The chancellor’s attempt to soften the blow for millions does not go far enough, especially when oil company profits go unchecked
It has been clear since at least last autumn that, come April, soaring global energy prices would crash at high speed into the ability of millions of British households to pay their heating bills. Acknowledging this as “the number one issue on people’s minds”, Rishi Sunak went to the Commons on Thursday and unveiled a raft of measures designed to limit the inevitable but still widely underestimated damage.
Conservative MPs praised the chancellor’s package. Opposition MPs condemned it as not going far enough. But the larger truth, two months before consumers start to experience the impact of Thursday’s dramatic rise in the energy price cap, is that, while the issue may be on people’s minds, the real human and political shock from these price rises will start in April.
