Meeting of the Parliament 18 March 2026 [Draft]
Ministers are deeply concerned about the impact of the conflict in the middle east. Both the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy and the Cabinet Secretary for Housing have made representations to the United Kingdom Government on energy costs.
We are hopeful that any de-escalation can reverse the higher energy prices and other increased costs that businesses face. We were disappointed that the financial support that the UK Government announced on Monday did not extend to businesses. We will, however, continue to work with companies to create better certainty and stability for business where we can. That includes an investment of £326 million for enterprise agencies in the budget and our package—which was referred to earlier—of non-domestic rates reliefs, which is worth an estimated £870 million.