WINDFALL TAX: OVER 45 LABOUR MPS SAY YES WE CAN!

August 12th, 2008

environment and sustainability, lobbying government

Our campaign for a sensible one-off windfall tax on the energy and oil companies has got off to a great start but we need your help!

Having spoken to many Labour MPs and even a few ministers in recent days we know there’s support for this measure. The campaign has also gained the support of the influential Labour weekly Tribune.

However the government is coming under immense pressure from the energy and oil industry not to levy a windfall tax. In letters to the press, in response to our campaign, the energy industry claim we can’t afford a windfall tax, why then do figures show for just the first 6 months of the year BP, Centrica and Shell made the equivalent of £1000 profit per second? This debate isn’t just about pounds and pennies, it’s about real people’s lives, people who simply can’t afford the recent price rises, the millions already in or facing fuel poverty while these corporations make unearned windfall profits that harm society.

We need you to lobby MPs and ministers immediately to demonstrate strong support for this measure and say: windfall tax: yes we can! The more MPs we get the more likely it is that the government will see sense and back this one off sensible measure.

New signatories say ’yes we can’ levy ‘a windfall for social & environmental justice’:

Lord Richard Rogers; Stephen Hale, Green Alliance ; Mark Serwotka, General Secretary, PCS; Stephen Twigg, Labour PPC, Liverpool West Derby; John Austin MP; John Battle MP; Derek Wyatt MP; Diane Abbott MP; Frank Cook MP; David Crausby MP; Martin Caton MP; Ann Cryer MP; Jon Cruddas MP; Jim Devine MP; Andrew Dismore MP; Jim Dobbin MP; David Drew MP; Dr Ian Gibson MP; David Heyes MP; Lyndsay Hoyle MP; Brian Iddon MP; Peter Kilfoyle MP; Khalid Mahmood MP; Albert Owen MP; Hywel Francis MP; David Hamilton MP; Jim Sheridan MP; Geoffrey Robinson MP; Linda Riordan MP; Dr Desmond Turner MP; Paddy Tipping MP; Jim Sheridan MP; Ian Stewart MP; Dari Taylor MP; Joan Walley MP; Mary Creagh MP; Gwyn Prosser MP; Gavin Strang MP; Kelvin Hopkins MP; David Taylor MP; Michael Clapham MP; Fabian Hamilton MP; Jeremy Corbyn MP; Brian Donohoe MP.

Join our growing list of names and sign up to the statement here.

You tell us why we need a windfall tax. Here are just a few of the hundreds of comments we’ve had so far from people supporting a windfall tax.

From Robin in Bath: “These companies have made huge profits that arise directly from the increase in prices. A windfall tax is entirely justified.”

From Gordon in Birmingham: “For me, I cannot afford to pay the high rising electric and gas bills the Government must do more to help very low income people.”

From Lesley in Swanley: “This current unacceptable situation affects us all, to a lesser or larger extent. The benefits of a windfall tax would affect us all too, and I would urge the Government to levy this windfall tax as soon as possible.”

Lobby MPs and write to the Chancellor of the Exchequer:

Please use the campaign template letters below to lobby MPs and encourage them to sign up to the campaign. Please also write to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and urge him to adopt a windfall tax here.

Encourage friends and colleagues to sign up to the campaign:

We need as many people as possible to support this, please encourage your friends and colleagues to sign up to the campaign for a sensible one-off windfall tax on the energy and oil companies for social and environmental justice.

Forward this email to as many people as you can and ask them to sign up here.

The UK energy and oil companies, windfall tax and fuel poverty: key facts you need to know

• Profits in the energy “market” have risen almost six-fold since 2003: from £557m to now over £3bn.
• Since 2000 we have faced gas price rises of 100% and electricity price rises of 61% – home energy prices are still rising by up to 35% whilst the price of oil is finally dropping. Energy companies have consistently put the rise in gas prices down to the price of oil.
• Electricity prices have gone up 3 times more for consumers than generators – a huge unaccounted for gap.
• Labour has cut fuel poverty from 6.5million in 1996 to 2.5million now. Let’s keep that figure down.
• Energy companies have now complained that a windfall tax would damage their businesses. The 1997 windfall tax did not damage the companies taxed, just as Gordon Brown said then it wouldn’t. It did not allude to greater borrowing or reduced business investment.

With millions of Britons in or facing fuel poverty as winter approaches and as the energy and oil companies continue to make unearned profits every second of every day, tell the government to adopt a windfall tax for social and environmental justice immediately!

Let’s keep up the pressure and send a clear message to the government that yes we can levy a sensible one-off windfall tax.

Thanks for all your support so far.

Gavin

P.S: Why not make a one-off donation to help fund the research and costs of this important campaign here. We will never have the resources of the energy industry to spend on lobbying, but every penny you give us will be used to keep them on the run and make the case for a sensible one-off windfall tax.