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Hello, I'm Sean Curran, and this is yesterday in Parliament from BBC Radio 4.

There was a mixed reaction on Thursday, the 16th of April, to the news that more businesses

are to get help with their energy bills as part of a scheme for manufacturing firms.

The Prime Minister has repeatedly told the Commons

that the UK will stay out of the war in Iran.

And this week, the Chancellor Rachel Reeve spoke of her anger and frustration

at the US decision to go to war.

But none of that has insulated British firms from the price hikes in oil and gas.

And so the business secretary Peter Kyle announced that the British industrial competitiveness scheme

originally set up to help 7,000 companies would now support 10,000 firms.

They will be exempt from paying the indirect costs of three other schemes,

the renewables obligation, feed-in tariffs and the capacity market.

Bix is designed to support eligible businesses across all regions of Great Britain.

The eligible sectors collectively employ 900,000 people, of which

700,000 of them live outside of London and the South East. The lifting of those green levees

on companies in the car manufacturing, aerospace and defence sectors means firms could see

their bills cut by up to 25%.

The scheme will start next April, but eligible businesses will get a one-off payment backdated to

this month. Some business groups have complained that the scheme doesn't go far enough,

criticisms echoed by a Conservative shadow business minister

Gareth Davis. According to the government's figures, at least 99% of companies will not

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