We need a coherent answer to climate change
19th October 2006
Alan Whitehead, MP for Southampton Test, rattled Lib Dems and Tories alike with his probing questions in the parliamentary debate on green taxes.
Dr Whitehead is clear that we need a coherent answer to climate change that encompasses taxation, regulation and trading arrangements. One or the other would not be enough to tackle climate change head on. However, that is all that was offered in the climate change debate on Monday.
Dr Whitehead had to point out to the Lib Dems that their policy to replace the Airline Passenger Transport tax with a new ‘green tax’ which they said would earn £3billion more than at present, was recorded on their website as only earning the same amount as the present tax. The Lib Dem sums therefore clearly do not add up. In addition, their policy of knocking 2 pence off income tax to transfer to green taxes would not only leave them with a short fall but is far too simplistic an approach to climate change which requires a comprehensive and detailed range of policies.
On the other hand, the Tories still don’t have any policies. It is therefore preposterous for Gregory Barker, Shadow Environment Minister, to promise ambitious proposals when he doesn’t have to commit to or discuss what those proposals are.
Dr Whitehead said:
“It is clear that any government needs a coherent answer to tackle climate change and this needs to encompass policies regarding taxation, regulation and ‘cap’ and ‘trading’ arrangements. Only then will we have a comprehensive solution to reduce climate emissions.
This government has already encouraged a shift in people’s attitudes with regard to the importance of reducing carbon emissions and have seen for example, a growth in recycling and the amount of energy supplied to our homes from renewable sources double. This is set to increase to 5 times that of 1997 levels as part of the Energy Review - however we still need to do more and go further. This will be accomplished through comprehensive and joined up policies that tackle climate change at all levels from international agreements such as the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and Kyoto, to local solutions such as the Warm Front Scheme which has made 1.1 million homes more energy efficient since the year 2000 and will see £800m of investment between 2005-08 to help even more people effectively insulate their homes.
This government is developing the right policies to tackle climate change in all walks of life – I suggest that the Lib Dems and the Tories need to adopt a similar approach as this is the only way to achieve a sustained reduction in carbon emissions”