Tag: Treasury

The press release issued by the Treasury on 8 September 2022.

HM Treasury are today announcing a joint scheme, working with the Bank of England, to address the extraordinary liquidity requirements faced by energy firms operating in UK wholesale gas and/or electricity markets. This will provide resilience to both energy and financial markets, and the economy, and reduce the eventual cost for businesses and consumers.

Prices have recently been high and volatile. As a result, large amounts of collateral are required to enter into contracts firms use to effectively insure themselves from price fluctuations, or otherwise firms must accept large credit exposures to their counterparties.

The EMFS will enable short term financial support to wholesale firms. Further details of the scheme will be announced in due course. The scheme will be designed to be used as a last resort and will be structured and priced accordingly. It will be open to firms that can prove that they are otherwise in sound financial health, have a UK presence, and play a significant role in UK electricity or gas markets.

There will be a rigorous assessment process, and firms will also have to agree to a wider set of conditions before accessing the scheme. The opening date will be published by the end of October or sooner.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 7 September 2022.

The press release issued by the Treasury on 7 September 2022.

• Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng met with market and city leaders this morning and set out the Prime Minister’s new, pro-growth economic approach.
• This approach includes immediate support for families and businesses, supporting the economy to grow, and fiscal sustainability.
• The Chancellor also emphasised the importance of supporting the independent Bank of England’s mission to get inflation under control quickly.

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng met market leaders this morning (Wednesday) and set out the government’s new, pro-growth economic approach.

Kwasi Kwarteng began by acknowledging the extraordinary challenges that families and businesses across the UK are facing this Winter, exacerbated by Putin’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine. He stressed that the government will immediately focus on supporting families and businesses to navigate the gas crisis this winter and next, supporting the economy to grow, and committing to fiscal sustainability.

Speaking after the meeting, Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng said:

“We face extraordinary economic challenges in the coming weeks and months and I know that families and businesses across the UK are worried.

“The Prime Minister and I are committed to taking decisive action to help the British people now, while pursuing an unashamedly pro-growth agenda.

“We need to be decisive and do things differently. That means relentlessly focusing on how we unlock business investment and grow the size of the British economy, rather than how we redistribute what’s left.

“With a strong and resilient economy, we deliver more jobs, higher wages, and raised living standards – all while reducing our debt-to-GDP ratio in a fiscally sustainable way.”

Due to the scale of the gas crisis, the government’s first priority will be to support families and businesses in the immediate term. The Chancellor was clear this will mean necessary higher borrowing in the short-term whilst ensuring monetary stability and fiscal discipline over the medium term. He committed to ensuring the economy grows faster than our debts and keeping debt as a proportion of our economy on a downward path.

The Chancellor also reiterated his full support for the independent Bank of England and their mission to control inflation, which is central to tacking cost of living challenges.

Mr Kwarteng stressed that the government will support the economy to grow. He recognised that the rate of growth has been too low and committed to a radical supply side agenda to deliver lasting economic growth. This will mean creating the right conditions for business investment and innovation, reducing burdensome regulation and taxes, which will in turn create jobs, wealth and drive economic growth.

The Chancellor reiterated his aim to get to 2.5% trend growth, delivering a stronger economy and a Britain that works for everyone.

Further information

Meeting attendees:

• Salman Ahmed, Global Head of Macro and Strategic Asset Allocation, Fidelity
• Lionel Assant, Senior Managing Director, Blackstone
• Amanda Blanc, CEO, Aviva –
• Stephen Cohen, Head of EMEA, Blackrock
• Constantin Cotzias, Director, Bloomberg Europe
• Richard Gnodde, CEO, Goldman Sachs International
• Beatriz Martin, CEO UK & Group Treasurer, UBS
• Charlie Nunn, Group CEO, Lloyds Banking Group
• Noel Quinn, Group CEO, HSBC
• Viswas Raghavan, CEO EMEA & Co-Head Global Investment Banking, JP Morgan
• Alison Rose, Group CEO, Natwest
• David Schwimmer, CEO, London Stock Exchange Group
• CS Venkatakrishnan, Group CEO, Barclays
• Nigel Wilson, CEO, Legal and General

The press release issued by the Treasury on 17 August 2022.

Nadhim Zahawi met a number of young people on Wednesday 17 August taking part in sports and dance activities and discussed how the scheme at Sydenham School, funded through the Government’s Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) club, was improving wellbeing, behaviour and social skills.

In response to the latest ONS statistics, which show inflation reached 10.1% in the 12 months to July, up from 9.4% in June, the Chancellor reaffirmed that working alongside the independent Bank of England to get inflation under control was his “top priority”.

The visit comes as a further series of cost of living deals have been secured by Cost of Living Business Tsar David Buttress, to provide extra support to families as kids return to school, as part of the Government’s Help for Households campaign.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Nadhim Zahawi said:

“It’s fantastic to be here at Sydenham School to meet young people who are benefiting from our Holiday Activities and Food programme. Holiday clubs like this not only provide a nutritious meal but also the chance to take part in activities they may not otherwise have exposure to, such as music lessons, cookery classes or the arts.

I know times are tough and people are concerned about rising prices. That’s why we have continually taken action to help households including £1,200 of extra support for eight million of the most vulnerable households and £400 off energy bills for everyone over the winter.

We are doing all we can to support families and I am delighted that more retailers have got on board with our Help for Households campaign, offering some brilliant discounts on back to school essentials.”

The back to school offers include a bespoke new deal with the publishing firm Scholastic, who are offering 20% off children’s books and a curated set of Back to School deals from Amazon, including up to 30% off Clarks School Shoes and deals on stationary. Amazon Fresh is also offering savings, from lunchbox essentials to laundry detergent.

A number of other Help for Households partners, including Marks & Spencer, Primark, Shoezone, ZSL and Go-ahead have also agreed to promote their existing support schemes under the Help for Households campaign to raise awareness.

Anyone can visit the Help for Households website to access the full range deals.

The Government is also supporting working parents as their children go back to school this autumn with up to £2,000 a year towards their child’s wraparound care.

In June 2022, approximately 391,000 working families benefitted from Tax-Free Childcare, receiving a share of £41.6 million in government top-up payments – but thousands more could be missing out.

Families can find out what childcare support is best for them via Childcare Choices.

The press release issued by the Treasury on 15 August 2022.

• The Chancellor announced a new joint taskforce comprising of officials from UK and NIE who will be responsible for driving forward a solution over the coming weeks to ensure people of NI get support as soon as possible.
• The scheme will reduce every household’s energy bills by £400, to help families with the rising cost of living.
• Attendees agreed the taskforce would look at all ways for the UK Government to deliver this support in Northern Ireland, working with the Executive and Regulator to make sure it arrives as swiftly as possible.
• Attendees agreed a shared objective in getting payments to households as quickly as possible, and the need to work collaboratively on the most effective mechanism.
• They agreed to a regular schedule of meetings until this issue is resolved.

Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi said:

“We need to keep the momentum up to get equivalent energy support to people in Northern Ireland and that’s why today I’ve launched a joint taskforce to present practical delivery options back to Ministers. No option is off the table.

We’ve got our noses to the grindstone, we’re making progress, and we have a shared objective with Minsters in Northern Ireland to get this off the ground as soon as possible.”

Further information

The attendees of today’s meeting were:

• UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nadhim Zahawi
• Chief Executive of Utility Regulator, John French
• Northern Ireland’s Minister for the Economy, Gordon Lyons
• Northern Ireland’s Minister for Communities, Deidre Hargey
• Permanent Secretary, Northern Ireland Department of Finance, Neil Gibson
• Officials from both the Northern Ireland Executive and central United Kingdom administrations