NI Assembly elections: DUP wants to impose windfall tax on energy firms

As part of its plan to help families struggling with the cost-of-living crisis the DUP said it will bring in a tax on energy companies.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said he also wanted to make going green affordable in Northern Ireland.

At the launch of the DUP plan in Ballyclare, Sir Jeffrey said: “People have a choice between our plan for helping working families with the cost-of-living crisis and growing our economy within the Union, or Sinn Fein’s divisive border poll plan which will lead to more arguing and fighting rather than focusing on issues that matter.”

The DUP leader continued: “As part of our plan to help working families we will deliver in the next mandate 30 hours free childcare per week for three and four-year-olds and will ensure there is fair access to pre-school places.

“We want to ensure working families are not forgotten. We will deliver an Energy Support Payment to hard-pressed households and support the introduction of energy efficient schemes to support better insulated homes to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.”

Sir Jeffrey said the DUP plan included lifting some green taxes off electricity bills which he claimed amounted to around 14% of the average bill.

The DUP would also be seeking stricter monitoring by trading standards bodies of garages to check on price increases at the pumps, he said.

“It is worth noting that some garages are charging up to £1.80 per litre of petrol justifying this because the price of crude oil has at times gone up to over $100 a barrel. Even when it was $140 a barrel in 2008 petrol prices never reached this level,” he said.

Sir Jeffrey described this election as being “on a knife edge”.

He added: “Sinn Fein want to use this election to push for a divisive border poll. We want to use this election to ensure we can deliver on our five-point plan for Northern Ireland.

“Only the DUP has the plan and the strength to ensure Northern Ireland continues to move in the right direction.”