A guest on GB News has told Nigel Farage that he is “going to find it very hard to feel sorry for oil companies” as he called for a windfall tax.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has come under pressure to introduce a one-off levy on firms which have benefited from globally high oil and gas prices and use the revenue to fund measures to ease the cost-of-living crisis on households struggling with rising bills.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has not ruled out implementing the tax, but no announcement has been made as of yet.
Tom Burke in discussion with Nigel Farage
GB News
Mr Burke has backed a windfall tax
GB News
And Tom Burke, former Government adviser on climate change believes it is a “very good idea” to put the money made by oil firm executives back into “the pockets of the people".
When asked by Nigel whether he backed a windfall tax, Mr Burke said: “I absolutely do, and the thing to remember about it is these are unearned profits.
“This wasn’t companies investing, putting hard work in, lots of skills, lots of risk-taking in order to make these profits.
“Things happened in the world and they found themselves in a very good position and they’ve picked up the benefits of that.
“They will certainly feed into the bonuses of their leading executives and that’s come out of all those people who can’t afford to pay for energy, it’s come out of their pockets.
“So it’s a very good idea to put it back in the pockets of the people."
Nigel argued that oil companies lost money in 2020, while firms have also put a lot of investment, skill and risk in developing offshore sites, the adviser stood firm on his thoughts.
Mr Burke continued: “You know what the oil companies, they already pay a 30 percent cooperation tax.
“Do you know what that means? It means that the taxman pays BP and Shell a refund every year because they offset against the money they invest in cleaning up the mess they’ve made in the North Sea.
“So I’m going to find very hard to feel sorry for the oil companies.”