Hi John,

Last week, Jeremy Hunt revealed the government’s spending plans in his Autumn Statement. There are cuts for our public services, but the richest are getting away with not paying their fair share. [1] We think this is wrong. So, like the government’s done with energy companies, we think it’s high-time they brought in a windfall tax on banks.

Banks are raking in huge profits and are set to get billions of pounds of public money over the next two years. [2] When most people are dealing with rising living costs, this is totally unfair. There’s no reason we couldn’t tax the banks’ excess profits, rather than cutting our public services.

So we’re rallying thousands of people to plant the idea in every MP’s inbox in the next 24 hours. John, please will you email your MP in 1 minute now to ask them to support a windfall tax on banks? There’s some ready-made text so you can send or edit your email quickly.

Last week, nearly 8000 people signed our petition demanding Jeremy Hunt stop the massive public handout banks are set to get over the next two years. [3] One MP even questioned Hunt on it, which is a good step. [4] 

But so far, Hunt doesn’t appear to be listening. [5] So we’re trying something different - by getting our MPs to call on Hunt to bring in a windfall tax on banks. Unlike the energy companies, their massive profits have been slipping under the political radar. But together, we can change that, by raising the alarm with our MPs all over the country.

John, Positive Money is all about democracy and people power. We were founded as a grassroots movement, and together we run campaigns to demand fairer policies on money and banks. That’s what this campaign is all about - calling out this plain injustice and demanding a better way forward.

John, the more of us who email our MPs today, the more likely we’ll see a bankers’ windfall tax start to be talked about on social media, the telly and in the House of Commons. Please will you send your MP a quick email now?

Thanks for all you do,

Rachel, Simon, Nicole and the rest of the Positive Money team

PS: Earlier this week, Positive Money launched the 2022 edition of the Green Central Banking Scorecard. It scores central banks according to the actions they’re taking (or not) to tackle climate change. The Bank of England scored a C. You can see a summary of the results here: https://twitter.com/PositiveMoneyUK/status/1594982036582060032

Notes:

[1] Financial Times: Jeremy Hunt prepares to step into fiscal storm with Autumn Statement 

[2] Positive Money blog: Why are we paying tens of billions pounds to banks during a cost of living crisis?

[3] You can help us reach 10,000 names by signing the petition here: Stop Hunt handing billions to the banks

[4] Liverpool MP Dan Carden tabled a question to the Treasury on 14th November. Read the full question and response here. (He tabled two questions, so you need to scroll to the second one).

[5] Jeremy Hunt even cut the surcharge on bank profits from 8 to 3% in his Autumn Statement. Left Foot Forward: Jeremy Hunt delivers a big tax cut on bank profits while refusing to extend free school meals to poorest children

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