‘This is the government of U-turns, guided by public outrage. They don’t lead, but follow.’

As rising prices continue to squeeze millions of households, and the government is repeatedly warned it must get a grip on the cost-of-living crisis, Tory MPs voted against a Labour amendment to the Queen’s Speech calling for a windfall tax on gas and oil companies.

The amendment was introduced by shadow climate secretary Ed Miliband, as a means of providing “much-needed relief from energy price increases for households.”

Not one Tory MP voted in favour

But this week saw the amendment voted down with 310 Conservative MPs voting against it. No Tory MP voted in favour of the one-off tax.

A windfall tax can be imposed by a government to tax companies that have profited off something they did not achieve themselves. In this case, a windfall tax on energy companies would be in response to soaring profits which have been a result of global increase to gas and oil prices created by several external factors, including the war in Ukraine and the sanctions placed on Russian and reduced supply.

As ordinary people are forced to pay obscenely high energy bills, a number of energy companies have recorded record profits. In the first three months of 2022, BP’s underlying profit more than doubled to £4.9 billion. The earnings are the company’s highest reported quarterly profits in over a decade.

Shell saw profits almost triple in the same period to £7.3 billion, its biggest quarterly profit, ever.

During a heated debate in the Commons, Ed Miliband tore into Rishi Sunak, urging the chancellor to “swallow his pride” and “get on with” a windfall tax U-turn.

“Every Conservative MP who voted against the windfall tax tonight has condemned millions of families to misery and anxiety as they struggle to pay their energy bills.

“Tonight, a message has been sent by the government that they will do everything they can to protect the oil and gas companies, and refuse to act to protect families; it says everything you need to know about where the Tories stand,” said Miliband.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady shared similar concerns, saying: “Conservative MPs have chosen to side with profiteering oil and gas companies over working people.

“Millions are being walloped by soaring bills and prices having been left badly exposed to this crisis after more than a decade of standstill wages and cuts to social security, overseen by successive Tory governments, all the while the likes of Shell and BP are registering eye-watering profits.

Constituents express anger

Anger over the outcome of the vote isn’t restricted to the opposition and unions. Constituents have expressed concerns about the amendment being voted down by MPs.

In the High Peak in Derbyshire, Tory MP Robert Largan voted against the windfall tax.

Residents were quick to voice disproval of their MP’s vote, taking to social media to write “instead of helping households in the High Peak, they [the government] are piling on the pressure.”

Another wrote “What did you expect? Capitalist profits come first – the plebeians are way down on the list.”

MPs who voted in favour of the amendment have been commended. Jonathan Reynolds, Labour and Co-op MP for Stalybridge, Hyde, Mossley, Longdendale and Dukinfield, a neighbouring constituency to the High Peak, voted for the windfall tax.

Ruth George, Labour councillor for Whaley Bridge in the High Peak shared her support and thanks to Jonathan Reynolds and all the Labour MPs for “pushing for a windfall tax on the huge profits made by oil and gas companies on the back of price rises and misery.”

Tim Loughton, Conservative MP for Worthing and Shoreham, spoke of how a number of constituents had contacted him regarding his decision to vote against the windfall tax.

Taking to Facebook, Loughton attempted to explain why he and “all other Conservative MPs voted against a Labour Party amendment to the Queen’s Speech last night in favour of a ‘windfall tax’ on unspecified oil companies which would magically solve the cost-of-living crisis.”

“On the face of it raising additional taxes from multinational oil companies who will benefit from a rise in world oil prices looks attractive. But this was simply the latest attempt by the Labour Party to try to make party political capital out of a very serious situation which many of our constituents are finding very difficult. Worst of all, their figures just didn’t add up and I am afraid that it was a cynical con that there is an easy solution to this global problem.”

‘Killing the golden goose’

Referring to the ‘bigger issue’ of risking ‘killing the golden goose’, the MP continued to speak of how ‘oil companies already pay tax in the UK at a rate of 40%, more than double the current corporation tax rate of 19%. That is made up of a higher rate of 30% and an effective existing windfall tax of a further 10% so we are talking about a windfall tax on a windfall tax here.”

Loughton’s ‘explanation’ didn’t entirely win over constituents, with some raising concern – in the Facebook post thread – over oil companies’ profiteering and ‘creating misfortune for the whole nation.’

Others pointed to a windfall tax U-turn, which, according to Keir Starmer, is inevitable.

“It’s going to happen. This is the government of U-turns, guided by public outrage. They don’t lead, but follow,” wrote one angered constituent.

Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a contributing editor to Left Foot Forward

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