Watch Martin Lewis Q&A with Rishi Sunak 26 May at 4:29PM edited 27 May at 9:51AM in Energy 50 replies 5.6K views

MSE_JC

Following the Government's recent announcement of a cost of living support package to help with energy bills, Martin was joined by Chancellor Rishi Sunak for a video Q&A. Watch it below:

Archie_Duke

Great to see a focussed set of questions by Martin which left the Chancellor with little wriggle room.

Shame the video was uploaded to YouTube with 7 & 1/2 mins of nothing to scroll through before getting to the interview proper.

MattMattMattUK

Archie_Duke said:

Great to see a focussed set of questions by Martin which left the Chancellor with little wriggle room.

Shame the video was uploaded to YouTube with 7 & 1/2 mins of nothing to scroll through before getting to the interview proper.

It was not uploaded as such, it was live streamed then archived, the start was delayed so it stayed on the holding screen longer. It can be tidied up later if they choose to.

MSE_JC

@Archie_Duke @MattMattMattUK We've now edited the YouTube link with a timestamp so that when you click play should jump to the actual start.

sourcrates

Its a step in the right direction, as people are in desperate need of help, it just irks me slightly though, when a multimillionaire chancellor hands us a sum of cash that would just about pay for his tailored shirt and flash tie, and thinks all will be well.

In reality we should have followed the steps France has taken, and pegged back the actual cost of energy at source, so we don`t have to act like a bunch of grateful peasants accepting handouts from the gentry.

All Sunak is attempting to do is switch attention away from party gate, and mostly succeeding.

MattMattMattUK

sourcrates said:

Its a step in the right direction, as people are in desperate need of help, it just irks me slightly though, when a multimillionaire chancellor hands us a sum of cash that would just about pay for his tailored shirt and flash tie, and thinks all will be well.

I do not see how Sunak's personal wealth impacts things. Personally I want this government out, but I also find it hard to fault this package of handouts, the poorest households will get over a thousand covering a significant proportion, or in some cases all of the rises in the cost of living. In terms of the package they have actually exceeded what Labour, the LibDems and SNP were proposing.

sourcrates said:

In reality we should have followed the steps France has taken, and pegged back the actual cost of energy at source, so we don`t have to act like a bunch of grateful peasants accepting handouts from the gentry.

Unfortunately that boat sailed because we did not build dozens of nuclear power plants. In France the cost of energy at the plug is lower, but the government subsidising the costs behind the scenes, with the result that all energy consumers are being subsidised equally, rather than the more targeted approach taken in the UK and other countries. 

sourcrates said:

All Sunak is attempting to do is switch attention away from party gate, and mostly succeeding.

I agree this is entirely designed to distract, but that has been obvious ever since the the Sue Grey enquiry and the MET investigation started to take place, the government were aware they were going to need a distraction so they kept this up their sleeve. Whilst I do not think it is right, it is obviously playing the game that politics is and they seem to be winning, despite the sum of their actions. 

savingholmes

I am grateful additional support is coming. 

I am grateful it is not a loan now - although I'm suspicious that the energy companies will try and claw the windfall tax back in some form.

I think that it would have made more financial sense for the government to reduce the tax we pay on energy and to have given us the money that way as that I would have expected that alternative to help lower inflation. This way the inflationary pressures remain high.

QrizB

savingholmes said:

I am grateful it is not a loan now - although I'm suspicious that the energy companies will try and claw the windfall tax back in some form.

The energy suppliers (the people you buy gas & electricity from) are generally separate companies from the energy produers (the oil and gas companies who operate extraction platforms and sell fossil fuels on the commodity markets).

If your pension or ISA or whatever is invested in fossil fuel companies, that's where you might take a hit although if you've got a diversified portfolio it shouldn't be much of a blip.

I think that it would have made more financial sense for the government to reduce the tax we pay on energy and to have given us the money that way

An average household currently pays less than £100 a year in VAT on their domestic energy bill. It would take over four years to "give back" £400 by that route.

Undisputedtruth

sourcrates said:

Its a step in the right direction, as people are in desperate need of help, it just irks me slightly though, when a multimillionaire chancellor hands us a sum of cash that would just about pay for his tailored shirt and flash tie, and thinks all will be well.

In reality we should have followed the steps France has taken, and pegged back the actual cost of energy at source, so we don`t have to act like a bunch of grateful peasants accepting handouts from the gentry.

All Sunak is attempting to do is switch attention away from party gate, and mostly succeeding.

Interestingly enough, France has a much lower inflation rate compared to the UK.  Higher inflation invariably lead to recession. More opportunities for the rich to increase their wealth. 

Undisputedtruth

MattMattMattUK said:

I do not see how Sunak's personal wealth impacts things. Personally I want this government out, but I also find it hard to fault this package of handouts, the poorest households will get over a thousand covering a significant proportion, or in some cases all of the rises in the cost of living. In terms of the package they have actually exceeded what Labour, the LibDems and SNP were proposing.

People point at Sunak's personal wealth because they feel he is out of touch with their world.

MattMattMattUK said:

Unfortunately that boat sailed because we did not build dozens of nuclear power plants. In France the cost of energy at the plug is lower, but the government subsidising the costs behind the scenes, with the result that all energy consumers are being subsidised equally, rather than the more targeted approach taken in the UK and other countries.

In france, 50 per cent of their nuclear power stations were taken offline due to routine maintenance and defects recently. Thereby forcing France to buy energy though other European sources. Nuclaer energy isn't wonderful as you think. Electricity generated through Nuclear power is expensive. We know this because its strike rate is twice that of wind. It takes 10 years from planning to building a nuclear power station while it takes just two years for wind turbines. Basically there isn't a business case for Nuclear power when other renewable energy sources are getting cheaper. Having nuclear energy just makes our electricity bills a lot more expensive for decades to come.

Undisputedtruth

I feel the £400 offer from the Chancellor as derisory considering that my energy bill will have tripled by October. The Tories has been in power for the past 12 years yet they showed how inadequate in dealing with energy infrastructure issues. Nuclear power is such an unimaginative and clueless answer.