As a beleaguered Mrs O’Leary considers her position in 10 Downing Street all around her have assumed that the point where she spends more time with her family is fast approaching.
The delay centres around which MP will step into the breach! Which one of them that desires the poison chalice can gather most support from their fellows.
It is the failure to agree quickly a replacement that might keep Mrs O’Leary in office. The phrase, “….In office but not in power….” is a popular one but it must be remarked upon, rarely has it been so apposite!
Mr Hunt is clearly the de facto head of government. Of course, Mr Hunt might “advise” Mrs O’Leary to remove the title and position of Deputy Prime Minister from the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Thérèse Coffey leaving her in charge of her department of state. Mr Hunt could then take over and handle PMQs on Wednesday.
Of course, whoever the Tories choose as the replacement the new person will have the same problems to deal with. That is IF the King follows the constitutional convention of appointing a replacement and not calling a general election!
A BIG problem the new person will have to deal with is the extension of financial support to the consumers of gas and electricity.
The least costly way to achieve this is to restrict what support there is to those persons on means tested benefits. This however will mean that millions of those Mrs O’Leary’s predecessor Madam Mayhem called the “just about managing”. These “just about managing” will no longer be managing!
For instance, to qualify for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support you must fit into the criteria below:
These benefits have a lower capital limit of £6,000 and an upper capital limit of £16,000. If you have less than £6,000 of capital then you should be able to claim the full benefit. If you have between £6,000 and £16,000 then you should get a reduced amount. However, if you have more than £16,000 in capital then you may not be able to claim Housing Benefit or Council Tax Support. This rule doesn’t apply if you receive the Guarantee Credit part of Pension Credit.
Of course, Mr Hunt will doubtless be hoping that the energy crisis (in terms of the cost of gas) will have gone away by April 2023!
If it has not, to avoid large scale protests he will have to come up with something more than only supporting those on means tested benefits!
One reader suggested that the support could be given to all those paying on basic rate tax but not those paying higher rate tax. This will still be a very expensive option. It is however extremely practical and implementable.
My own contribution would be this: My friend has a reasonably good idea. Of course the cost is not known and won’t be until April 2023!
However it could well be the case that extending the support to all basic rate taxpayers will be unaffordable. In this case a possible course could be to lower the basic rate of income tax considerably but ensure reduction is revenue neutral by lowering the 40% tax threshold to make up the difference. By reducing the number of basic rate taxpayers the support could be made affordable.
There is however an issue with this. Not all taxpayers pay utility bills!
Therefore support for utility bills could be delivered via the council tax system. Thus occupiers in Band A properties would receive most support with support withdrawn at let us say Band E properties.