Welcome to the first of what I hope to be many of Teen Politics: Weekly Politics Unpacked, and this week I detail how on Wednesday the English, Scottish, and Welsh Energy Price Cap was raised. And I also cover the cyclone which has recently devastated the French Indian Ocean Territory of Mayotte, before ending with a documentary recommendation on the legacy of French imperialism and how you can help to free Oqba Hashad from his wrongful imprisonment in Egypt.
Rising UK Energy Prices
As announced by Ofgem, Britain’s independent energy regulator, on 22nd November, the energy price cap increased by 1.2% on 1st January 2025. The price cap sets a maximum cost per unit of electricity and gas and for the standing charge – a fixed daily fee to cover the cost of connecting to/maintaining a supply, but which varies slightly by region. The cap is reviewed and set by Ofgem every 3 months and is thought to cover 26 million households across England, Scotland, and Wales.
This means the average household will see a rise of £21 in their energy bill to £1,738, which according to Ofgem is 10% (£190) cheaper compared to this time last year and 57.2% less than during the energy crisis (January-March 2023). Although bills still remain about 50% higher than pre-Covid levels, and the standing charge alone has risen by 43% since 2019.
Many campaigners take issue with standing charges, which are paid whether you use any energy or not, therefore arguing they are unfair for low energy users for whom standing charges represent a larger proportion of their bill. In response, Ofgem has since proposed for suppliers to offer more low and no-standing charge energy tariffs by winter 2025. It is hoped this will help those vulnerable and using little energy, but these tariffs would also include a higher cost per unit of energy.
In July 2024, the government also changed the eligibility criteria for the winter fuel payment given to pensioners. Now eligibility is means-tested, so only pensioners on low incomes in receipt of specific benefits such as pension credit will get payments to help with energy costs worth £200 or £300. This means more than 10 million pensioners are not getting the payment this year, although it is estimated 760,000 eligible pensioners fail to claim pension credit – a state pension top-up for those on low incomes. This policy change has been met with criticism from several charities, unions, and MPs who highlighted both that many pensioners don’t claim pension credit despite their eligibility. But also the arbitrary income threshold which determines pension credit eligibility, meaning that many pensioners on a small income will still miss out.
1.9 million pensioners (~15%) are currently estimated to live in relative poverty. But Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary, confirmed in November the new rules would put 50,000 more pensioners into relative poverty in the years ending March 2025, March 2026, and March 2028. And an additional 100,000 in the years ending March 2027, March 2029, and March 2030. In a letter to the Work and Pensions Select Committee, she defended the government’s position, saying it “was not a decision this government wanted or expected to take”, but it was “right that we target support to those who need it most”.
However, households have all together amassed debt of £3.8bn owed to suppliers, meaning the average household in arrears owes more than £1,500 for electricity and £1,300 for gas. Therefore, it is important to note that the £500m Household Support Fund remains in place to assist vulnerable customers, after it was extended until March 2025. The Warm Home Discount scheme offers eligible pensioners and low income households a one-off, £150 discount on their electricity bill. And the Fuel Direct Scheme run by the government enables people to repay energy debt directly from their benefit payments. Energy suppliers are also under obligation to offer customers payment plans which are affordable or repayment holidays in the event they are struggling with their bills.
And looking into the future, reputable energy consultants, Cornwall Insight, who are known for their accurate price cap predictions, have released their latest forecast of a nearly 3% increase for the price cap from April 2025, reversing an initial predicted decrease. This is explained by increasing wholesale energy prices as a result of the 5 year Russo-Ukrainian transit deal ending, which resulted in higher levels of withdrawal from gas storage facilities in EU countries, given many relied heavily on Russian gas.
Mayotte Devastated by Cyclone
On Saturday 14th December 2024, Cyclone Chido hit the French Indian Ocean Territory, Mayotte. Winds of over 180 km/h hit Mamoudzou (Mayotte’s capital), whilst winds approached 250 km/h in the north of the main island, Grande-Terre. These vicious gusts form the most devastating cyclone to hit Mayotte in 90 years, warranting a declaration of a state of exceptional natural disaster, which has claimed a death toll currently standing at 39, and more than 5000 total injured. Although exact numbers are difficult to arrive at, so it is thought hundreds, possibly thousands, more people are feared to be dead because of religious custom which requires a quick burial. This is compounded by the inaccessibility to searchers of much of the devastation, and the fact many of the people killed may have been undocumented immigrants from the Comoros.
As background, officially, Mayotte has a population of 320,000, but authorities estimate between 100,000 to 200,000 undocumented migrants may be living there. Mayotte is also France’s poorest overseas territory, where more than 75% live below France’s national poverty rate. And this tragedy, especially the death and injury toll, is made worse on realisation that half of its population is under 18, and a third under 10. In terms of infrastructure, the emergency service of the European Copernicus program estimates over 23,000 buildings and 112.8 km of road were damaged.
Additionally, the flattening of the shanty towns, which housed 100,000 to 200,000, by the cyclone meant all of the homeless families needed to be housed in temporary shelters, often schools. But on 30th December, the mayor of Mamoudzou told the visiting Prime Minister François Bayrou that all shelters would close on 1st January to prepare schools for their reopening. This left homeless families unsure about where to go next, although Bayrou reportedly committed to “taking care of all these families who will have no place to sleep” in unclear plans.
On Thursday 19th December, French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Mayotte with 4 tonnes of food and health aid. Still, the overall slow pace of aid and delays in the arrival of clean water angered residents, leading to consistent heckling of Macron during his visit. This anger is shown best in this video posted by Brut of a Mahoran woman accusing him of “coming to see us to say that everything’s alright when everything’s going bad”. And despite the clip not showing her talking about Mayotte being a French region or its demographics at all, in comments quickly labelled as neocolonialist, Macron responds:
“You’ve lived something terrible, everyone’s fighting, regardless of their skin colour”
“Don’t pit people against each other … Because you’re happy to be part of France. Because if it wasn’t France, I can tell you that you’d be screwed 10,000 times worse.”
Macron is also seen being booed and urged to resign in another clip released by BFMTV.
On Monday 23rd December, in remembrance of the tragedy, France held a national day of mourning for Mayotte, which began with a minute of silence in the morning, and French flags were flown at half-mast. The same was done at EU institutions in Brussels and Strasbourg to simultaneously commemorate Mayotte, the attack on the German Christmas Market and in a Croatian school. However, for Mohamed Abdou, a doctor in Pamandzi, the day of French mourning was a “political stunt” and did not do enough to account for historic neglect leading up to this point.
On 28th December, a local citizens’ group decried the “flagrant insufficiency” of support following the cyclone in an open letter. Ali Mohamed, a worker at the archipelago’s main hospital, also said, “It should have been sorted out in two weeks. We’ve been abandoned; we can see it”.
Three weeks after the Cyclone, on Monday 30th December, Bayrou arrived in Mayotte, accompanied by senior cabinet ministers. He unveiled towards the end of his visit, a 2-year and 2-stage reconstruction plan for Mayotte, which he has named “Mayotte standing”. In the first stage, much anticipated concrete and rapid measures will be introduced, such as electricity being “restored to every home by the end of January”, supported by 200 workers and emergency generators from EDF. However, water production is expected to reach pre-cyclone levels sooner, by 6th January, with longer-term upgrades to the distribution network forecasted to be complete by mid-2025. Bayrou also announced that 200 Starlink antennas would be used to restore emergency communications to the archipelago. And whilst education also evidently faces disruption, due to the destruction of many schools, classes are expected to resume on 13th January on a school-by-school basis, with special provisions for exam students and temporary schooling in mainland France also being considered an option.
To aid economic recovery and reconstruction efforts, individuals will be able to take advantage of exceptional 30-year loans guaranteed by the state with 5 years free interest. While businesses will benefit from a global duty-free zone for five years, suspended social security contributions until 31st March, and up to €20,000 of emergency financial aid.
In slightly more vague terms, the second phase, according to Bayrou, “is not just about rebuilding Mayotte as it was. It’s about designing a different future for Mayotte”. This appears to include work to “forbid and prevent the reconstruction of shanty towns”, whilst also seeking to address the highly pertinent issue of immigration to Mayotte, with Bayrou promising a “comprehensive and precise census of the population”. Furthermore, he commented there was “a question that we must ask ourselves” about whether France’s birthright entitlement to citizenship can continue in Mayotte, where more restrictions already apply than in any other French territory.
Interestingly, Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party pledges to stop immigration from the Comoros to Mayotte, meaning it has become the most popular party on the island in recent years. Regarding Macron’s visit, National Rally spokesperson Sébastien Chenu said he was unlikely to “comfort” Mayotte’s population, which “always feels that they are being treated differently”. Whereas, Clémentine Autain, an influential left-wing lawmaker, described Macron’s words as “neocolonial speech, unworthy of a president”.
Weekly Recommendation and Action
Given the discussion of just one of France’s overseas territories, I wanted to shed a bit of light on the much more extensive remnants of the country’s imperial legacy, which shapes both the modern French identity and present colonialist ambition. To do so, I would like to recommend you watch this incredibly interesting mini-documentary by Al Jazeera on the legacy of colonialism in France as a part of their series: The Big Picture.
And each week I would like to provide at least 1 way you can get involved and help make a difference. So last, but certainly not least, for this week, I have chosen to include a case from Amnesty International’s most recent Write for Rights campaign, Oqba Hashad. In 2019, Oqba was wrongly arrested by Egypt’s National Security Agency, simply because of his brother, Amr Hashad’s, human rights activism. For five years, he has been wrongly imprisoned, enduring unimaginable torture and denied essential medical care. And despite a judge ordering his release, Egyptian prosecutors have kept him imprisoned. So please add your voice and join Amnesty International in calling for Oqba’s immediate and unconditional release.
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