Proposed ‘green’ taxation measures in Gordon Brown’s last pre-Budget report are an attempt to ‘greenwash’ Government – and will fail to make any real impact on tackling climate change, according to Green MEP Caroline Lucas.
"As the Stern report argued, protecting the environment and preventing the worst impacts of climate change are the most urgent problems we face – and the measures announced today won’t make any real difference to either," she said.
"This pre-Budget report is little more than an attempt to ‘greenwash’ the Government and outflank the Tories’ own bid to present itself as the ‘party of the environment’."
Measures such as marginally increasing fuel duty and doubling Air Passenger Duty may well raise millions for Gordon Brown to spend on replacing Trident – but they aren’t nearly enough to make a real difference to climate change, Dr Lucas added.
Dr Lucas, Green Party MEP for South-East England, member of the European Parliament’s influential Environment Committee and the parliament’s spokesperson on aviation and climate change, said: "Research by the Civil Aviation Authority has revealed the average income of passengers passing through Stansted Airport last year topped £50,000 per annum.
"An increase of £5 on each low-cost flight leaving the airport represents just one ten thousandth of their income. For someone earning nearer the UK average income that’s about the same proportion as the cost of one loaf of bread a year. Does anyone really believe that such a marginal difference in cost will really change behaviour?"
"If this government is serious about tackling greenhouse gas emissions from transport – their fastest growing source – it could halt all aviation expansion and road-building schemes tomorrow," she added.