Shapps hits out at Labour’s ‘Just Stop Oil-sponsored’ energy plan

GRANT Shapps has reaffirmed the government’s support for domestic fossil fuel projects, while slamming Labour for appearing to embrace a ban.

In a heated parliamentary session yesterday, the energy security secretary hit out at Labour’s push to stop new North Sea projects as “bonkers”, while confirming the UK’s continued embargo of Russian fossil fuels.

“Our system was well supplied last winter by North Sea gas and reliable imports. This is a far cry from Labour’s energy surrender plan sponsored by Just Stop Oil, which would put us back to square one and in the hands of despots like Putin and his tyrannical regime,” he said.

Just Stop Oil is a protest group which is calling on the government to ban new oil and gas projects to slash carbon emissions and meet the UK’s net zero goals.

While Just Stop Oil has no official links to Labour, Shapps has repeatedly tried to link the group to the opposition, frequently referencing green energy tycoon and Labour backer Dale Vince’s financial support for the activists.

Shapps has previously said the UK must have a balanced energy supply, which includes “where necessary, oil and gas licences.”

“To do without them puts the security of every single person in this country at risk,” he said.

The duty paid on alcohol is revalued each year in line with inflation –however it has been either cut or frozen in every budget over the past decade.

A graph by vineyard Chateau Bauduc shows that under the new tax rises if punters spend £8.00 on a bottle of wine, they are getting 90p's worth of wine and paying £5.90 in tax.

“Amongst all this pressure the government has chosen to impose more inflationary misery on consumers on 1 August, with the biggest single alcohol duty increase in almost 50 years,” Miles Beale, chief executive of the WSTA, said.

The WSTA said the decision will not help wine and spirit businesses who are “looking to find ways to keep their products affordable”.

“There is no quick fix, and there are too many tax and costs increases and too few options – especially for wine and fullstrength premium spirits where reducing ABV simply isn’t realistic.”It comes as customers are facing increased costs on alcohol in both supermarkets and bars due to soaring inflation and energy costs.

“The looming increase in alcohol duty will be damaging not just for the wine sector, but for the wider UK economy,” a Majestic Wine spokesperson told City A.M.

“The UK’s largest specialist wine retailer said that the move result in higher prices for our retail customers and the thousands of pubs, bars and restaurants we supply in the on-trade, dealing another hammer blow to a fragile hospitality sector that is still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic.”

H2O-no: Thames Water’s brand still hasn’t recovered from 2022 scandal

THAMES WATER is in serious financial difficulty, and faces the prospect of a government takeover. It’s news that comes following the exit of CEO Sarah Bentley (who quit over the firm’s handling of sewage spills) and follows almost a year of negative headlines for the utility company. Since July 2022, when it was reported by The Times that water companies were leaking an average 2.4bn litres of water a day (Thames Water among them) the brand’s stock among the public has plunged.

According to YouGov BrandIndex, net Impression scores for Thames Water, which measure overall positive and negative sentiment, sunk from -2.6 on 27 July 2022 to -13.4 as of our most re- cent data (27 June 2023): a decline of 10.8 points. This represents a slight improvement on the nadir of 5 September 2022 – when scores plummeted to -16.5 after the company instituted a hosepipe ban while losing hundreds of millions of litres of water a day – but it is far from a full recovery. The company has also seen Value for Money scores go from bad (-4.9) to worse (-12.2), seeing a deterioration of 7.3 points between late July 2022 and late June 2023.

Summarising a poor year for Thames Water, Index scores, which measure overall brand health, have declined from -1.2 to -8.3 (-7.1). A minor improvement on its most negative performance during this period, but one that will come as small consolation.

With further reports of sewage spills and pollution emerging in the past week (and with the threat of nationalisation still looming), Bentley’s resignation may not mark the end of Thames Water’s woes this year.

Stephan Shakespeare is the co-founder and CEO of YouGov

THAMES WATER’S BRAND HEALTH, 2022-PRESENT

YouGov BrandIndex Index scores: Average of Impression. Quality, Value, Satisfaction, Recommend and Reputation scores (4 week moving average)

July 2022 –Thames Water revealed to be leaking an average 605m litres of water a day