Liberal Democrats launch green tax policies

8.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 18th May 2006

The Liberal Democrats have launched a green taxation paper called "The Green Switch" which is aimed at curbing carbon emissions and halting global warming. Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment Secretary, Chris Huhne MP said: "We want fairer and greener taxes, but not higher taxes. Green taxes can change our behaviour and safeguard our planet for our children in a way that hugging a husky cannot. This is about using taxes in a new way to change behaviour, not to raise money for the Government. Tory hot air will not cool the climate, while Labour is missing targets and ducking decisions. The Green Switch is about shifting taxes from good things, such as work, onto bad things, such as gas-guzzling cars and half-full flights that cause wasteful carbon emissions."

The Liberal Democrats hope to change Britain's car-buying habits. The owners of cars which generate the most pollution would face annual road taxes of £2,000 under Liberal Democrat plans to tackle climate change. The figure - 10 times the current rate - would cover high-end cars such as BMW's 7 series, Bentley Continentals and the four-by-four Porsche Cayenne. It would apply only to new models, with exemptions for "essential" vehicles.

Chris Huhne said it was vital "to use green taxes as a lever in order to make our behaviour sustainable. We must change the cars that we buy rather than the cars that we're using at the moment. This was because it was important "people know exactly what they're letting themselves in for" when considering a purchase. The idea is not to encourage people to go on driving 'rust-buckets'," he said, "but actually to encourage them when they're purchasing a new car to buy a car which is consistent with their environmental obligations."