Household Energy Bills: VAT

Debate between Sammy Wilson and Chris Skidmore

Tuesday 11th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Sammy Wilson]

rose—

[Chris Skidmore]

I will gave way to the right hon. Gentleman and that is it.

[Sammy Wilson]

While the right hon. Gentleman is eulogising about the target of net zero, does he not recognise that the large size of the bills that he says consumers have difficulty paying is a result of the green levies, which are stealthily placed on the consumer and which have reached 26% of what people pay every time they have an energy bill?

[Chris Skidmore]

That is what I mean by the slippery slope. It is the slippery slope of suddenly saying, “Well, what about reducing VAT? Let’s turn to the green levies—they are actually making up 12% of total cost —which are one of the best ways in which we can enact levelling up and regeneration in former coalfield communities and post-industrial landscapes by ensuring that we have future green investment, such as in Net Zero Teesside or on the Humber where we have seen a revolution in offshore wind. If we want to debate how we deliver on energy prices, it must be by looking at the energy sources for the future, and not at the energy sources of the past. The reason we have an energy cost crisis at the moment is that wholesale gas prices have risen by 400%.