Cost of living crisis: Tories condemn millions to misery for the sake of oil and gas companies raking in vast profits – Ian Murray MP

What has it come to when millions are putting their children to bed cold and hungry, while the boss of BP describes his company as having more money than it knows what to do with?

British households are being hit with an extra £53 million on their energy bills every single day. Yet every single day, the North Sea oil and gas giants are raking in £32 million in unexpected profits.

And as the crisis escalates every day, even the chair of Tesco and a former chief executive of BP and the Conservative chair of the Treasury Select Committee – among others – all back a windfall tax on oil and gas companies.

A U-turn by the Prime Minister is inevitable. He’s only holding off because it was Labour’s idea. But in the midst of a cost of living crisis, this failure to act is unconscionable.

The SNP has finally realised the error of its ways and U-turned after initially strongly opposing a windfall tax, thanks to pressure from Labour.

Of course, SNP politicians would rather fight flags than fight the cost of living crisis, but as Nicola Sturgeon returns from her ‘indy tour’ to the United States, their hypocrisy could not be clearer.

Households are facing one of the biggest squeezes to purses in decades, and figures show that Scotland is being disproportionately hit by this crisis compared to the rest of the UK.

Boris Johnson was urged by Labour to introduce a windfall tax on energy companies' excess profits to help tackle the cost of living crisis (Picture: House of Commons/PA)

So instead of jetting off to Washington DC to talk up the break-up of the UK and how to sow division, why doesn’t she stay home, put her shoulder to the wheel, and tackle the job in hand?

Instead, we are caught between the inaction of the SNP government and the cold-heartedness of the Tories.

How much evidence does this Conservative government need that a windfall tax on oil and gas producer profits is the fair and right way to cut bills now?

How many more alarm bells on spiralling inflation, painful tax rises and rising poverty must the Tories hear before they act in the interests of the British people and our economy?

Anything less than backing an Emergency Budget to ease the pressure from the cost of living crisis is a dereliction of duty.

Every Conservative MP who voted against the windfall tax this week has condemned millions of families to misery and anxiety as they struggle to pay their energy bills.

On Tuesday, a message was sent by the government that it will do everything it can to protect the oil and gas companies, and refuse to act to protect families.

It says everything you need to know about where the Tories stand.

This is a government that will never put working people first, will never stand up to the vested interests, and has no answers to the cost of living crisis this country faces.

People can no longer afford the government’s mistakes and dithering – Scotland deserves better than two failing governments.

Ian Murray is the Scottish Labour MP for Edinburgh South