2008 Budget: pathetically inadequate

We were told it would be a the greenest budget ever, but nothing could be further from the truth. Out went the 2p rise in fuel duty, to appease the vocal minority who drive regularly (just under three-quarters of adults may own a driver's license, but a great many, like me, rarely use it). More importantly, Darling stayed true to Labour's obsession with airport expansion, backing unsustainable growth at Stansted and Heathrow.

Behind the spin, the Chancellor didn’t say much about aviation, even failing to get his own government’s statistics right. "Aviation accounts for 6.3 per cent of the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions." Not technically wrong Darling, but aviation accounts for 13% of the UK's climate impact, because of all the other gases and the height at which they are emitted. Ignoring radiative forcing gives the industry a free ride - not a promising start for someone who is meant to be half-decent at numbers. So what else did he have to say?

"The Government is committed to enabling the aviation industry to expand in an environmentally sustainable way, ensuring that it pays the external costs that its activities impose on society at large, as well as contributing fairly to public services." I've always wondered who receives the cash paid to cover the "external costs" (a polite way to say "flooding, drought and people dying from heat exhaustion")? Pity the poor civil servant trudging around Bangladesh, saying "sorry your son is dying from dehydration caused by climate change, here's 50 quid that we collected from the 18:37 easyJet London-Edinburgh flight. Buy him an ice cream or something."

"For this reason, at Pre-Budget Report 2007, the Government announced that air passenger duty would be replaced by a duty payable per plane, rather than per passenger, from 1 November 2009. This will send better environmental signals and ensure that aviation duty better reflects environmental costs. The Government began a consultation on the design of the new duty in January and welcomes responses by 24 April."

In other words, three months of squealing from the airlines and this will be thoroughly de-clawed. I'm still sceptical about efficiency gains, and at least APD was a front-loaded tax (i.e. it raised the cost of tickets directly, instead of permitting the airlines to offset the cost across the other services they provide). 50p more on peanuts then…

"The UK Government is confident that agreement will be reached on the inclusion of aviation in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme by 2012, which will help to ensure that right across Europe the aviation sector plays its part in delivering real carbon reductions." Ah, that old chestnut - when in doubt, mention the Emissions Trading Scheme. Never mind that everyone else is condemning it as useless. It's the deus ex machina of the aviation industry.

So another year, another budget, another waste of time. No need to leave the d-locks and banners at home then - Darling's geared us all up for another year of conflict between government and those who'd rather not stand by and watch as we slowly transform the UK into Airstrip One. Bring it on!