Gordon Brown appeared last night to be holding the threat of a windfall tax over the heads of energy chiefs should they fail to come up with their own financial package to help poorer families cope with rising fuel bills.
MICHAEL SETTLE and TORCUIL CRICHTON
Gordon Brown appeared last night to be holding the threat of a windfall tax over the heads of energy chiefs should they fail to come up with their own financial package to help poorer families cope with rising fuel bills.
Aid on fuel is another key part of the Prime Minister's autumn fightback and an announcement is expected next week following Tuesday's £1.6bn emergency package on housing.
Today, Mr Brown is due to explain the context of the economic crisis and his intentions to help hard-hit consumers where he can in a speech at a Scottish CBI dinner in Glasgow.
Meanwhile, next Tuesday, Chancellor Alistair Darling will give a keynote speech to the TUC annual congress on Britain's economy.
At Westminster, the summer political truce within Labour ranks about the Prime Minister's tenure in No 10 was shattered yesterday evening when Charles Clarke, the former Home Secretary and longtime critic of Mr Brown, claimed the governing party was heading to "utter destruction" at the next General Election if it did not change course.
While in his pre-released article for today's New Statesman magazine the Norwich MP did not explicitly call for the PM to be replaced, its timing appeared designed to cause him maximum damage.
He denounced the "Brown political briefing team" for "traducing" David Miliband's famous post-Glasgow East by-election article when the Foreign Secretary called for change.
He added that there was a widely shared concern that "Labour is destined to disaster if we go on as we are" but noted how there was also a "determination that we will not permit that to happen".
In contrast, Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's former press chief, insisted Labour could win a fourth term and called on the party to "get out there and start fighting the Tories, taking them on properly and defeating them in argument".
As talks between the UK Government and the energy companies continue, No 10 insisted the discussions had been "constructive" despite Liberal Democrat claims that ministers had surrendered to "blackmail" from the power giants.
It was suggested that the energy companies, which are being called upon to broaden their social tariffs and fund energy efficiency schemes, are proving reluctant partners.
Ministers have been trying to persuade them to contribute voluntarily to the cost of some schemes, such as a possible £100 rebate for poorer customers.
However, with talks apparently stalled, the UK Government has resurrected the prospect of a one-off tax raid on billions of pounds-worth of company profits and dangled it over the heads of the power giants.
Although 90 Labour backbenchers have added their names to a petition calling for a windfall tax on the power giants' "excessive" profits, throughout the summer ministers had remained hostile to the idea, arguing that a tax raid would hit investment in the industry, particularly on nuclear and renewables.
Last month, Mr Darling made clear he had "serious reservations" about a windfall tax and was "not minded" to impose one as companies could simply pass the extra cost on to customers. John Hutton, Westminster's Business Secretary, warned: "What we shouldn't do is create a climate that makes it harder to attract new investment."
When such sentiments were put to the PM's spokesman, he replied: "All options remain on the table," adding how the UK Government wanted to "work co-operatively with the energy companies to find ways of helping people cope with rising fuel bills".
