At six, the former health secretary matt hancock is suspended from the conservative party after signing up to a reality tv show. he is swapping westminster for the jungle as he flies to australia to take part in itv s i m a celebrity get me out of here, leaving some of his constituents unimpressed. it s ridiculous. i think it s a shame he thinks that s a better use of time than serving his constituents. well, he s not taking the job very seriously, you know what i mean? being in politics and going on telly and acting a clown. also on the programme. police name the man who threw petrol bombs at an immigration processing centre in dover on sunday. 66 year old andrew leak was later found dead. more bumper profits for bp £7.1 billion for the oil giant over the summer
They should be paying more, because it s not about, in absolute terms, what they are paying, because it will sound like a big number because they are making massive profits, but what matters is whether they are paying their fair share and that is something you judge by how much they are being taxed in other countries, and the uk, even with a windfall tax taxes oil and gas companies like bp at a rate below the average tax rate. but remember, not all of bp s profits are taxable in the uk. in fact, only 10% of their revenue comes from the uk. any uk profits are already currently taxed at 65% that high rate could be raised and extended but companies can perfectly legally offset uk investment against those profits, so even if you made that 100%, it could never fill the hole in the public finances estimated to be £40 billion that s a rough estimate of how much the government needs to shrink the gap between what it gets in tax and what it spends to hit a target of bringing debt down as
The energy giant bp has reported another huge increase in profits. it made over £7 billion betweenjuly and september more than double its earnings during the same period last year. the uk government is facing growing calls to expand the windfall tax on energy firms. our business editor simonjack is here with more details. when customers pain is some companies gain it understandably grabs attention and prompts financial and political questions. as oil and gas prices prices have soared, the profits of those that sell it have done the same. bp announced profits of £7.1 billion for the three months to the end of september alone. so far this year they have made profits of £19.9 billion. on that they paid uk tax of 2.2 billion which includes £700 million in new windfall taxes introduced by rishi sunak when he was chancellor. many say that is not nearly enough.
To travel to moscow to meet president vladimir putin to discuss the war in ukraine but hasn t had a response to his offer. he s told an italian newsppaer that he sent a message to the kremlin 20 days after russia s invasion via the vatican s top diplomat. that s it from me and the team here in kyiv. now it s back to the studio in london. ben, thank you very much, ben brown there in ukraine, and now we look at there in ukraine, and now we look at the rest of the day s stories. the energy giant bp says its underlying profits in the first three months of this year more than doubled, after oil and gas prices soared. the company reported profits of more than $6 billion, prompting renewed calls for a one off windfall tax on energy companies, to try to help people grappling with rising household bills. our correspondent theo leggett has this report. when energy supplies are under pressure, prices rise,
And it is businesses like bp that benefit. in the first three months of the year, the company made nearly £5 billion from its day to day operations nearly twice the figure it reported a year ago. the price of oil has risen dramatically. 12 months ago, it was $68 a barrel, now it is 106. it rose first as economies recovered from covid, then as a result of war in ukraine. gas prices have also risen sharply. but while that is all good for bp, it is bad for ordinary consumers. household energy bills have rocketed. the leader of the opposition thinks he has the answer. we should have a windfall tax on oil and gas companies in the north sea, who have made more profit than they were expecting. have a windfall tax on that and use that to help people with their energy bills up to £600 for those who need it most. but speaking to itv s good morning britain programme, the prime minister appeared to pour cold water on the idea.