Bin taxes were already in the bin

If Gordon Brown wants to restore trust amongst the public, he is going to have to do better than this. Downing Street sources are saying that he will veto plans for councils to impose fines on householders who throw out too much rubbish. Recycling incentives will be allowed but penalties scrapped.

The Tories are absolutely right to point out Brown had already made this decision, again and again. Here's the piece in the Times from October saying the same thing. Brown's only hope lies in positive, new ideas, not re-abandoning old ones.

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Rubbish tax plan for homes that do not recycle enough is dumped

Philip Webster and Sam Coates
750 words
25 October 2007
11
English
(c) 2007 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
* The Prime Minister intervened at 11th hour

* Pounds 30 payments were to be announced today

Proposals for councils to impose rubbish taxes on householders who do not recycle properly have been shelved after a last-minute intervention from Gordon Brown.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs published the results of a lengthy consultation on the plans yesterday and Hilary Benn, the Secretary of State, had been expected to announce today that the Government was "minded" to approve the new taxes of up to Pounds 30 a year.

Mr Brown ordered that the proposals be stopped because he was worried about the impact on families that produced large amounts of rubbish, and the practicality of imposing the taxes. His decision stunned Whitehall and Defra last night. Officials were preparing today's announcement and learnt at about 6pm that it was not going ahead. "A message came from Downing Street that they should not proceed," an informed source said.

The Times revealed last month that Chris Leslie, who helped to run Mr Brown's leadership campaign and is now head of the New Local Government Network, was leading opposition to the new charges.

Mr Brown's move has created confusion over efforts to encourage people to recycle and to dissuade councils from moving to fortnightly rather than weekly rubbish collections.

Downing Street said that talks were continuing, but last night it appeared that the "pay-as-you-throw" taxes were dead in the water.

The results of the consultation, released yesterday, were overwhelmingly in favour of the new tax. Among the 164 respondents -which included waste-management companies, environmental groups and 18 individuals -the support rating for the proposal was 80.5 per cent. The consultation summary says that opinion was divided only among the individuals. In May David Miliband, the then Environment Secretary, announced proposals for English local authorities to be allowed to bring in charges, forcing householders who were not recycling to pay more than those who did. It was suggested that "green" homes could get Pounds 30 a year back from their council, while non-recyclers should pay an extra Pounds 30.

Eric Pickles, the Conservative local government spokesman, said: "The fact that Gordon Brown appears to have caved in is a vindication of the campaign by Conservatives against Labour's plans for this hated tax on families. However, as ever with Gordon Brown, the detail will be in the small print. It is extraordinary that only today Defra released a document heaping praise on these bin taxes. At the very least, this is evidence of chaos and confusion at the heart of Government."

Mr Brown indicated yesterday that the Government was also likely to abandon a target to supply 20 per cent of Britain's energy from renewable sources by 2020.

Tony Blair committed Britain this year to an EU-wide target of 20 per cent, but ministers said that this figure was not specific to Britain and suggested that they could achieve 10 to 15 per cent.

Vince Cable, the acting Liberal Democrat leader, accused the Prime Minister of "ratting" on the deal, suggesting that this came because of pressure from the nuclear lobby.

At Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Brown said that Britain remained "absolutely committed" to the EU's target but also acknowledged that each member state had yet to be given an individual figure.

He said: "We will engage in a consultation on this. But I have to say to the Liberal party, and the Conservative party, that this will lead to difficult decisions that they will have to make. First of all we have a feasibility study on the Severn barrage; secondly, we wish to extend offshore wind turbines and thirdly, we wish to extend onshore wind turbines."

Leaked briefing documents prepared for Mr Brown by John Hutton, the Business Secretary, revealed that the target Mr Blair had signed up to was expensive and came encumbered with "severe practical difficulties". The documents also said that Mr Hutton would tell Mr Brown that Britain should work with governments sceptical about climate change to persuade them to set lower renewable targets.

John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace, said: "It is hardly surprising that the Government is downscaling expectations as it has failed to put in place measures to get us near either figure of 15 or 20 per cent."

(c) Times Newspapers Ltd, 2007

Document T000000020071026e3ap0008h

Comments

[Mad Max]

What? Rubbish!