Thursday, October 28, 2021
The wrong signals
With the climate change conference almost upon us, one would have thought that the UK Government, who after all are hosting it, to at least make an effort in setting the right tone. Instead they introduced measures in yesterday's budget that effectively offer two fingers to those seeking to avert global warming.
As the Independent reports, the Chancellor used his budget to scrap a planned fuel duty rise for the twelfth year in a row, effecctively offering a subsidy for drivers of polluting vehicles.
The paper says the move, which will cost the taxpayer nearly £8bn over the next five years, has drawn sharp criticism from clean air and active travel advocates, just days before the UK hosts the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow:
Jemima Hartshorn, founder of clean air pressure group Mums for Lungs, told The Independent: “The chancellor clearly hasn’t made the connection between the climate emergency, public health, the pandemic and the need for combining all of these in a responsible Budget that addresses future challenges but also ensures the health of children now.”
The UK continues to suffer from illegal levels of pollution linked to emissions from the high numbers of cars, taxis and lorries on the roads.
Ms Hartshorn said motor vehicle owners “receive much more generous subsidies compared with sustainable means of travel, such as public transport. This needed to be addressed in the Budget so that investment and subsidies from the government ensure that everyone is encouraged to travel in a way that is not polluting and harming our children.”
And then, as if to double down on his snub to climate change scientists, the chancellor said that from April 2023 air passenger duty (APD) on flights between airports in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will be reduced from £13 to £6.50 per leg, offset by increased rates for long-haul routes.
This, along with the freeze on fuel duty, was branded “astonishing” and “retrograde” by Friends of the Earth, coming just a day after the government’s own Climate Change Committee (CCC) told the prime minister that his administration’s net zero strategy had “nothing to say” on aviation and must take further action to discourage people from flying.
Environmentalists are quoted by the Independent as saying that a Budget statement that spent longer on the reform of alcohol duty than the government’s net zero targets would effectively “extend the age of fossil fuels” in the UK.
The paper adds that the policy effectively pushes passengers to switch from rail to flying, by cutting the price of internal flights at a time when rail fares are set to see their biggest rise in a decade. This is the polar opposite of what is being done in some other European countries, which have increasingly moved to restrict domestic air travel where rail alternatives are available.
It is almost as if this government does not care about our future on the planet.
As the Independent reports, the Chancellor used his budget to scrap a planned fuel duty rise for the twelfth year in a row, effecctively offering a subsidy for drivers of polluting vehicles.
The paper says the move, which will cost the taxpayer nearly £8bn over the next five years, has drawn sharp criticism from clean air and active travel advocates, just days before the UK hosts the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow:
Jemima Hartshorn, founder of clean air pressure group Mums for Lungs, told The Independent: “The chancellor clearly hasn’t made the connection between the climate emergency, public health, the pandemic and the need for combining all of these in a responsible Budget that addresses future challenges but also ensures the health of children now.”
The UK continues to suffer from illegal levels of pollution linked to emissions from the high numbers of cars, taxis and lorries on the roads.
Ms Hartshorn said motor vehicle owners “receive much more generous subsidies compared with sustainable means of travel, such as public transport. This needed to be addressed in the Budget so that investment and subsidies from the government ensure that everyone is encouraged to travel in a way that is not polluting and harming our children.”
And then, as if to double down on his snub to climate change scientists, the chancellor said that from April 2023 air passenger duty (APD) on flights between airports in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will be reduced from £13 to £6.50 per leg, offset by increased rates for long-haul routes.
This, along with the freeze on fuel duty, was branded “astonishing” and “retrograde” by Friends of the Earth, coming just a day after the government’s own Climate Change Committee (CCC) told the prime minister that his administration’s net zero strategy had “nothing to say” on aviation and must take further action to discourage people from flying.
Environmentalists are quoted by the Independent as saying that a Budget statement that spent longer on the reform of alcohol duty than the government’s net zero targets would effectively “extend the age of fossil fuels” in the UK.
The paper adds that the policy effectively pushes passengers to switch from rail to flying, by cutting the price of internal flights at a time when rail fares are set to see their biggest rise in a decade. This is the polar opposite of what is being done in some other European countries, which have increasingly moved to restrict domestic air travel where rail alternatives are available.
It is almost as if this government does not care about our future on the planet.
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They are basically all millionaires who have only interests in money.Responsibility for people,environment and country are secondary.Kleptocrats leads to a Kleptocracy. where only money matters.The govnt is truly out of touch with reality for they cannot take the money with them in death.
From Twitter ---Revealed--Top UK think tank (IEA) has links to 14 members of Johnsons cabinet.How vested interests tried to turn the World against Climate Science-Pegg and Evans-Thursday 10 Qct 2019. A hint of where their loyalties are.
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