Scrap UK Airport Departure Taxes, Says Kennedy

March 1, 2004

Scrap Airport Departure Taxes, Says Kennedy 
Scotland on Sunday, UK


Airport departure taxes should be scrapped and instead
airlines pay duty on every plane taking off from a
British airport, Liberal Democrat leader Charles
Kennedy said today.

The move, a key strategy in the party’s battle against
pollution, was being unveiled in a keynote speech at
Westminster by Mr Kennedy.

Pledging to “push the environment up the political
agenda and keep it there,” he said that freight planes
pay no dues, but pollute just as much as passenger
aircraft.

“A full passenger aircraft causes virtually no more
pollution than an empty one, but the present duty
gives no incentive to the operators to fill up their
flights.

“So the Liberal Democrats would scrap all airport
departure taxes paid by passengers.

“A much fairer system would be for airlines to pay
duty on every plane taking off from a British airport,
both passenger and freight,” he said.

Mr Kennedy who was making his speech at an event
hosted by WWF, the Royal Society for the Protection of
Birds (RSPB) and the Green Alliance said the Liberal
Democrat proposal – taxing the aeroplane, not the
passenger – is the principle of the polluter pays in
action.

He accused the Government of “failing to treat the
environment with the seriousness it deserves”.

On nuclear energy policy, he said the Government’s
record was “pathetic, truly pathetic”.

“High level nuclear radioactive waste is up 6%,
domestic energy consumption is up by nearly 7%.

“This Government continues with multi-million pound
bail-outs for the ailing nuclear energy industry, but
whereas Italy manages to get 20% of its energy from
renewable sources, Britain manages a paltry 2.5%.”

Mr Kennedy said public transport is “in chaos,” with
delays on the railways doubling, while road traffic is
up by 8%.

“Worse still, the Transport Minister has forecast
traffic growth of up to 25% in England by 2010.”

Ministers also seemed determined to ignore sound
science over issues like genetically modified crops,
said Mr Kennedy.

He added that Labour wasn’t acting on the environment
and wasn’t even listening.

“Whether it’s on the international stage, in our
national economy, or in your local area and at home,
the Government is failing.

“Failing internationally – to recognise there needs to
be a fairer consumption of resources between nations.

“Failing nationally to acknowledge that environmental
damage is a drain on our economy of at least £65
billion a year – and rising by £1 billion more every
year.

“And failing locally to recognise that the environment
affects us all, particularly in relation to well-being
and health.

Mr Kennedy said that healthier local environments
would start to address inequalities but this was a
vision that looked increasingly lost on Labour.

“It is absolutely astonishing that there has not been
a single statement from the Environment Minister
Margaret Beckett in the House of Commons on an issue
of substance for the environment in near-on two years.

“Nor has there been a Government-sponsored debate.

“Labour promised to put the green agenda at the heart
of government, instead it is firmly out on a limb.
What price our planet under Labour?”
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