Colin Ross backs green action plan

12.16.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 6th Sep 2007

Colin Ross has welcomed plans that will make Britain a zero carbon country by the middle of the century. The plans will be debated by Liberal Democrats at the party's conference in Brighton on 17th September.

Colin said, "Liberal Democrats have long argued that we have to tackle the problem of pollution and damage to the planet. The proposals put forward by Sir Ming Campbell that we will debate at conference will mean that by the middle of this century, Britain will be a zero carbon country. That will mean that we will be producing overall no extra carbon dioxide, the main polluting gas that is leading to global climate change. Increasing amounts of carbon dioxide we are currently producing are almost certainly the cause of the extreme weather conditions we have suffered over the summer. The West Midlands has seen many of our rivers burst their banks and many of our towns have been badly hit in Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and even in parts of Birmingham."

Colin further said "Liberal Democrats have made the environment the main feature of our conference later this month. Going green means changing for the better many of our activities. And it means the Government changing policies as well. Under Labour for example, Gordon Brown has cut the tax burden on pollution, whilst putting up the tax burden on people. That means under Gordon Brown it has become cheaper to pollute. I strongly believe that people in the West Midlands will benefit from the Lib Dems' green tax switch. At our conference we will debate plans to switch the tax burden from people to pollution. We will cut national income tax and scrap council tax. To pay for this, we will increase green taxes on the most polluting activities. For example, we will increase the taxes on the most gas-guzzling cars and on aircraft."