Govt "inconsistent" on climate change
Alistair Darling's green policies have been criticised
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Saturday, 13, Oct 2007 05:09
Alistair Darling has been criticised for "woeful" failings in addressing concerns over climate change in this week's pre-Budget report.
The chancellor's statement to the Commons on Wednesday placed climate change alongside poverty as one of the two "greatest challenges for this generation", but the chairman of the government's independent Sustainable Development Commission said Mr Darling had declined to make any tough decisions.
Jonathon Porritt said on the Today programme that current policy was "nowhere near the pain barrier" and accused the government of an "inconsistent leadership" which talked up the dangers but did not act to meet them.
"It has to be described as crabby incrementalism to be honest, just a little bit here, a little bit there, without actually sending a signal to citizens in the UK," he commented.
"This is indeed now… the most serious problem that we have to deal with and we have to use the tax and expenditure systems of this country to address it."
His criticisms follow those of environmental campaigning group Friends of the Earth, whose director Tony Juniper said the pre-Budget report "falls well short of what is required to tackle climate change".
Among the measures announced by Mr Darling were plans to raise the climate change levy on businesses in line with inflation next year, implement the UK's first carbon-capture project and tax flights rather than passengers in the aviation sector.