To ask the Minister of Finance to detail what conversations he has had with the Westminster government regarding the potential for future windfall taxes on companies that have recorded an increase in profits as a result of rising food and energy prices.

I have been urging the Treasury to implement a windfall tax on energy companies to help fund interventions to support vulnerable households and small businesses for some time. I re-iterated this point directly to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury when I met him just after the British Government’s fiscal event on 23rd September, and where I followed up in writing on this on 27th September. This also followed an unheeded joint letter that I, along with my Scottish and Welsh counterparts, sent to the Chancellor shortly after he was appointed calling for a windfall tax.

More action is clearly needed to support both businesses and households through this cost of living crisis and I believe that this this should be funded in part by capturing the excess profits from the energy sector rather than passing the cost on to hard-pressed workers and businesses through higher borrowing. I will continue to press the British Government on this.