Budget is a 'Great Green Cop-out' - Clegg

2.30.00pm GMT Wed 12th Mar 2008

What the Budget means to you

Today's Budget is a green cop out which kicks the difficult decisions on environmental taxes into the long grass, Nick Clegg has said. He also accused the Government of doing nothing to help millions of hard pressed families struggling to make ends meet. Among the proposals in what has been widely seen as a dull Budget are:

· Increases in tax on alcohol and high polluting cars

· Number of green tax measures (see below) but none will be implemented before 2009 at the earliest

· UK economy facing its biggest slowdown since Labour came to power - growth forecast for 2008 cut to two per cent and budget deficit for this year up £7 billion to £43 billion

· Additional £1 billion to tackle child poverty - but this is £2.5bn less than is need to meet government target

· Public spending in the coming three years will grow by 2.2% a year

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said "This is not a green budget. This is not a people's budget. This is a con trick budget that protects the rich and abandons the poor. The Government has bottled it on green taxes and failed to implement the necessary measures to cut child poverty. This is a budget which gives only limited help to the poor, but maintains special treatment for the rich. A budget designed to fill a black hole masquerading as good for the environment. A budget which will not make Britain fairer, and a budget that is a great green cop out, as most of the new green taxes are being delayed. After 11 years in Government, Labour has completed its fiscal fusion with the Tory Party."

ENVIRONMENT: CHANCELLOR IS FIDDLING WHILE THE PLANET BURNS

Claims by the Government that this is the greenest Budget ever have been dismissed by the Liberal Democrats who said the measures announced today amounted to mere 'nitpicking tweaks'. Proposals announced by the Chancellor in his statement include:

· Laws will be introduced by 2009 to tax plastic bags if shops do not ban them or charge more for their use.

· £26m to help make homes greener.

· New non-domestic buildings to become zero-carbon from 2019.

· The Government is asking the European Commission for tougher targets on car fuel emissions

Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesperon Steve Webb said "This budget is a greenwash. Taxing plastic bags is all very well, but it pales into insignificance compared with massive airport expansion and the proposed new fleet of coal-fired power stations. With nothing more than a series of nitpicking tweaks to the tax system, the danger is that when it comes to the environment the Chancellor is fiddling while the planet burns. We need greener and fairer, but not higher taxes, to ensure that the polluter pays."

POVERTY AND PENSIONERS: LIBERAL DEMOCRATS ATTACK ABANDONED TARGET AND GIMMICKS

The Liberal Democrats have accused the Government of abandoning their target of halving child poverty by 2010. The Chancellor claimed in his statement that his measures would help more parents into work from 2009 in a bid to help eradicate child poverty in Britain by 2020. The Chancellor announced:

· £17 more a week for poor families with one child. From April 2009, child benefit increased to £20 a week.

· The winter fuel payment to the over-60s will increase from £200 to £250 in 2008-9. Those over 80 will receive an extra £100, taking their total to £400.

Liberal Democrat spokesperson Danny Alexander said "This Budget will be remembered as the day the Government abandoned its target to halve child poverty, and tried to hide the long-term plight of pensioners in fuel poverty with a one-off gimmick. By investing less than a third of what is necessary to halve child poverty, the Government has effectively given up on its 2010 target. Children in the poorest families will have to wait until next year for even the small scale and highly complex changes announced today to take effect. A one-off increase in the Winter Fuel Allowance is a short-term palliative, but the Government has missed the chance for a sustainable attack on fuel poverty using the windfall profits of energy companies."

EDUCATION: OPPORTUNITY TO BOOST EDUCATION FUNDING WASTED

Struggling schools in England are to be given more cash to help more pupils get five good GCSEs including maths and English, the Chancellor has said. £200m is to be spent on the "National Challenge" programme, which aims for all schools to have no less than 30% of pupils reaching that standard.

Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson David Laws said "Spending money on a hopelessly unambitious target does nothing to tackle the complex and unfair funding system. The Government must radically reform the way all schools are funded - not just those cherry-picked by ministers. The Government could assist all schools in challenging areas right away by introducing a Pupil Premium that would attach extra funding to children from disadvantaged backgrounds and ensure they get the extra support they need."

TRANSPORT: HALF-HEARTED MEASURES CRITICISED BY LIBERAL DEMOCRATS

The Chancellor set out plans to encourage the use of less polluting cars, with a £950 "showroom" tax for the most polluting vehicles from April 2010. The Chancellor has decided to defer the planned 2p rise in fuel duty until later in the year.

Liberal Democrat Transport spokesperson Norman Baker said "It is very regrettable that the Chancellor has decided to defer the fuel duty rise. Over the last ten years the cost of motoring has decreased by 10% in real terms whilst the cost of using public transport continues to rise. The last thing the Chancellor should do now, when public finances are so tight, is throw away an income stream while simultaneously damaging the environment. These are limp half-hearted measures. The Chancellor is right to increase VED on the most polluting cars, as we have long argued, but he's flunked it by allowing VED to drop back to its current low levels for gas guzzlers after the first year."

HOUSING: BUDGET WON'T CREATE A GREEN OR AFFORDABLE HOUSING MARKET

Stamp duty on shared ownership homes will not be required until people own 80% of their home, the Chancellor announced. Also, from April, key workers, such as teachers and nurses, will be able to borrow money from shared equity schemes.

Liberal Democrat Housing spokesperson Lembit Opik said "Everyone shares the aim of helping first time buyers, but there's a long way to go between what's been promised and the Government's timid proposed solutions. The Liberal Democrats have long lobbied to increase the availability of shared equity schemes to encourage individuals to buy their own homes. But the current schemes are only helping a tiny fraction of those people in need. As for the environmental budget, the Green Homes Service is only enough to affect only a few thousand homes. I hope this fund will be used to kick-start an innovative new scheme working with energy companies to make environmentally sustainable housing accessible and affordable to all."

FUEL POVERTY: ENERGY COMPANIES MUST MAKE SOCIAL TARIFFS MORE WIDELY AVAILABLE

Energy suppliers must give customers who have pre-payment meters to pay for gas and electricity a "fairer deal", the Chancellor said in his statement. This follows campaigning by the Liberal Democrats and leader Nick Clegg in particular.

Liberal Democrat Environment spokesperson Steve Webb said "Fuel poverty is a huge problem and these modest measures barely scratch the surface. The energy companies should be forced to use some of their huge windfall profits from the European Emissions Trading Scheme to ensure all poor and vulnerable people have access to cheap social tariffs."

HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE: INCREASE IN ALCOHOL DUTY IS A TOKEN GESTURE

In his first Budget Alistair Darling put 4p on a pint of beer, 14p on a bottle of wine and 55p on a bottle of spirits. Duty on a packet of cigarettes is up 11p. Public health chiefs welcomed the tax rises on alcohol, but said there is still a way to go before it starts influencing drinking habits. There was little on health and nothing on social care in the Budget.

Liberal Democrat Health spokesperson Norman Lamb said "The increase in alcohol pricing is a token gesture from a Government which has not done enough to crack down on underage drinking and failed to improve early intervention so that young people don't develop life long problems with alcohol. We need urgent investment to confront the emerging crisis in the care of elderly people in England. Across the country, people are facing tightening criteria and rocketing charges for the care of the elderly."