UK Chancellor's "Green" budget?
British Labour's 2008 budget Fails To Satisfy Environmental Groups
A summary of the 2008 Budget's 'green' taxes that have drawn criticism from big business, the motor and aviation industries and also climate change activists.
Yesterday (Wednesday 12th march), Alistair Darling presented to parliament and the British public his first budget since taking office after Gordon Brown's ascent to No. 10 Downing Street. With fears of a worldwide economic downturn abound, an unprecedented new petrol price high and signs of a slump in Britain's housing market, nothing too radical or thrusting was expected. Stability was the key word, and was used no less than 23 times in a speech which had columnists in most newspapers on the 13th of March commenting more on who fell asleep during the session that the actual contents of the Budget.
It was a chance for Labour to seriously show their green credentials even as the Conservatives are winning points for championing the issue, and was expected to be the "greenest budget to date" (Guardian, Wed 12th March). Whether it is or not, it has caused anger among environmental groups who claim it does not go far enough in addressing the problems of tomorrow, while motor organisations, the aviation industry and alcohol and tobacco sellers are claiming that they will be severely hit by a new wave of green taxes.
"Darling's war on family cars" was the headline of The Daily Telegraph on Thursday the 13th, as a new showroom tax was announced on cars producing high levels of carbon emissions which will set back new owners £950 (US$1931). Road taxes for such vehicles will increase after 2010, when the Government's Treasury hopes to raise an extra £735 million (US$1494 million) to fight climate change through new taxes on polluting cars. Critics however, believe otherwise, with Edmund King of the Automobile Association saying :"Drivers want cleaner, greener cars but we must ensure that the proposals are not just a green smokescreen for allowing the Treasury to take more from the motorist". The expected price rise of 2p per litre of petrol was deferred until September 2008, placating motorists somewhat; above inflation increases in petrol prices from 2010 onwards were also announced today.
Aviation taxes will also be restructured, with a per plane duty being imposed on airlines instead of a per passenger one, to steer airlines away from flying half, or near empty planes, which unsurprisingly drew criticism from the industry which claims that the extra costs will be forced on to ticket prices:" This rise risks damaging the UK's economic competitiveness and does little to encourage a reduction in aviation emissions" said Neil Pakey of the Airport Operators Association.
Plastic bags too received a mention in the Budget on the environmental ticket. Presently, 13 billion bags are given to British shoppers per year (an average of 216 per person), many of which are not reused, end up as litter and can take up to a thousand years to fully decompose. Following a scheme introduced in Ireland in 2002, which managed to reduce the number of single use plastic bags by 90%, British customers will pay a voluntary charge for bags, and if shops fail to show cutbacks in one-time bag usage, they will be charged a levy by the Government.
Along with grumbling from the aviation and motor industries, the Budget was received with little enthusiasm from environmental groups. The Chancellor appears to be living on a different planet, one unaffected by climate change according to Philip Wolfe, the executive director of the Renewable Energy Association. While hitting the aviation industry with stiffer taxes, the Chancellor also gave his blessing to expansion at Heathrow airport, involving the construction of a third runway, which will undoubtedly result in an increase of carbon emissions. How will Britain be able to lecture India and China about cutting carbon emissions at the UN climate conference next year when airport expansion is given the go-ahead wonders Guardian columnist Mark Lynas. Greenpeace UK on its website commented that the government: "seems completely unable to break out of business-as-usual: new coal, new runways - day in, day out". New runways, motorway-widening schemes and the cutting of grants for domestic solar panels have all recently been agreed to by Labour, and the go-ahead for a coal power plant in Kent in the southeast of England looks likely, as wind farm and hydro schemes are held up in Scotland in the north.
However, climate change has only recently begun to take up political time and media space in Britain, and even if the attention presently given to it by Labour is mere lip service, public interest and involvement in the issue is growing fast and in the future it looks unlikely that any Government will be able to ignore the topic. Given Alistair Darling's limited options, his Budget still takes steps, albeit small ones, to recognising the challenges presented by climate change, and begins to set out policies and plans to tackle them.
