fuel poverty

National Grid’s £2bn profits ‘lay bare’ Britain’s broken energy system, campaigners say

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/national-grid-2bn-profits-lay-bare-britain-broken-energy-system-campaigners-say

‘It is time our energy infrastructure was brought back into public ownership,’ Unite general secretary says

CAMPAIGNERS intensified their demands for energy infrastructure to be brought back into full public ownership today after the National Grid posted a 14 per cent increase in underlying profits.

The firm, which builds and runs power grids and cables across Britain, reported an underlying operating profit of £2.05 billion for the six months until September 30, surpassing £1.8bn in the same period last year.

The grid charges energy suppliers for network use. Costs are then passed on to consumers through their bills, which rose by another 10 per cent last month.

In 2023, National Grid shareholders received £1.6bn in dividends, while six million households remained trapped in fuel poverty amid skyrocketing costs.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said National Grid’s profits “lay bare” Britain’s broken energy system.

She said: “Energy profiteers like National Grid are extracting cash for overseas shareholders through ever more expensive bills.

“It is time our energy infrastructure was brought back into public ownership so that the British people and economy benefit rather than foreign wealth funds.”

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Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/national-grid-2bn-profits-lay-bare-britain-broken-energy-system-campaigners-say

Continue ReadingNational Grid’s £2bn profits ‘lay bare’ Britain’s broken energy system, campaigners say

Unite launches legal challenge to overturn winter fuel payment cut

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/h-lead-unite-launches-legal-challenge-overturn-winter-fuel-payment-cut

UNITE has launched judicial review proceedings seeking to overturn government cuts to the winter fuel allowance for millions of pensioners.

The union submitted a pre-action notice to Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall on October 29 after the Budget kept the benefits cut for all but the poorest pensioners.

Unite said it will seek leave of the High Court to mount a full judicial review should the government not respond to the letter and reverse its decision by November 7.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “People do not understand — I do not understand — how a Labour government has taken away the fuel allowance of millions of pensioners just as winter approaches.

“Given the failure to rectify this in the budget, Unite has now commenced judicial review proceedings challenging the legality of the policy.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/h-lead-unite-launches-legal-challenge-overturn-winter-fuel-payment-cut

Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Keir Starmer explains that he feels no shame or guilt benefitting personally from gifts from the rich and powerful while insisting on policies of severe austerity causing suffering and death.
Keir Starmer explains that he feels no shame or guilt benefitting personally from gifts from the rich and powerful while insisting on policies of severe austerity causing suffering and death.
Continue ReadingUnite launches legal challenge to overturn winter fuel payment cut

Over 50,000 demand wealth tax as alternative to austerity in Autumn Budget

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Rachel Reeves says that there are difficult choices ahead, that the poor have to make sacrifices and thanks for her new clothes.
Rachel Reeves says that there are difficult choices ahead, that the poor have to make sacrifices and thanks for her new clothes.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/over-50000-demand-wealth-tax-as-alternative-to-austerity-in-autumn-budget

THE Labour leadership faced demands today to tax the rich instead of inflicting more painful spending cuts in its Budget on Wednesday.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has warned that her fiscal announcement will involve “difficult decisions” because of a £22 billion “black hole” left by the Tories in the nation’s finances, which has since led her to talk of finding £40-50bn in spending cuts and tax rises.

Today Labour MP Richard Burgon presented a 50,000-strong petition in Parliament calling for wealth taxes as an alternative.

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The petition calls for a 2 per cent wealth tax on assets over £10 million, which could raise £24bn a year.

It also suggested equalising capital gains tax with income tax rates and ending state subsidies for fossil fuel giants, which could raise another £21bn.

Ms Reeves stated that the upcoming Budget will focus on “strivers,” invoking the rhetoric of austerity architect George Osborne, though a speech by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer today stressed Labour would raise taxes to invest in public services.

Labour MP John McDonnell tweeted: “Simple request to whoever is now running Labour’s communications strategy, drop the ‘strivers’ language as it inevitably has led in the past to reference to ‘skivers’ prefacing attacks on welfare benefit claimants and cuts in social security support.”

Over 120 charities under the End Child Poverty Coalition have called on the Chancellor to use the Budget to finally ditch the two-child benefit cap.

The coalition says that doing so would lift 300,000 children out of poverty.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/over-50000-demand-wealth-tax-as-alternative-to-austerity-in-autumn-budget

Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.
Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.
Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Continue ReadingOver 50,000 demand wealth tax as alternative to austerity in Autumn Budget

82% of pensioners below or just above poverty line ‘to lose winter fuel payment’

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Image of cash and pre-payment meter key
Image of cash and pre-payment meter key

https://www.standard.co.uk/business/business-news/82-of-pensioners-below-or-just-above-poverty-line-to-lose-winter-fuel-payment-b1186701.html

Age UK has published its own Equality Impact Assessment of the Government’s cut to eligibility for the winter fuel payment.

Four in every five pensioners living below or just above the poverty line will lose the winter fuel payment under planned benefit cuts, according to a charity.

Age UK said its analysis suggested that 10.7 million UK pensioners will lose the benefit, of whom almost one in four (23%) live in poverty – with a household income of less than 60% of the median – or just above the poverty line.

The charity found that 80% – or 800,0000 – of UK pensioners aged 80 and over living in poverty or just above the poverty line will no longer receive the payment, as well as 78% – or 1.1 million – of pensioners with a disability living in the same circumstances.

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According to the Government’s own equality analysis, an estimated 780,000 pensioners still eligible to receive the winter fuel payment will lose it under planned cuts.

In a document last month, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) also said that more than two thirds – around 71% – of those with a disability and 83% of those aged 80 or over would miss out.

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https://www.standard.co.uk/business/business-news/82-of-pensioners-below-or-just-above-poverty-line-to-lose-winter-fuel-payment-b1186701.html

Continue Reading82% of pensioners below or just above poverty line ‘to lose winter fuel payment’

Removing caps on benefits could save the government billions of pounds, study finds

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Image of Keir Starmer and a poor child.
Zionist Keir ‘Kid Starver’ Starmer. Image thanks to The Skwawkbox.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/removing-caps-benefits-could-save-government-billions-pounds-study-finds

REMOVING caps on benefits could save the government billions of pounds rather than cost money, a progressive economic think tank says.

The New Economics Foundation (NEF) report, published today, says that the cost of benefit caps could be outweighed by the gains to be made from abolishing them.

Gains include easing extra pressure on the NHS and other services resulting from the poverty caused by the caps, according to the experts.

The benefit cap was introduced in 2013 by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government and limits the amount of benefits a household can receive.

The two-child limit was introduced by the Tory government in 2017. It restricts the application of child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in households.

The NEF estimates that axing the caps could save £1.5 billion a year over the next five years alone through lower demand on public services.

In the longer term — in 20 or 25 years — children lifted from poverty could have estimated future net earnings of £920 million a year higher, with an extra £490m returned to government through taxation and reduced spending on social security.

“In reducing child poverty rates, pressures on the NHS, schools and social services will reduce, enabling the reallocation of resources to other areas of high demand,” the report states.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/removing-caps-benefits-could-save-government-billions-pounds-study-finds

Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Continue ReadingRemoving caps on benefits could save the government billions of pounds, study finds