Date published: 2006/06/13
The BBC says:
The Lib Dems are pulling out of a deal to work jointly with the Conservatives on the issue of climate change.
Sir Menzies Campbell said co-operation required "urgent agreement on specific measures" but claimed the Tories were not able to provide that agreement.
He added that they would be prepared to work with David Cameron when he had some specific ideas to discuss.
The plan to work together had a rocky start in May with the Tories accusing the Lib Dems of playing politics.
Sir Menzies said: "The whole idea of the cross-party approach was to allow all parties to be braver in putting forward new ideas, but the Conservatives are unable to commit.
"Nuclear power, fuel duty, vehicle excise duty and the climate change levy are all areas where we believe we have to make a judgement now."
...
Environment spokesman Chris Huhne said: "We could not even get the Conservatives to agree that green taxes should rise as a percentage of national income, even though the leading countries in this field all levy more than we do as a way of changing behaviour.
Huhne does say some daft things sometimes. "Countries that lead the way lead the way". Thanks, we didn't know that. And the Lib Dems know full well that vehicle excise duty has nothing to do with carbon emissions since it is a tax on ownership, not use. So-called green taxes should at least be logical, and not just arbitrary and vindictive taxes against activities considered politically incorrect by the chattering classes. And so-called green taxes should be proportionate to the environmental damage (allegedly) caused. Fuel duty is a real environmental tax, only its rate is much higher than any believable environmental assessment would give. If the Lib Dems want to be treated seriously they should treat the public as adults and give real arguments instead of waffle. (Not that the Tories are any better.)
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