LIB DEMS CALL FOR GREEN TAX SWITCH…while local MP votes against greener taxes

4.23.00pm GMT Tue 31st Oct 2006

In the week when a major report by the Treasury has said that Climate Change could shrink the economy by 20%, Islington Lib Dems have been taking part in a national campaign for greener, fairer taxation. But when Islington South's Labour MP, Emily Thornberry, was given the chance to vote for the Green Switch Campaign in parliament, she voted against it.

Islington Lib Dems have been holding 'Green Tax Switch' stalls across Islington for the last two weeks asking local people to back the party's campaign for a tax cut of approximately £1000 a year for the average family, paid for by environmental taxes, that will mean that the greener a person is, the more tax cut they get.

Cllr Lucy Watt, Executive Member for the Environment on Islington Council, says: "As this weeks report shows, the threat of Climate Change to both the environment and the economy is very real. The Liberal Democrats want to see more green taxes to combat this, but we believe that this should be off set by cutting other taxes and helping average families and the poor.

Cllr Lucy Watt with the Liberal Democrat team campaigning for fairer, greener taxes

"I'm very disappointed that Emily Thornberry voted against this in parliament. Since then, Labour have started saying they want green taxes too - but have made no commitment to give the money back. They appear to want to use them as stealth taxes to top up the treasury. If we are to convince people to change their habits to be greener, this won't work - taxation needs to be fairer, as well as greener."