If the chancellor is looking for a pro-growth, pro-jobs, tax-raising policy that would be popular with major trade unions and might even be noticed by the bond markets, here’s one: boost production of oil and gas in the North Sea. And make the argument that the UK’s current over-reliance on imported supplies isn’t doing anything to help the climate emergency.
There are obvious political problems, of course. First, Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, has just made her pitch to ramp up North Sea volumes and it’s rarely a good look to be accused of pinching the opposition’s clothes.
