Amid Soaring Energy Prices, Reeves Warns Middle-Income Families Won’t Get Help

Rachel Reeves will make it clear that middle-class people won’t receive government support for their soaring energy costs.

The Chancellor is expected to make clear that any bailout will be targeted rather than universal as she responds to the Middle East situation.

In a Commons statement, she will also outline plans to prevent price ‘gouging’.

Despite Donald Trump’s declaration that he is searching for a mechanism to halt the US-Israeli war on Iran, British living standards are being severely squeezed.

Keir Starmer yesterday braced the UK for the turmoil to continue for ‘some time’ – suggesting the closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz and damage to infrastructure could still be resonating by Christmas.

He also emphasised the pressure on the public finances, with fears that the ‘Trumpflation’ shock will drive up spending and borrowing costs.

Domestic energy bills are capped until July, but experts say they could rise by a fifth or more, then – putting Ms Reeves under pressure to come up with a support package.

Fuel duty is expected to rise in September, even though motorists are presently being hit with eye-watering pump prices. 

Food bills are also being closely monitored, with fertiliser prices spiking because much of the world’s supply comes from the Middle East.

Despite Ms Reeves having pushed the tax burden towards a record high since entering No 11, figures last week showed the public sector racked up the highest February borrowing on record outside of COVID, far more than analysts had expected.

The Chancellor has acknowledged she needs to be ‘disciplined’ on spending, with suggestions that more impoverished households on benefits will be prioritised.

Touring broadcast studios this morning, energy minister Michael Shanks said of the prospective support: ‘We’re obviously looking at a range of options.’

Pressed if help would be targeted rather than universal, Mr Shanks noted the scale of the bailout the Tories put in place in 2022.

‘Clearly the last action that was taken by the government cost £40 billion,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Ms Reeves will make a statement to MPs following an emergency Cobra meeting.

Her announcements will include an ‘anti-profiteering framework’ to detect and crack down on companies exploiting the Middle East situation.

The Competition and Markets Authority is set to be given ‘more teeth’ to root out price gouging.

But Ms Reeves is batting away pleas for Labour to ditch its opposition to new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea. The industry and even renewables groups have pointed out that the UK importing more fossil fuels does not help the global push towards Net Zero. 

Britain has, for an extremely long time, been very good for the very rich or the very poor, but bad luck if you’re in the middle, and Labour has turned us into a first-class hotbed. Indeed, a cesspit, and has now drenched the few remaining working class to suffer and certainly pay for it.

Keir Starmer and Reeves can’t even define what ‘working men, working families, and working people’ actually means.

Of course, there are tons of people out there on benefits that should be working, but for those genuine people who are on benefits due to a medical condition, and people who are whining about it. Honestly, don’t knock it because if they were in the same position, they actually wouldn’t like it – it’s depressing.

And this war that is going on will give Starmer another reason to raise our taxes. I bet they’re all rubbing their hands together, and why on earth is our ineffective government still here? Time to move over, Starmer, and let someone else have a chance to give it a go!