Today’s news comes on top of £1.3bn in tax breaks in last year’s Budget. The UK is the only G7 country to significantly increase fossil fuel subsidies in recent years.
At the New York climate summit in September 2014, David Cameron called for “fighting against the economically and environmentally perverse fossil fuel subsidies which distort free markets and rip off taxpayers”. According to the internationally-agreed World Trade Organisation definition, today’s Budget tax breaks for oil count as subsidies.
Earlier this week, Oil Change International and Platform released Oil Tax Facts, showing that:
Oil subsidies and renewables cuts are slowing the clean energy transition
Oil tax breaks do not protect jobs
Subsidy changes are destroying more jobs in solar than saving in oil
The UK oil industry is highly profitable over time
The UK oil industry pays less tax than in other countries
— source priceofoil.org