Archived press release

NOT MUCH GREENER THAN A SMOG ALERT" Friends of the Earth Lashes Brown Over Budget Failure

17 March 1998

1. Gordon Brown only committed the Government to the EC's 8% carbon dioxide emissions reduction by the year 2010. Labour fought the Election promising to meet a 20% target and campaigned at the Kyoto Climate Summit with that target.
2. The VAT cut on installation of energy saving materials to 5% applies to “certain government grant schemes” only, as FOE predicted. Some government schemes,many local authority schemes, and energy saving materials in general
3. The Government is still consulting on an aggregates tax, a water pollution tax and an industrial energy tax. Putting former British Airways boss Sir Colin Marshall in charge of reviewing the latter is like putting the fox in charge of the hen coop
4. While the landfill tax has been increased from £7 to £10, it has not been extended to cover incineration
5. The principle of cuts in National Insurance as a means to encourage the creation of jobs is welcome, but money from new green taxes could have been used to make more radical cuts

Transport

1. The promised new investment in public transport of £500 million over 3 years is welcome but small scale. It could make a difference if targeted on low cost measures such as bus priority measures, and help for cyclists and pedestrians
2. The £50 million rural transport fund is welcome, but also small scale
3. The principle of variable Vehicle Excise Duty is welcome. But as well as cuts in VED for the cleanest cars there should be increases for the larger gas guzzlers
4. The road fuel escalator should have been increased above 6%, and the money used for investment in public transport
5. Nothing has been done to tax company parking spaces: privileged drivers are still gaining from this concession.

Charles Secrett, Executive Director of FOE, said today: “This was a major missed opportunity. Labour is rapidly forfeiting its claim to be a green Government. Small improvements in public transport and a step towards variable road tax do not compensate for a failure to introduce the radical tax measures that the environment demands. A green Budget could have been good for jobs, good for the environment, good for families and good for the future. Instead this Budget is about as green as a smog alert. The Government cannot meet its manifesto and Kyoto promises with this Budget.”

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust