As highlighted by Tax Justice UK, Kwasi Kwarteng has given the game away on taxing oil companies:

Oops, Kwarteng said the quiet part out loud: cutting taxes for fossil fuel giants to l̶o̶w̶e̶r̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶b̶i̶l̶l̶s push their profits higher.

We say tax excess profits, cut bills, build renewables, break free from fossil fuel doom-loops.

Agree?Act now: https://t.co/nG1r6GI5pr pic.twitter.com/Gk20tiHixo

— Tax Justice UK (@TaxJusticeUK) August 12, 2026

Credit to Faiza Shaheen here for pushing him into admitting this.

Tax the profiteers

Tax Justice are encouraging people to sign a petition which will ‘raise taxes on companies profiteering from the Iran war’. The petition reads:

Millions across the UK are already struggling just to get by. Bills are rising, wages aren’t keeping up, and families are being pushed to the brink. As the impacts of the Iran war ripple through the global economy, things are set to get even worse.

This illegal war has caused chaos, devastation and instability, and now it’s driving up the cost of fuel, food and everyday essentials here at home. Households are already feeling the pressure from rising fuel prices and further disruption is on the way.

But while ordinary people are being squeezed, some corporations are set to cash in.

This sort of thing has unfortunately become commonplace. No matter how much worse things get for the many, they always get better for the few. And this gives the game away, doesn’t it? Because if the rich can always get richer, then clearly things could improve more evenly for all of us.

The petition continues:

Oil and gas giants, big banks, industrial agriculture companies and defence companies are likely to make RECORD profits from the crisis, profits made possible by soaring prices and global instability.

No company should be allowed to profiteer from a crisis leaving millions struggling to afford the basics. That’s why the Government must introduce bigger taxes on companies making eye-watering profits off the back of the Iran war, and use the money raised to provide direct cost of living support and head-off the next crisis by investing in renewable energy.

This is a chance to stand up for fairness, support people through a national crisis, and build a more secure future.

You can sign Tax Justice UK’s petition here.

Who does it benefit?

In the clip above, Tax Justice UK executive director Faiza Shaheen says:

What we can do is look at the extreme profits that are being made by the likes of Shell and BP. Shell’s profits more than doubled in the first quarter of this year with the US war on Iran. So… there are things that you can do in order to make sure that the people creating the harm – the companies creating the harm – that that money goes back into cutting bills for people.

Because absolutely, the Cost-of-Living crisis has gone on and on. Energy bills have skyrocketed.

The video then cuts to a later section in which Kwasi Kwarteng says:

So I couldn’t disagree with you more on this. And it’s unpopular, but this idea that the knee-jerk reaction is to tax the energy companies, I think has been disastrous. Because one of the reasons why we can’t get any oil out of the North Sea and gas is that they’re paying, I think, 78% on their profits for the energy profits.

Shaheen shot back:

Well, no, that’s not one of the reasons. It’s so expensive to dig there now. It’s so expensive. It’s so far down.

Shaheen later said:

So you’re saying by taxing their profits less, they will charge people less?

Kwarteng answered simply:

No.

Shaheen responded:

They won’t. Exactly. So we need a direct way to lower people’s bills.

Executive tears, mopped up by Kwasi Kwarteng

The UK isn’t just facing a Cost-of-Living crisis; we’re also facing a climate crisis. Oil companies knew their product was causing this problem decades ago, and they hid that information from the public. Now, we’re being asked to feel sympathy for these same companies as the nation burns and our savings dwindle – all while they make record-breaking profits.

Given his disastrous mini budget, Kwasi Kwarteng is exactly the sort of man you’d expect to be shilling for these companies. And it says a lot that they can’t find anyone more respectable than him – the chancellor whose time in office intensified the Cost-of-Living crisis we’re all suffering through.

Featured image via Toby Melville / BBC / Bloomberg

By Willem Moore

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