‘It is a loan!’: Pure pantomime as BBC QT audience heckle Tory MP

BBC Question Time descended into pure pantomime last night as Greg Hands tried to explain why the government’s £200 energy discount is “not a loan”.

With energy bills rising at an eye-watering rate, the government has stepped in to ensure people can pay their bills by giving every home £200 as part of their ‘Energy Bills Support Scheme’.

However, the discount is only temporary and from next April households will need to start paying back their grants in £40 instalments.

To most people this looks like a loan, which means the government isn’t actually giving the British public anything to help them through the cost-of-living crisis.

But according to Tory MP Greg Hands, it is nothing of the sort.

Here’s how he tried – in some sort of weird double-speak – to explain it away on BBC QT last night:

Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.