No one is fuming about petrol profits

There was something a little odd about the oil company results that came out this morning. Both Shell and BP announced massive multi-billion pound profits for the first quarter (in BP’s case this meant a 48% jump on last year). But something seemed to be missing; a sort of emptiness to these stories…but what was it?

Oh yes, that’s it: the deafening sound of silence from trade unions and other angry types deriding these profits on a matter of principle. Where are the calls for a windfall tax? Where are the cries about the poor embattled British public, held to ransom by the evil energy barons? Has so much changed in the last 3 months since annual profits sent these poor folk apoplectic with socialist rage? I just don’t know.

Also interesting was to see Energy Secretary John Hutton repeatedly tell the BBC that profit was good and that this is where pension funds made their money. That’s a rather sensible answer and so credit where credit’s due. However, being a cynic, I had to wonder if this was not prompted by the increasing attention being paid to the fact that 60 percent of what we pay at the pump goes to the government in tax. This is not just from journos but the public as well if this BBC comments board is anything to go by.