Get ready for a lurch to the right.
As well as the shock of the winter fuel crisis, Scots must now brace themselves today for the most avowedly right-wing prime minister since Margaret Thatcher.
Just 24 hours before taking up the post Liz Truss – who will win the Tory leadership contest unless a massive earthquake takes place before the result is announced – spelled out her beliefs on television.
It is fair, she said, that the rich gain more from income tax cuts.
There has, she said, been too much of a focus on redistribution in the last two decades that has held back economic growth.
What a load of baloney.
It is redistribution of wealth, from the rich to the poor, from the profits of companies to the coffers of the nation, that evens the road to equality in education, in health and in social opportunity.
This discredited notion about the trickle down effect of giving champagne tax cuts to the rich, who will then magically move the cash into the pockets of the needy, is absolute nonsense.
It was alarming how firm Truss’s belief is in the myth of tax cuts.
But after a whole summer of having no government, tomorrow’s top Tory was unable to say in any kind of detail what help she will give to confront the looming winter energy crisis.
To sum up. Help for the poor? You’ll have to wait for the details – but tax cuts for the rich, guaranteed.
Petrol prices are pumped too far
So drivers continue to be ripped-off on the forecourts despite petrol prices lowering slightly.
The RAC review into how much we should actually be paying at the pumps revealed we are getting a raw deal.
We shouldn’t be shocked that providers are squeezing motorists when they could be further cutting tariffs for their customers.
It’s almost like they haven’t earned enough money during the cost of living crisis.
It is ridiculous that the average cost of a litre of petrol in forecourts is 169.8p when it should actually be 161p due to the recent reduction in wholesale costs.
Yes, it is welcomed that the average cost this month dropped 12.3p – the biggest reduction in 22 years.
But discovering that we should be saving almost an extra nine pence on every litre is enough to drive us round the bend.
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