis, and they have not been holding back.
“He’s not the golden boy any more,” said an MP who attended one of those gatherings last Monday night. “There were around 30 of us and we gave him a hard time.”
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Sunak’s answers to their forceful questions failed to assuage their anger.
“He came across as making excuses for the state of the economy,” one former cabinet minister told HuffPost UK. “The most wounding criticism was that it isn’t clear what the government’s economic policy is.
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“Some people brought up the fact that at least David Cameron and George Osborne had their ‘long-term economic plan’ and it was consistent. If tough decisions had to be made, they were made in that context.
“What is this government’s economic policy? No one has any idea.”
This uncertainty is typified by the chancellor’s will-he-won’t-he approach to a windfall tax on the enormous profits currently being enjoyed by oil and gas companies.
Thanks to the global spike in energy prices, the likes of BP and Shell have posted astronomical earnings, leading to Labour and the Lib Dems calling for a one-off levy, with the money raised going towards cutting household bills.
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The government’s response has been to criticise a windfall tax in principle, while being careful not to rule out bringing one in. This led to Tory MPs being forced to vote en masse against a windfall tax earlier this week, fully aware that the government may well end up backing the policy within days.
The confusion at the heart of government has even led to reports that two of the prime minister’s key advisers are making clear their opposition to a windfall tax at the same time as the Treasury appears to be laying the groundwork for one.
“We are all exploring every option available to grow the economy and ease the cost of living,” a senior Number 10 source told HuffPost UK. “It’s not the case of one lot advocating and another blocking.
“It’s just good government – testing the arguments, exploring the merits, getting the detail right and setting the bar high for doing something no Conservative instinctively wants to do.”
One former Conservative frontbencher said he had some sympathy for the chancellor.
“The problem for Rishi is that Tory MPs are all over the place on what they want done,” he said. “There’s not a consensus other than something needs to be done, and that makes his position very difficult.
“There are people who want a windfall tax and there are people that don’t want a windfall tax. Others want to see benefits uprated and others who want tax cuts.”
Asked what he thought Sunak would opt for, the MP said: “There’s going to be a windfall tax, that seems clear. But in the usual way, Tory MPs were marched up the hill to vote against it.”
The prime minister and chancellor are in discussions over how to tackle the rising cost of living.
UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor via PA Media
Another Conservative MP said he would reluctantly support a windfall tax, given the extent of the crisis facing household budgets.
He said: “The current situation doesn’t feel sustainable. The oil and gas companies are making enormous profits out of events that are completely out of their control. How can we be the only people defending them?
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“If you look at what happened in the 90s, Labour went into the 1997 election promising to bring in a windfall tax and they won a landslide. If we do it, we instantly shoot Labour’s fox.
“You obviously can’t keep doing windfall taxes because they really do deter investment and harm business confidence, but there is a case for one now.
“If you look at our economic prospects, October looks horrific when the energy price cap goes up, and £150 council tax rebates just aren’t going to touch the sides.
“Government can’t solve every problem, but this is about protecting people from the worst of the cost of living crisis. I really think a windfall tax is going to happen.”
Another ex-minister said: “My sense from my conversations with colleagues is that while in principal they are against a windfall tax for exceptionally good reasons, the current circumstances, in which the energy companies are making massive profits, means the chancellor will probably go for one. He’s getting strong briefing that we should have one from the Treasury.”
But the MP warned the chancellor that the parliamentary party wants to see the tax burden – which is now the highest it’s been for 70 years – fall as quickly as possible.
“Tory MPs are getting fed up of being a high spend, big state party,” he said. “The definite sense of MPs and donors is that people are sick to death of not being a Conservative Party.”
On Wednesday night, Sunak told business leaders that he would use his next Budget in the autumn to cut their taxes, but he was silent on what immediate help he will provide for voters seeing their energy and food bills soaring.
The Treasury points to the £9bn-worth of support the chancellor announced in February to bring down council tax and fuel costs, while insisting that further support will come in October when the energy price cap is set to rise significantly once again.
But with two key by-elections coming in June, and Labour maintaining a consistent lead in the polls, Tory MPs are demanding action long before then. The big question now is what form that will take.
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A Labour source said: “The cost of living crisis has drawn back the tide on an out of touch, dilettante chancellor.
“But Rishi Sunak is really just a symptom of the wider Tory malaise. This is a government out of ideas and rapidly running out of road – and after a decade of failing to grow the economy, all they’ve got left to offer is tax rise after tax rise on working people.”
