‘These obscene profits are a slap in the face to workers whose jobs and futures have not been adequately planned for’
Lloyds nearly doubled third-quarter profits to £2.3bn and Shell’s leapt to £8.12bn in the same week the Chancellor gave banks a lighter tax hit than expected — prompting calls for levies to redirect “obscene” gains into household support
“SICKENING” super-profits by banks and fossil-fuel giants are windfalls from the same crises driving a cost-of-living crisis for ordinary people, MPs and campaigners warned today.
Just a day after Chancellor John Healey’s light-touch Budget appeased banks with a lower than expected corporation tax surcharge, Lloyds Banking Group revealed a near-doubling of profits in the third quarter — to £2.3 billion from £1.2bn in the same period last year.
And oil giant Shell reported a similarly dramatic rise, its third-quarter earnings leaping to £8.12bn from £4.08bn a year ago.
Their surging fortunes reflect a boom time for banks and Big Oil alike. Barclays was the first of the British “big four” banks to post third-quarter profits at the start of the week, giving a figure of £2.3bn — a 12 per cent rise that hasn’t stopped it announcing 5,000 job cuts. HSBC followed with $9.6bn (£7.2bn), a 32 per cent increase. NatWest is due to announce its figure tomorrow.
And the five largest Western oil companies, BP, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Shell and TotalEnergies, are expected to report combined third-quarter profits of $53bn (£40bn), more than twice the same figure last year.
“The banks and energy firms are cashing in on the very same soaring prices that are hammering households,” Leeds East MP Richard Burgon told the Morning Star.
“Their super-profits aren’t the result of great investments or innovation. They’re windfalls from the economic turmoil caused by the wars on Ukraine and Iran.
“Windfall taxes should be used to redirect these excess profits into where they’d be really useful — giving cost-of-living support to ordinary people.”
A man refills a small container of gas at a Bangchak Corporation Public Company Limited station in Bangkok, Thailand on March 26, 2026. (Photo by Matt Hunt/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“The case for windfall taxes has never been clearer,” said 350.org’s chief executive.
An analysis released Monday estimates that oil and gas price spikes driven by the US-Israeli war on Iran have so far cost consumers and businesses around the world over $100 billion—money that has flowed into the coffers of some of the wealthiest, most powerful fossil fuel companies on the planet.
The new analysis by 350.org finds that, just over a month into the war, consumers and businesses have lost between $104.2 billion and $111.6 billion to rising oil and gas prices—an estimate that the environmental group acknowledges is likely conservative, given it doesn’t account for “wider knock-on effects, such as rising fertiliser and food costs, declines in economic output and employment, or broader inflation driven by fossil fuel price volatility. ”
The more than $100 billion, 350.org said, “has been siphoned from ordinary people to oil and gas companies.”
“On top of the incalculable suffering of families and communities torn apart by the war, ordinary people around the world are paying an extraordinary price through fossil fuel-driven energy spikes,” said Anne Jellema, 350.org’s chief executive. “Over $100 billion has gone straight into the pockets of fossil fuel companies, while families struggle to afford energy and basic necessities.”
“The case for windfall taxes,” Jellema added, “has never been clearer.”
The analysis was published as global oil prices rose again following a weekend missile attack on Israel by Yemen’s Houthis and Trump’s threat to “take the oil in Iran,” signaling another potential escalation in a war that has already killed thousands, sparked an appalling humanitarian crisis, and destabilized the global economy.
One key beneficiary of the chaos is the fossil fuel industry, which is set to reap billions in windfall profits thanks to rising oil and gas prices. Reuters reported late last week that analysts covering Chevron, Shell, and ExxonMobil have significantly raised earnings estimates for the fossil fuel giants in response to war-fueled price surges.
“US shale producers and other companies without major operations in the Middle East should gain the most, benefiting from higher prices without costs associated with shut-in production, stranded tankers, or expensive repairs to war-hit facilities,” Reuters noted. “Still, executives said the big profits will probably not boost their planned capital spending on new production.”
Earlier this month, Democratic lawmakers in the US Congressintroduced legislation that would impose a windfall profit tax on large American oil companies and return the money to consumers in the form of quarterly rebates. The bill stands no realistic chance of getting through the Republican-controlled Congress, which is awash in Big Oil campaign cash.
“American consumers are once again getting squeezed at the gas pump as President Trump’s war of choice in Iran sends gas prices soaring and money flowing to his Big Oil donors,” said US Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), the bill’s lead sponsor in the Senate. “We should send any big windfall for Big Oil back to the hardworking people who paid for it at the gas pump.”
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‘These obscene profits are a slap in the face to workers whose jobs and futures have not been adequately planned for’
