Nigel Farage has hit out at Rishi Sunak’s decision to bring in a windfall tax.
Earlier today, Mr Sunak announced new measures to mitigate the cost-of-living crisis.
The measures include eight million of the lowest income households to be sent a one-off £650 payment and pensioners receiving a one-off £300 payment.
Nigel Farage
GB News
Rishi Sunak announced the new package earlier today
Daniel Leal
While most households will also be given a £400 energy bill discount later this year.
The package will partly be funded by a £5 billion windfall tax on oil and gas giants, Mr Sunak announced.
But speaking about the Chancellor's announcement on GB News, Nigel has slammed the decision to bring in such a tax.
Nigel said: “So what does it all mean, it means £400 for most households as a rebate on their energy bills.
“It means actually up to £1,200 per household for those at the lower end of the ladder, for those on benefits, those not in work that, of course, includes a council tax rebate.
“The package in all is going to cost about £15billion, £5billion of that is going to come from a windfall tax or should I say more accurately a temporary targeted energy profits levy.
“There’s a big question here, is it right to put this big tax on oil and gas companies.
“I think it’s a very big mistake, I think if you put firms off investing you get fewer new jobs in the future and you don’t get the growth in the economy that you need to get us out of our current state of stagflation.”
Speaking about the package itself, Nigel added: “I think that for those working and on average salaries, actually while £400 is welcome, the rise in National Insurance is just about double that.
“And they’re still going to find they’re still well over £1,000 worse off on their energy bills as well.
“So my feeling is, for those at the bottom this is a very big generous package, but for working people, they might say half a thank you, but that’s really about it.”