SHELL could pay the annual salary of every employee in Northumberland eight times over with its record profits for 2022, figures suggest.

The oil company logged a record $39.9 billion (£32.2 billion) in post-tax profit last year, topping the previous record of $31 billion in 2008.

As people face soaring energy bills and many struggle to fuel their homes, campaign group Friends of the Earth labelled the substantial rise "staggering", while opposition parties urged the Government to implement a windfall tax.

Office for National Statistics figures show average employees in Northumberland earned an average annual salary of £30,156 in 2022, according to latest monthly figures for October.

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Based on this, Shell could potentially pay the area's 131,362 payrolled employees eight times over based on profits last year.

Shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband said: "As the British people face an energy price hike of 40 per cent in April, the Government is letting the fossil fuel companies making bumper profits off the hook with their refusal to implement a proper windfall tax."

Shell announced it will pay a further $4 billion (£3.2 billion) to shareholders through a new share buyback programme, and increase dividend payments by 15 per cent.

Campaign groups called on the Government to impose a windfall tax as people face rising bills and unions are locked in a wave of strikes in pay protests.

Sana Yusuf, climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: "People can see the injustice of paying eye-watering energy costs while big oil and gas firms rake in billions."