RE: UK government expected to offer energy companies windfall tax relief25 Mar 2023 05:16
UK government expected to offer energy companies windfall tax relief
Lower fuel prices spur hopes the levy will be reformed as sector is being encouraged to invest in new projects. Britain’s oil and gas companies are next week expected to be offered the prospect of windfall tax relief, as prime minister Rishi Sunak looks to boost investment and improve the country’s energy security.
Ministers have been discussing with the sector a promise that the 35 per cent windfall levy on profits would cease to apply if energy prices fell below a specified “normal” long-term level.
Officials close to the negotiations say Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, is open to the idea because it would provide tax certainty to a sector that is being encouraged to invest in new energy projects.
Sunak will set out a range of measures to boost Britain’s energy security and to help meet net zero targets next week at what Whitehall has dubbed “Green Day”.
But Sunak’s allies insist the event should be called “energy security day”, an indication that the package will also include measures to boost oil and gas production in the North Sea. “It’s not Green Day,” said one.
There is speculation in the industry that Sunak could launch the package in Aberdeen, the capital of the UK oil industry, although his allies insisted it had not been decided where the event will take place.