Critics accuse Brown of failing green test

Gordon Brown has come under fire from MEPs and environmentalists for a 'disappointing' £1bn package of green taxes aimed at curbing carbon emissions.

The UK finance minister’s decision to raise duty on petrol by 1.25 per cent and double air passenger duty was derided by UK green MEP Caroline Lucas.

She said: “Protecting the environment and preventing the worst impacts of climate change are the most urgent problems we face and these measures will not make any real difference to either.”

She said the measures were little more than an attempt to “greenwash” the UK government.

Brown says the proposals will reduce carbon dioxide emissions from aviation by 1.1 million tonnes a year.

But green groups say the €1.47bn tax increase amounts to less than 0.1 per cent of GDP, compared with the 1 per cent of GDP British economist Sir Nicolas Stern recently said would be necessary to cut emissions.

John Sauven, director of Greenpeace, condemned the level of tax increases on petrol and flights as insufficient.

“Although Brown announced a small increase in the price of petrol, he missed a sitter by rejecting the fuel duty escalator,” he argued.

Rosemary Hall, spokesperson for Friends of the Earth Europe, commented: "Governments across Europe should be heeding the Stern Review's warning and making drastic policy changes to fight climate change".

“But the UK example shows that European governments still fail to take action now," she added. 

"The feeble climate change measures proposed for the UK Chancellor's Budget are completely inadequate."

But a spokesman for the European Federation for Transport and Environment welcomed the plans, describing them as a “small step in the right direction”.

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