Budget 2017: Ill-aligned Moves and Missed Opportunities

A response to today’s 2017 UK Budget from Martin Baxter, IEMA’s Chief Policy Advisor says more clarity is needed on key areas.

Speaking from the APRES Responsible Sourcing Conference, Baxter commented on four critical areas highlighted in Chancellor Phillip Hammond’s speech and the full Budget document:

Home Building in the UK

“The investment and drivers to stimulate the building of new homes on a scale not seen since the 1970s will no doubt please many, and it is vastly important. However, like the Chancellor said, this is a complex issue with ‘no single magic bullet’, so given the volume of land this will need, we must establish how this will stack up against Government’s plan to enhance the UK’s natural capital. What will this mean for our ecosystem services and biodiversity net gain when the aim is to build 300,000 new homes each year? Right now, that is unclear.”

Fuel Duty Freeze

“There seems to be some ill-alignment between the freeze on fuel duty and the ambitions to improve air quality in towns and cities. This is a missed opportunity to give some long term direction on reducing air pollution – disappointing.”

Carbon Pricing

“The Chancellor has retained the carbon price as it is, stating it is believed to be ‘at the right level’. However, it is not clear how maintaining this floor price will help the UK meet the challenge of reducing emissions in line with keeping warming down to a 1.5-degree target as set by the Paris Accord.”

Plastics

“We welcome the focus on single use plastics and their impact on oceans – this is long overdue and the taxes and charges will reduce their use, as evidenced by the reduction in plastic bags since the mandatory 5p charge was introduced in 2015.”

Go to www.gov.uk/government/publications/autumn-budget-2017-documents/autumn-budget-2017 for the full Budget Document from the UK Treasury.