Budget Announcements 2015

[ALEO Admin]

On 8 July, the Chancellor delivered his summer budget - the first of the new government.

The budget introducing significant cuts to welfare, which could have a potentially serious impact on fuel poverty.

The budget also included the following changes affecting environmental policy:

• A restructure of Vehicle Excise Duty for new cars, which keeps the exemption for zero-emission cars but reduces the incentives for low-emission vehicles
• Cities and counties in the North will be given even more control over local transport.
• A removal of exemptions from the Climate Change Levy (CCL) for sourcing renewable energy
• Dropping the promise made in the previous government to increase the proportion of revenue from environmental taxes during this Parliament
• Reviewing policies aimed at helping businesses become more energy efficient this autumn, which is also likely to affect the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC)

The Budget also confirmed the planned £1.3 billion tax breaks for the North Sea oil and gas industry but did promise to seek an ambitious global deal in Paris at the end of this year that would limit global warming to two degrees Celsius.

Nick Molho, Executive Director of the Aldersgate Group, said the Chancellor appeared to be ignoring the economic benefits of green growth and the UK's only Green Party MP, Caroline Lucas, labelled the Budget as a "serious blow" for the fight against climate change.

To read more, visit:
https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-e ... -july-2015
http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/24 ... haped-hole
and
http://leftfootforward.org/2015/07/ther ... he-budget/