View
comments
Firms seeking help with soaring gas prices will be ‘means-tested’ after the Chancellor ruled out a blanket bailout.
Rishi Sunak has bowed to pressure from Boris Johnson to examine the case for helping firms struggling to cope with gas prices which have more than quadrupled in recent weeks.
Businesses in energy-intensive sectors such as steel, chemicals and paper say they need urgent help to stay afloat.
A power struggle has unfolded between Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng
Last night, Mr Sunak insisted taxpayers’ cash is only handed to firms at genuine risk of going to the wall.
The move raises questions about whether firms with wealthy foreign owners will receive help just because they are in hard-hit sectors.
British Steel, for example, is owned by the Chinese giant Jingye Group – recently named one of the world’s biggest companies after recording global revenues of £24billion last year.
Cabinet Office minister Steve Barclay suggested firms backed by owners with deep pockets would not qualify for state aid.
He said: ‘Have they recently paid dividends? Are they paying big bonuses? We’ll need to understand the detail rather than just knee-jerk to a taxpayer response.’
A final decision on which, if any, firms should be helped is unlikely before at least the end of this week.
Sources said any help would be in the ‘low hundreds of millions’ rather than the billions sought by some.
Government intervention follows an extraordinary spat between Mr Sunak and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng at the weekend.
A Treasury source slapped down Mr Kwarteng on Sunday
