Stern refuses to be drawn on green taxes

The author of the government's report on climate change today refused to endorse the limited green taxes outlined by Gordon Brown in last month's pre-budget report. When asked by a committee of MPs whether he was disappointed by the measures, Sir Nicholas Stern said: "I'm a civil servant - it's not for me to pronounce disappointment or enthusiasm with government policy." The limited green taxes on flights and motorists' fuel were widely criticised by environmental campaigners as being too weak a response to the Stern report.