Electricity Bills: VAT Removal

Lord Boateng Excerpts

Thursday 23rd July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wilson of Sedgefield (Lab)]

I echo the noble Earl’s comments about my noble friends Lady Curran and Lord Whitehead. I worked closely with them both. The issue of future help for the energy market et cetera is something we will have to wait for until we do the Budget next year. In the meantime, we will continue to help people with the cost of living. I want to point out the measures we have taken that will help people in the short term: we have frozen rail fares, cut energy bills by £150, cut VAT on electricity bills to zero and we are cutting business rates for 32,000 small venues, pubs and clubs. Obviously, that is not a silver bullet, but the intent is there to do everything we can to help people who are suffering.

[Lord Boateng (Lab)]

My Lords, the last Conservative Government, in their dying days, made a number of high-profile announcements on carbon capture, usage and storage, nuclear financing and hydrogen production. However, when the Treasury carried out its initial spending audit, it found from the capital allocation maps that it did not possess the cash required to hit the legal and infrastructural targets and rollout timetables necessary to fulfil those commitments. Does the Minister agree with me that a little more self-reflection and humility on that side would not go amiss?

[Lord Wilson of Sedgefield (Lab)]

I remind my noble friend that they left us with a black hole of £22 billion. Among other matters, there was £2.6 billion of new unfunded policy announcements, £6.4 billion for asylum and illegal migration, which was not funded, and £9.4 billion for pay awards, which was not funded. We need to find a few hundred million pounds to help the people most in need. I think that they should reflect on what they did in government.