Hunt considers unleashing energy lifeline to ‘shield thousands of businesses’

“We are already lagging behind our global competitors, and the prolonged lack of action by the UK Government is making this worse. UK manufacturing needs help now if it is to thrive and maintain the millions of well-paid jobs around the whole of the UK and to keep its place as one of the world’s great manufacturing nations.”

While the Energy Bills Relief Scheme has helped to soften the blow, fears the support will end in March while the energy crisis persists will likely be growing amongst businesses nationwide. 

And in his Autumn Statement last month, the Chancellor said that most businesses would not receive extra Government support after April, claiming that subsidising their costs was “not sustainable”. Instead, he said the he would only offer “significantly lower” help to the most vulnerable industries. 

After coming under pressure from business leaders to extend the support package, officials at Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy are said to have listened to their concerns – namely, that leaving out whole industries could trigger widespread job losses, according to people involved in the discussions. However, officials are still warning it could be too expensive for Treasury to subsidise if costs are too high. 

Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1710099/jeremy-hunt-energy-bills-businesses-beis-relief-scheme