George Osborne launched an assault on green measures in his Autumn Statement that reads as if it were written by the UK’s biggest polluters. Tax breaks for heavy polluters, renewed support for airport expansion, opening the countryside to development, more roads and a freeze on fuel duty - all this adds up to the dirtiest budget in recent history.
One of the most damaging measures introduced in his statement is a tax break for the UK’s heavy polluters. For nearly a decade the general political consensus is that the polluter should pay, but instead of chemical companies and steel manufacturers paying the price for their dirty emissions George Osborne has deemed they will pay less for destroying the environment.
Heathrow was singled out as the only airport not open to expansion. Even though halting the expansion of Gatwick, Stansted and Heathrow were flagship green commitments for this coalition government. Osborne' sannouncement completely ignored this promise as he announced support for expansion across the UK, particularly at Manchester Airport and in the South East.
His announcements on opening up vast areas of the countryside to reduced planning regulations beggars the question “Why does George Osborne hate the countryside?” The relaxing of planning regulations will potentially destroy huge areas of green countryside.
His other plans also made way for more traffic and emissions from transport by freezing fuel duty and building more roads to ‘ease congestion’ even though years of evidence, including from official bodies, shows that new roads generate more traffic
His lack of any economics qualifications have clearly compounded with his lack of giving a damn about the environment to provide an early Christmas present for the UK’s biggest polluters.
