WIlliam Hague

Hague Attacks 'Fiddled Figures' Windfall Tax

In what is the strongest attack by the opposition on the plans, he said it would cost jobs in the utilities themselves, increase household bills and leave the people it's designed to help no better off in the end.

The denunciation came in an article for the Parliamentary House Magazine where he claimed it was not industrial "fat cats" who would pay the tax, but small shareholders and pensioners.

Mr Hague said customers would suffer "The tax will starve the utilities of new investment and this in turn will lead to higher prices as the utility companies find they no longer have the money to continue with the improvements that have made lower bills a reality. Services will suffer as investment is cut back and delayed," he said.

The leadership hopeful said it would be pensioners who would pay the real price "As dividends fall, so do the value of people's pensions, leaving pensioners with less money to pay their telephone bill or heat their home." "The people who will lose their jobs up and down the country are just another statistic that Labour hope their fiddled figures will hide. Labour will say that the utility companies are paying the tax, but the people who end up with higher household bills will lose the most," said Mr Hague. Mr Hague's comments come as part of a hectic weekend of leadershp campaigning with the main contenders speaking in the regions