Cost of living news latest: Tory fears party ‘dictated to by Labour’ over windfall tax U-turn

The story dominates the news agenda for the second day in a row and splashes the front of most major papers and news websites, whose coverage of the package of measures is broadly split between those who favour it and those who would have preferred tax cuts and less government spending.

My colleague Matt Mathers has more:

Conservative Treasury financial secretary Lucy Frazer was questioned this morning on how many taxes the Tory government has raised.

Watch the full clip here:

Thinktank The Resolution Foundation has said that larger families will not benefit from the chancellor’s energy support package.

In its analysis of the chancellor’s new package, the thinktank found that “families on a means-tested benefit or tax credit will receive the £650 in one-off payments, but the value of these does not vary by household size unlike both their energy usage and current benefit levels.

“Those households who are particularly hard done by here include those with three or more children, 13.6 per cent of whom would have been in severe fuel stress this winter without these measures.”

The chairman of the House of Commons Privileges Committee has confirmed when he will stand down to allow an inquiry to go ahead into whether the Prime Minister lied to Parliament over partygate.

Labour MP Chris Bryant said in a statement on Friday that he has summoned the committee to a meeting on June 7 to finalise business before a new head is elected.

It follows the publication on Wednesday of the Sue Gray report into Downing Street gatherings, which said “senior leadership” at No 10 must “bear responsibility” for the culture that led to lockdown rules being broken at a series of events in 2020 and 2021.

Last month, Mr Bryant sent a letter to the committee saying he would recuse himself from his position as it was “important that the House be seen to proceed fairly without any imputation of unfairness” following his public criticism of Boris Johnson.

It has been widely reported that former Labour Party leader Harriet Harman will be put forward by her party to replace him.

Mr Bryant said in a statement: “I have summoned a meeting of the Commons Privileges Committee for Tuesday 7 June to dispose of its outstanding business, namely a report on the powers of select committees, to follow up our earlier (May 2021) report on which we have been consulting.

“That done, a motion to replace me on the committee with another Labour MP will go before the House, then the committee will meet again to elect a new chair and start its inquiry into the conduct of the Prime Minister, in which I will take no part as I have recused myself.”

Rishi Sunak has said cost of living support delivering hundreds of pounds to every household will have a “minimal impact” on inflation – and suggested those who do not need it could give the money to charity.

Watch the full clip here:

It appears not everyone within government is happy with Rishi Sunak’s £15bn cost-of-living support package announced in the Commons yesterday.

One cabinet minister told The Times they worry the party looks like it is being “dictated to” by Labour after the chancellor U-turned to announce a windfall tax on the bumper profits of energy firms, as well as grants to help familes pay soaring bills.

“The politics of this is just so bad,” the unnamed minister said. “We voted against it, we marched the whole party up the hill and are now taking them back down again. It looks like we’re being dictated to by Labour.”

“Investing into North Sea oil won’t cut our bills or protect Britain’s energy security, so why is the energy secretary saying the opposite?” Grahame Buss asks.

It is a welcome move that the government have “finally come to their senses” and adopted Labour’s policy of a windfall tax, the shadow chancellor has said.

Rachel Reeves told BBC Breakfast: “It is clear that Labour are winning the battle of ideas. But I too have to ask what on earth took them so long? When it was blindingly obvious to everybody else that this was absolutely necessary.

“I think the big question that still needs to be answered is how are we going to stop ourselves from being in exactly the same position this time next year?

“All economists are saying that the energy prices aren’t going down any time soon. So, what longer-term measures are the Government going to take to ensure we’re not back here this time next year?

“For example, the Government could be starting a big programme of home insulation right now to take money off people’s bills – not just for one year, but for years to come. That’d be a practical thing that could be happening at the moment.

“Keir Starmer said at the Labour Party conference last October that we should be looking to insulate the 19 million homes that don’t meet the energy performance certificates that you would expect.

“If you did 1.9 million of those homes a year, it will probably cost around £5 billion a year, but it would take £400 off people’s bills every single year. That would make a huge difference.”

The prime minister has now “double-downed on his resolve” to help the British people, chancellor Rishi Sunak told Good Morning Britain today.

He added that Boris Johnson is “deeply sorry” for Partygate and has learned from his mistakes.

Rachel Reeves MP told Sky News that Labour are calling for investment into “nuclear and renewables, as they are the cheapest forms of electricity”.