Brent Kennedy, Carlisle Socialist Party
50 super-rich families own £500 billion, as much as half the British population. If you took £1.2 billion off them, none of them would die. But thousands of pensioners will die of cold this winter after Labour takes their £200-300 Winter Fuel Payment away.
In 2017, when the Tories were considering it, Labour discovered that it would condemn 4,000 old folk to an early death. Now they’re in power, they don’t care.
Even when pensions go up next April, they will still be among the lowest in Europe.
Labour promised “change” but they are just continuing Tory austerity, worsening poverty and inequality. In terms of the £22 billion budget “black hole”, £1.2 billion is peanuts. Sir Keir Starmer is sending a brutal message to the whole working class: “don’t expect anything from us.”
The privatised energy companies are increasing our bills by another 10% in October, costing an average family another £150. In January, they will put them up even higher. Even if they don’t reach last year’s price level we’ll still be worse off, because the government subsidy has been scrapped.
Yet production costs for North Sea gas or wind farms haven’t gone up – they’re ripping us off just because the government lets them get away with it. Even if you scrimp and heat less, you’ll now have to pay them a guaranteed £388 in standing charges before you’ve even flicked a light switch.
Did you agree to that when you ‘chose’ your supplier? No, because we don’t have any real choice in a ‘market economy’. And the toothless regulators only do the privateers’ bidding.
Since the pandemic, electricity generating companies have tripled their profits. Last year, British Gas increased its profits tenfold.
Their excuse is Putin’s war in Ukraine, but that was just their opportunity for war profiteering. BP made £28 billion in 2022. No wonder the head of BP described the company as a “cash machine.” And we are his cash cows.
Last year, Shell profited from energy customers and motorists by £42 billion. So where has all this money gone? Straight into the accounts of shareholders in tax havens. Since 2021, their do-nothing shareholders have amassed additional fortunes of £48 billion in dividends and buybacks. That’s about £1,700 per UK household – the same sum as an average family energy bill this year!
This ‘greedflation’ is a huge transfer of wealth from the majority to a tiny minority. Unless prices are cut, this inequality will be locked in. Price cuts and investment in renewables and insulation will only be possible by nationalising the energy and fuel industries and running them under the democratic control of workers and consumers.
