I was really hoping this budget would be interesting from a green perspective, but alas it seems not. I haven’t had a chance to really dig in but just slapping a couple of new taxes on big cars just doesn’t cut it. Is the UK Government serious about drastically cutting carbon emissions or not? It seems it still hasn’t realised the gravity of the situation, and its frankly far too late to say anything that shows leadership about plastic bags after M&S and the Daily Mail framed the issue so clearly and began nailing the problem. Talk about bandwagon jumping.
I got some good responses from twitter when I asked about the budget’s green cred.
“Green budget my arse. Capita are the only winners with money set aside for looking at road pricing opportunities.”
Capita is the service provider behind congestion charging, in case you were wondering.
I am all for taxation as part of a balanced effort to reduce carbon emissions, but think the government needs to offer a lot more incentives to better behaviour-such as removing sales taxes for home insulation products. Making greener energy cheaper at retail is another missed opportunity.
Alistair Darling can’t help but look weak next to old Iron Broon, who ruled the treasury for so long but a bolder braver greener budget could have really stamped his authority on the role. Another missed opportunity for both the country, and his reputation.
The government needs to start leading. Gas guzzlers was an easy target.