Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak face mounting calls to impose a windfall tax on energy firms - after research revealed the eye-watering sums they have paid out to shareholders.
With struggling households bracing for price hikes of up to 30% this year, oil giants and the 'big six' energy firms have paid £200 billion to shareholders since 2010.
And research by the Common Wealth think tank found the two biggest UK oil giants - BP and Royal Dutch Shell - have remained profitable during that period.
And they handed out tens of millions to shareholders while receiving hundreds of millions in tax benefits from the Tory government.
Labour has called for a "windfall tax" on the energy firms - to pay for a VAT cut which would ease the pain on working families.
In a speech in Bury last week, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “Labour would keep bills down by cutting VAT on energy, and expanding the Warm Homes Discount, taking at least £200 off the typical bill - with up to £400 in additional support for low and middle earners and pensioners - paid for by a windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas profits.”
Dr Joseph Baines, one of the authors of the report, said: "At a time when low-income households across the UK are experiencing a cost of living crisis, North Sea oil and gas producers are set to reap near record profits.”
He added: “A windfall tax would offer a quick and effective way of redressing the balance and raising the funds necessary to contain the energy crisis."
But the Government is reportedly considering a "radical" plan to hand more cash to energy firms in order to shield them from wholesale gas price rises.
The plan, considered "plausible" by Treasury officials, would see energy suppliers handed government cash when wholesale gas prices go above a certain threshold - effectively subsidising energy firms.
Common Wealth’s report, published last week, found Shell and BP had handed £147 billion to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks in the last ten years.
North Sea oil producers and the ‘big six’ energy firms paid out a further £47 billion in the same time period.
Dr. Joseph Baines and Dr. Sandy Hager, the report’s co-authors, told the Sunday Mirror: “At a time when low-income households across the UK are experiencing a cost of living crisis, North Sea oil and gas producers are set to reap near record profits.
“A North Sea windfall tax is an effective and just way of addressing the most harmful effects of the energy crisis.
“The big oil companies are opposed to a windfall tax, but it is popular amongst the public and has been successfully used in the past, even by Tory governments.”
The Treasury declined to comment on speculation about tax changes.
