‘IT IS MY expectation that we will be able to end the last domestic restrictions, including the legal requirement to self-isolate if you test positive, a full month early,’ Tory PM Johnson told the House of Commons yesterday to a roaring cheer from the extreme right-wing of his party.
This is despite 158,677 deaths from Coronavirus in the UK, 314 of which on 8 February alone, and 1,802 people dying in the last 7 days. This shows an increase of 184 compared to the previous 7 days.
Johnson threw all caution to the wind, favouring the benefits to the economy over people’s lives.
On the burning issue of energy prices, Labour leader Keir Starmer put to him: ‘Talking of scams, households are going to have to fork out an extra £19bn on their energy bills, the government is insulting people’s intelligence by pretending that it is giving them a discount, but it is not, it is a con.
‘A buy-now-pay-later scheme, a dodgy loan, not a proper plan.’
Johnson replied, insisting: ‘Our plan to tackle the cost of living is faster, and more efficient and more generous then anything that they have put out.’
Starmer said: ‘His plan is to hand billions of pounds of tax money to energy companies and then force families to pay it off in instalments for years to come.
‘On top of the Tory tax rises, on top of the soaring prices, the loan shark Chancellor and his unwitting side-kick have now picked up a buy-now-pay-later-scheme that leaves tax payers in debt while oil and gas companies say they have got more money than they know what to do with.’
Meanwhile the Unite union yesterday blasted energy regulator Ofgem as ‘useless’ after it admitted allowing the energy market to be flooded with financially precarious companies, 30 of which have since collapsed due to the energy crisis.
Ofgem CEO Jonathon Brearley admitted to MPs on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee yesterday these companies were allowed market access ‘because there was a time when Ofgem’s focus was on allowing diversification’.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: ‘Ofgem is not a watchdog but a useless lapdog that has allowed half-baked Tory ideas about diversification to turn an already broken energy market into an even greater calamity.
‘The lacklustre and complacent performance today by Ofgem’s representatives is a clear indication of the total ineffectiveness of the entire regulatory system that is supposed to hold the energy giants in check.
‘No wonder we have the highest energy costs in Europe and rocketing fuel poverty.
‘In France, the energy bill increase has been capped at four per cent and EDF is being forced to take a £7 billion hit so ordinary people’s bills don’t go through the roof.
‘Here, the energy price cap has risen by 54 per cent and the energy companies are happy because the only ones tightening their belts are taxpayers and consumers.
‘Meanwhile, Ofgem does nothing and tells parliament that they might have done better “with hindsight”.’
Dave Wiltshire Secretary of the All Trades Unions Alliance said: ‘The Unite demonstration this Saturday over the huge hikes in energy bills is a step forward. Now there must be strike action, and for energy workers to occupy their factories and plants.
‘The entire working class must come out on strike to finish this government off once and for good and go forward to a workers’ government and socialism.
‘A workers government will immediate strip all energy companies of their ownership and take them over, nationalising the lot without a penny compensation.’
