‘NATIONALISE all the energy giants,’ the Unite union demanded yesterday after BP announced enormous July-September profits of £7.1 billion, more than double the profit over the same three months last year.
The cumulative takings for the seven biggest private sector oil drillers during the first nine months of 2022 could hit £150bn.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: ‘Workers and communities face financial calamity this winter while energy giants like BP are making billions in unfettered profits.
‘It’s clear our economy is broken.
‘Unite’s independent profiteering report has established that it is corporate greed and profiteering which are driving inflation not workers’ wages.
‘It’s time to stop tinkering at the edges.
‘The Labour movement must seize the moment, take control of the debate and make the undeniable call to bring the energy giants into public ownership.’
Meanwhile, homeowners on a typical £300,000 tracker mortgage face paying £420 a month more than a year ago, after a Bank of England interest rate rise of 0.75% tomorrow was reported to be ‘nailed on’, up from 2.25% to 3%.
The rise is the biggest hike in 33 years and will have an immediate knock-on effect for mortgage holders with tracker or variable rate trackers that move in line with the Bank of England’s base rate.
The best tracker deal on a £300,000 repayment mortgage would have cost £1,359 when the Bank’s base rate was at its lowest of 0.1 per cent before last Christmas, but if, as expected, the Bank raises its key rate to 3% tomorrow – in what would be its eighth consecutive hike – the same loan will cost £1,779, or £420 more, from the next repayment date.
According to Rightmove figures, the average home in London now costs £664,400 – compared with the national average of £354,564.
The Treasury said yesterday: ‘It is going to be rough. The truth is that everybody will need to contribute more in tax if we are to maintain public services.
‘After borrowing hundreds of billions of pounds through Covid-19 and implementing massive energy bills support, we won’t be able to fill the fiscal black hole through spending cuts alone.’
Labour’s Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: ‘These new figures show how mortgage costs are going to be eye-wateringly expensive for so many hard-working families in London and across the country, leaving them worried sick and cutting back.’
