The Environment Secretary has suggested Labour could follow calls from Reform and now the Tories to scrap VAT on household energy bills. So far Labour has done all of… nothing…
Emma Reynolds deferred to motoring bodies on LBC this morning – the same strategy Bridget Phillipson pursued yesterday – to claim that everyone should go to the pump as usual. Diesel prices have risen substantially – Australia has just halved fuel duty for three months…
Asked if Labour would consider lifting VAT on energy bills, Reynolds provided no pushback:
“Well, as I said, the Chancellor keeps all options under review… I mean, you know, come the Budget in the autumn, she will consider, she keeps all fiscal decisions under review.”
Absent of any substantial action Reynolds was forced to tout Reeves’ shifting of energy bill costs to general taxation as a win for consumers:
“Thanks to the decisions that the Chancellor made at the last budget, energy bills are set to come down by on average £117 just this week, and the bills will be capped until the end of June.”
Labour will want to offer something substantial during the local election campaign. Starmer is hosting a meeting of fuel industry leaders in Downing Street today…
Phillipson said yesterday the government would “take a view closer to the time” on whether to axe the planned rise in fuel duty in September. Thumb twiddlers…
Speaking on Times Radio, former Home Secretary David Blunkett spoke about overdiagnosis of mental problems:
“Let’s distinguish those who are really severely mentally ill, diagnosed with things that require prolonged medical and diagnostic treatment. My wife and I talk about this a lot, because she’s a retired GP, about the fact that you can be sad without being ill. You can be momentarily depressed because your boyfriend or girlfriend’s just thrown you and you’re not mentally ill. You can even have mild issues, which can be dealt with with the right kind of support, but it doesn’t make you mentally ill. So we’ve got a real task, I think, to get the psychology, if you like, of this over. But there are things where you definitely need medical intervention, and there are other things where you need good friends, you need good connectivity, and you need a job.”