Gas Prices and Energy Suppliers Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Christopher Chope
Main Page: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)Department Debates - View all Christopher Chope's debates with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Gas Prices and Energy Suppliers
Christopher Chope Excerpts(3 years, 2 months ago)
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Kwasi Kwarteng
I do not think that it is relevant, because there is no way that any storage in the world will mitigate the effect of a quadrupling of the gas price in four months, as we have seen. The answer is actually getting more diverse sources of supply and electricity through non-carbon sources—through nuclear, on which I am still very unclear as to the Opposition’s view, and through other sources of decarbonised energy.
Sir Christopher Chope (Christchurch) (Con)
Why do we not reduce VAT on fuel as a temporary measure? We did it for the hospitality industry, which was badly affected by covid-19. Why do we not abolish VAT for consumers on fuel now?
Kwasi Kwarteng
My hon. Friend is quite right: we did a whole range of interventions to alleviate the burden on consumers and on businesses. Those were fiscal interventions that the Chancellor pursued last year, and I am sure that he is looking at a range of things this year, but that is a matter for him to decide ahead of the Budget.