Cost of Living crisis

Fossil fuel giant Shell reveals highest profits in its history

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/fossil-fuel-giant-shell-reveals-highest-profits-in-its-history

Unions call on government to ‘expand windfall tax on energy producers’ as public face 40% hike in bills from April

Activists gather at Glengad Beach in Co Mayo as the pipe laying vessel the Solitaire makes its way into Broadhaven Bay

THE government must “get real” on profiteering and increase windfall taxes on oil and gas companies, campaigners and unions urged today as Shell revealed its highest profits in its history.

The oil giant said that core profits rocketed to $84.3 billion (£68.1bn) in 2022 in what is one of the highest gains ever recorded by a British company.

The public face a 40 per cent hike in energy bills from April on top of soaring bills and the cost-of-living crisis.

Following pressure, the government launched a windfall tax, called the energy profits levy, on bumper profits made by producers last year.

Shell said it was due to pay $134 million (£109m) through the levy for 2022, representing just a fraction of its mammoth profit.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/fossil-fuel-giant-shell-reveals-highest-profits-in-its-history

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British Gas halts use of warrants to force people on to prepayment meters

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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/feb/01/british-gas-halts-use-of-warrants-to-force-people-on-to-prepayment-meters-allegations-vulnerable-customers-break-in

Image of banknotes and prepayment meter key
Banknotes and a prepayment meter key

Move follows allegations that third-party agents ignored vulnerabilities of customers and broke in to install equipment

British Gas has suspended the use of court warrants to force the installation of prepayment meters after evidence that agents working on its behalf ignored customers’ vulnerabilities.

MPs and consumer groups had raised concerns that elderly and disabled people were being forced on to prepayment meters and then routinely cut off from heat and power as they could not afford to top up.

Wednesday’s decision came after an investigation by the Times alleged that Arvato Financial Solutions, a company used by British Gas to pursue debts, had broken into homes to fit meters when there were signs that young children and people with disabilities lived in the property. AFS employees are incentivised with bonuses to fit prepayment meters.

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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/feb/01/british-gas-halts-use-of-warrants-to-force-people-on-to-prepayment-meters-allegations-vulnerable-customers-break-in

Ofgem statement on British Gas prepayment meter installations

“These are extremely serious allegations from The Times. We are launching an urgent investigation into British Gas and we won’t hesitate to take firm enforcement action.

“It is unacceptable for any supplier to impose forced installations on vulnerable customers struggling to pay their bills before all other options have been exhausted and without carrying out thorough checks to ensure it is safe and practicable to do so.

“We have launched a major market-wide review investigating the rapid growth in prepayment meter installations and potential breaches of licences driving it.

“We are clear that suppliers must work hard to look after their customers at this time, especially those who are vulnerable. The energy crisis is no excuse for unacceptable behaviour towards any customer, particularly those in vulnerable circumstances.”

Continue ReadingBritish Gas halts use of warrants to force people on to prepayment meters

Britain faces biggest day of strike action in over a decade

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/britain-faces-its-biggest-day-strike-action-more-decade

Half a million workers down tools over pay, jobs and working conditions

Protesters outside Downing Street, London, demonstrating against the new law on strikes

BRITAIN faces its biggest day of strike action in more than a decade today as up to half a million workers down tools over pay, jobs and working conditions.

Teachers, lecturers, civil servants and train and bus drivers are set to withdraw their labour simultaneously, as the fightback against more than a decade of Tory austerity gathers pace.

The TUC is holding events nationwide as part of its “protect the right to strike day” after ministers rushed “authoritarian and draconian” anti-worker legislation through the Commons on Monday night.

The union body demanded the government drop the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill, which is likely to face stiff opposition in the House of Lords, and instead “get round the table to negotiate in good faith on public-sector pay.”

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/britain-faces-its-biggest-day-strike-action-more-decade

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Tory government’s ‘authoritarian’ anti-strike legislation slammed by human rights and civil liberties groups

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Members of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) on the picket line outside London’s St Thomas’ Hospital as they go on strike for the first time over pay

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/tory-government-authoritarian-anti-strike-legislation-slammed-by-human-rights-and-civil-liberties-groups

MORE than 50 human rights and civil liberties groups slammed the Tory government’s new anti-strike legislation today as an attack on the fundamental right to take industrial action.

An open letter, penned by groups including Liberty, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam, said the proposals would allow “a further significant and unjustified intrusion by the state into the freedom of association and assembly.”

Ministers prepared to rush the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill through its final stages in the Commons last night, claiming public services need safeguarding amid the biggest strike wave in decades.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/tory-government-authoritarian-anti-strike-legislation-slammed-by-human-rights-and-civil-liberties-groups

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Nearly 20% of Brits already living in poverty before cost-of-living crisis, report finds

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/nearly-20-of-brits-already-living-in-poverty-before-cost-of-living-crisis

Image of banknotes and prepayment meter key

MILLIONS of people in Britain, including 3.9 million children and 1.7m pensioners, were in living in poverty even before the cost-of-living crisis hit, damning figures revealed today.

Around 20 per cent of the population, equating to 13.4m people, were living in poverty in 2020/21, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s annual poverty report found.

The report warned that there are elements in the benefits system that increase poverty, including the two-child limit, five-week wait for universal credit payments and unaffordable debt deductions.

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About 7.2m people are skipping meals, showers and heating, it found.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/nearly-20-of-brits-already-living-in-poverty-before-cost-of-living-crisis

Continue ReadingNearly 20% of Brits already living in poverty before cost-of-living crisis, report finds