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Zack Polanski is set to call on Sir Keir Starmer to step in and protect energy price cap customers from steep bill rises at the start of July.
Sky News understands the Green Party leader is about to pile further pressure on the prime minister, who has so far dismissed calls to make any more immediate financial decisions as the crisis in Iran continues.
Mr Polanski is expected to add to the calls for the prime minister to do more as part of his first major intervention on the economy since becoming the party’s leader. In it, he’ll try to position the Greens as a party credible on fiscal policy.
He’s expected to urge the government to set aside £8.4bn to cover potentially stark energy bill rises once the new price cap ends in June.
He’ll suggest the government should “tighten up” the windfall tax on energy companies in a bid to claw back any “excess profiteering” from the war in the Middle East, while he’ll push the chancellor to further raise taxes on the rich and equalise capital gains tax with income tax as an immediate revenue raiser.
On Monday, Sir Keir announced that the most vulnerable households who have been hit by the sharp increase in the price of heating oil will get help from a £53m support package.
But the government has suggested it will only intervene if “necessary” to help customers who will be shielded by the energy price cap, which comes in from April until the end of June.
Mr Polanski is set to warn on Wednesday that the support offered so far isn’t enough, following the likes of the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats in criticising the government’s response to the domestic impact of the conflict.
He’ll also make the case that energy customers could have been better protected from this latest price shock, were the UK more reliant on clean energy.
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