Rishi Sunak’s £9bn energy help package is ‘giving with one hand and taking with the other’, say campaigners

Following the news that energy bills will soar by 54 per cent from April, chancellor Rishi Sunak has unveiled retaliatory measures which one campaign group has slammed as “giving with one hand and taking with the other”.

The chancellor’s £9 billion help package, unveiled this morning, includes an untargeted £200 temporary discount on bills, which applies to all households and will eventually be repaid at a later date when energy prices fall.

The new measures will be funded by £5.5 billion worth of government loans which wil lbe repaid by higher bills over the following five years.

Four in five households will be covered by a further £3.5bn of relief provided by £150 council tax rebates for bands A to D, which will be provided in April.

The Warm Homes Discount will also be raised, and the scheme expanded to more people.

Responding to today’s announcements, Katie Schmuecker, deputy policy director fat anti-poverty charity the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said:

“The Chancellor has offered cold comfort to families in poverty, who are already rationing what they can spend on essentials such as heating and food. These families are now expected to find at least half of the eye watering increases in energy bills, when many are already getting into debt to keep their houses warm and food on the table.

“Three quarters of those who can claim the enhanced support are not in poverty. Meanwhile inflation is set to rise at more than double the rate of benefits. This support will not get people through the next few months and it will not protect those most at risk of hardship.

“People in poverty are hit hardest by all these pressures because our social security system is simply not offering adequate support, and until that changes they will continue to be exposed to every economic shock.

“The Chancellor has made his choice, the harder choices will now be coming for those who still can’t afford essentials for themselves and their families.”

John O’Connell, chief executive of free market campaign group TaxPayers’ Alliance, said in light of today’s news:
“This announcement amounts to nothing more than giving with one hand to take with the other.

“The chancellor’s bailouts for energy firms do little to reverse the root of the energy crisis, while the council tax rebate is only papering over the cracks of the government’s own policies.

“If ministers really want to help households with the cost of living, they should power ahead with suspending green levies and the planned national insurance hike.”