The Government is poised to extend a windfall tax on energy giants after Shell yesterday revealed “obscene” profits of more than £1000 a second.
It is understood Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will finally bow to pressure and announce a new levy. It comes as oil and gas goliath Shell announced an £8.2billion haul for the three months to September, double what it made a year ago and the second highest quarterly profit in its history.
Shell, which also announced a new £3.4billion windfall for shareholders, is on track to surpass the record profit it made last year on the back of sky-high energy prices and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “These profits are obscene – especially at a time when millions are struggling with soaring bills. The Government has run out of excuses. It must impose a higher windfall tax on oil and gas companies.”
Ed Miliband, Labour’s Shadow Climate Change and Net Zero Secretary, said: “We need a proper windfall tax to make the energy companies pay their fair share.”
Even the fat cat boss of Shell yesterday admitted the industry was “prepared” to pay more.
CEO Ben van Beurden said: “I am perfectly OK to stand here and say it is a societal reality that we have to work with governments to design the right structures for windfall taxes, and that is what we are doing.”
Downing Street said “nothing is off the table” ahead of Hunt’s autumn budget on November 17. Chancellor, Sunak introduced a windfall tax in May. But Shell revealed yesterday it does not expect to pay the additional tax here this year because of investment in the North Sea.
Finance boss Sinead Gorman said: “We simply are investing more heavily than we have, and therefore we don’t have profits which we can be taxed against.”
Tessa Khan, founder of the pressure group Uplift, said: “Shell is making eye-watering profits off the back of the energy crisis, while many millions of people in this country are forced in fuel poverty. It’s nothing short of immoral.”
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey added: “It’s time Rishi Sunak introduced a proper windfall tax and used the extra money to support people facing heart-breaking choices this winter.”
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