In Defence of Oil Price Caps

This evening I was browsing Instagram when I saw a new article comparing Paul Murphy to Lizz Truss. Yusuf Murray criticised Paul’s call for a price cap on petrol and diesel. He accused the policy of being a blank cheque to Shell, BP and ExxonMobil. I have always known Yusuf as particularly outspoken in his criticisms. Knowing a small deal about Paul’s stances on energy and environment I felt that Yusuf’s concern was misplaced and had to be contextualised.

Under the current system workers are bearing the brunt of the burden of the rise in oil prices. They are already sending money to the likes of Shell, BP and ExxonMobil. The introduction of price caps is just the simplest and frankly the only way to cushion that burden right now. The fear that wealthy SUV drivers would be “subsidised” by the taxpayer is the wrong way to look at the issue. The wealthy can afford fuel already, and I hardly expect that Yusuf would desire the expansion of government bureaucracy necessary for any “means” based system. Imagine the fuel gestapo asking you if you have a “Fuel License” for that fill…

The below text is sourced from People Before Profit's Economic Policy.

"Because of its location, Ireland has the potential to be a leader in the development of renewable energy worldwide. The state could enable a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy and become a manufacturer and exporter of renewable energy components. Wind and wave technologies have enormous potential here. A report by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) outlined how investment in additional wind capacity of 4000 MW, mostly offshore, would create 36,000 jobs. A large scale reforestation programme would also benefit both the economy and the environment. We need a special fund for green energy employment which could create an additional 5,000 green energy jobs. We would invest in green research and development (R&D) and afforestation."

Any loss in money in the treasury ultimately requires further taxation of the wealthiest in our society. The price cap policy should not be taken in isolation. PBP has repeatedly pushed for a transition to renewable energy and Paul Murphy made it clear that we should pay for price caps and energy credits by taxing data centres. So long as we live in the capitalist system we will ultimately have to make deals with the capitalists: Shell, BP and so on.