Since I wrote it is has emerged that if green taxes are cut from energy bills, the costs will be passed on in general taxation, most likely by bringing more people into the 40% tax band by lowering the threshold, an amazingly progressive move.
If Nick and co can get a Tory Chancellor to bring in a progressive tax move to support the environment (shall we call it the #huskytax) I will take my hat off...
ConservativeHome thinks the Lib Dems are going to cave in to the Prime Minister after his rash policy-on-the-hoof announcement at PMQs yesterday – and start taking the green costs out of energy bills.
To quote the Tory blogger Mark Wallace, "they [the Lib Dems] know
their position as the people preventing energy bills from being cut will
not be tenable for long."
I think Mr Wallace is wrong.
Firstly, he forgets that this isn’t 2010 or even 2011. We’ve now crossed the rubicon and the differentiation strategy,
so long promised, is in full swing. Hence the reversal on secret
courts, clarification on Free Schools, the lists of Tory 'initiatives'
we’ve stopped (the 'racist vans' campaign being the latest).
That process is going to accelerate and the chance to expose the
paucity of thinking from the Tories on energy is too good to miss. When
David Cameron encouraged everyone to hug a husky, I had no idea he was
actually outlining his whole energy policy.
Secondly, 75% of folk don’t blame green taxes for their energy bills.
I suspect the 25% of people who do already vote Tory or have fled to
UKIP. This doesn’t seem like much of a Lib Dem vote winner, so the
politics don’t work. And thirdly, its a bad idea anyway. Around half the
money raised in green energy taxes goes on schemes to help those in
fuel poverty to minimise waste. I’d have said that making the poorest in
society choose between heating or eating was a rather more "untenable
policy position".
But that’s not really why the Lib Dems won’t be rolling over to get
the Prime Minister out of a hole. It’s because just 36 days ago, Lib Dem
conference was told:
"And if there’s one area where we’ve had to put our foot down more than any other, have a guess. Yep, the environment.
"It’s an endless battle; we’ve had to fight tooth and nail; it
was the same just this week with the decision to introduce a small levy
to help Britain radically cut down on plastic bags.
"They wanted to scrap Natural England, hold back green energy.
They even wanted geography teachers to stop teaching children about how
we can tackle climate change. No, no and no – the Liberal Democrats will
keep this government green."
Nick Clegg’s words. No U-turning from there.
Mr Cameron, it might be time to pull on an extra hoodie. It’s the only energy policy you’ve got left.
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