Sir John Major told a Westminster lunch this afternoon that the government should impose an emergency tax upon the energy companies to help families keep warm this winter. Here is a transcript of what the former Conservative Prime Minister said:
I think when Ed Miliband made his suggestions about energy some weeks ago, I think his heart was in the right place but his head had gone walkabout. But he did touch on an issue that’s very important. The private sector is something the Conservative party supports, but when the private sector goes wrong, or behaves badly, I think it’s entirely right to make changes and put it right.
Governments should exist to protect people, not institutions, and I very strongly agree with what the Archbishop of Canterbury had to say just the other day. There’s a lot being done… to help people in fuel poverty, the winter fuel allowance, which I think is about £300, the cold weather payments, which are another £25… so quite a lot is being done.
But at the moment I do not see how it can be in any way acceptable that with energy prices rising broadly 4%, in terms of costs, that the price for the consumer should rise the 9 to 10%.
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