Click here to be taken to a petition on the Number10 website, fighting against these unfair proposals. (Please note that this link, the creator, and the Number10 website are in no way affiliated with the Liberal Democrats, and all that).

The Liberal Democrats are the only true mainstream Green party in the UK. We are the only party pressing for bigger reductions to our CO2 output, pushing for more renewable energy, and pushing for reasonable Green Taxes on people.

Unfortunately, one of our biggest enemies in trying to be Green is Labour trying to be Green. We are, principly, in favour of higher taxes on higher polluting cars, but only on new higher polluting cars. The Liberal Democrats know that we need to use Green Taxes as a tool (and by no means the only tool) to push people into making the right decisions, and to give incentives to companies, to make lower polluting cars that will be more competitive in the new market. New Labour's taxes will leave about half of all motorists worse off [Source].

But, of course, Labour's proposed "Green" taxes are simply a revenue-raising measure from a cash-strapped Government running in panic as our country's finances look worse and worse after 11 years of Gordon Browns policies as Chancellor and then Prime Minister.

The difference (and this is a huge one) between the Labour taxes, and the Liberal Democrat proposals for the green taxes are that the Liberal Democrats don't want to backdate them. If someone bought a high-polluting car 4 years ago, (for example, a Peugeot 807, which emits approx. 230 grammes of CO2/km), then taxing them another £200 a year isn't going to stop them having bought it.

We can't lower our CO2 emissions by punishing people who bought polluting cars a few years ago, but we can lower them by raising taxes on new cars, because people can elect to buy a lower polluting car in this case. The Liberal Democrats would implement higher taxes only on new cars, not on cars that had been already bought - this only hurts people, and doesn't change anything.

"The proposed changes will represent a horrific extra burden for many millions of people at a time when money is tight due to Gordon Brown's continuous mismanagement of the economy."
- Andreas Christodoulou, Northampton Liberal Youth

Worse, these measures will hit the poorest in society again, the people who can't afford to change their cars, typically owning slightly older cars (the new taxes apply for cars made after 2001), saloons like the Mondeo, and the larger people carriers. These people are going to be hit the hardest. Their tax could easily go up £200 a year or more, and even worse, the value of their car will drop as the new owners won't want to pay the hugely increased tax.

Reports vary, but it seems that only a fifth of people will benefit from these changes [Source]. It is truly shocking that Labour are planning on hitting people again with more and more tax rises, coming so far after punishing over a million of the poorest and most vulnerable people after scrapping the 10p tax band. The Liberal Democrats are the only party suggesting manageable Green Taxes, designed to change behaviour, not increase revenue.