BP’S “utterly obscene” profits show the need for immediate windfall tax and climate action, campaigners and MPs declared today.

The energy giant revealed its profits had nearly tripled the past three months, surging to $8.2 billion (£7.1bn) compared with $3.3bn (£2.9bn) a year earlier.

It also confirmed it would be paying windfall taxes this year, unlike its rival Shell, which reported an eyewatering $9.5bn (£8.3bn) profit for the same period.

The “big five”oil companies together have announced a combined profit of over $170bn (£148bn) in 2022.

The figures come as the government said it is considering tax rises for millions of households and a squeeze on spending, with public-sector pay expected to be capped at just 2 per cent, to address a black hole of up to £50bn in the public purse.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said today that the NHS would be prioritised amid the “difficult decisions” but did not rule out the possibility of cuts to the service.

Friends of the Earth energy campaigner Sana Yusuf said Mr Sunak must surely act on the excessive profits that fossil fuel firms are raking in amid a sinking economy and rising energy bills.

She said: “The case for a bigger, bolder windfall tax is now overwhelming.

“This must address the ridiculous loophole that undermines the levy by enabling companies to pay the bare minimum if they invest in more planet-warming gas and oil projects.”

Global Justice Now climate campaigner Daniel Willis said that the big five’s profits are more than the $116bn (£101bn) a year that loss and damage are estimated to cost the global South.

He said: “When fossil fuel companies are announcing record profits just days before Cop27, it’s high time leaders [connect the dots] and make polluters pay up for loss and damage — it’s clear they can afford to.

“People here and in the global South have one thing in common when it comes to companies like BP: they’re ripping us off and think they can keep getting away with it at the expense of people and the planet.

“It’s high time we showed them the game is up.”

Scottish Greens energy and environment spokesman Mark Ruskell said: “The oil and gas giants may be raking in utterly obscene profits but the planet is suffering and so are millions of households across the UK and beyond.

“We need to fundamentally change our energy system so that it works for people and the planet.

“One way that we can help to fund this is via a proper and meaningful windfall tax that can be reinvested in the green technology that is so badly needed.”

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said that it is corporate greed and profiteering driving inflation, not workers’ wages, and warned that the economy is broken.

She said: “Workers and communities face financial calamity this winter while energy giants like BP are making billions in unfettered profits. 

“It’s time to stop tinkering at the edges. The labour movement must seize the moment, take control of the debate and make the undeniable call to bring the energy giants into public ownership.”

Shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband said that the BP profits are “damning evidence of the failure of the government to levy a proper windfall tax.

“Even if [Mr Sunak] U-turns on a windfall tax now, the oil and gas companies have taken billions from the cash machine that is the British people’s energy bills,” he said.

The government’s climate tsar Alok Sharma also said BP’s bumper profits showed the need for a higher windfall tax.

On the government’s holding down of pay for public-sector workers, Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said it has “no ideas, nor a grasp of the reality of people’s lives.”

She said: “The NHS, care and other key services already have a workforce crisis.

“Many more staff will walk if they know there’s no prospect of a decent pay rise for years.”

And PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said it is scandalous for the government to be even considering a pay cap, adding that the union will continue to urge members to vote for national strike action.