Starmer strayed in failing to propose targeted energy bill support | Nils Pratley

Labour's idea may represent smart politics but it makes no economic sense to freeze prices for everyone

There was an amusing interlude during BP's announcement of bumper profits earlier this month when the chief executive, Bernard Looney, was asked what he planned to do with the 400 rebate on his energy bill that would arrive courtesy of the cost of living support package that Rishi Sunak, then chancellor, announced in May. Looney appeared unaware that he, like everybody else in the UK, would get the discount automatically from October. It was only later that BP offered the PR-friendly answer that its 4.4m-a-year boss would make a donation to charity.

Looney's bafflement was understandable. High earners like him (and, indeed, high earners collecting considerably less) obviously don't need assistance from the state in paying their energy bills this winter. There was no sound economic reason for Sunak to add a universally applied 400 element to a package that was otherwise rightly concentrated on vulnerable households, meaning those most affected by higher bills.