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Tory tax threat to UK flights
Last updated at 11:22am on 13.01.07
Tory has plans to tax domestic flights out of existence
Domestic air passengers could face soaring ticket prices under Tory proposals to tackle climate change.
A senior Conservative MP said flights within the UK are no longer justified and should be taxed almost out of existence.
• Airport chaos over flight tax rise
Tim Yeo, who chairs the influential House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, said he wanted to see ' virtually no' internal flights within a decade because of the greenhouse gas emissions they produce.
Environmental campaigner and Tory candidate Zac Goldsmith, who is heading a group developing green policy for David Cameron, confirmed a tax hike on domestic flights was being considered.
The plans appeared to put the Tories at odds with Tony Blair, who defended the right of consumers to use cheap flights earlier this week. He said efforts should focus on new technology rather than forcing people to stay at home.
They will also enrage the airline industry, which is fiercely opposed to green taxes on its services. Gordon Brown recently doubled air passenger duty to £10 for short-haul flights and £80 for long-haul.
Mr Yeo, however, accused the Government of being 'pretty timid' over aviation taxation. He said he travelled to Scotland by train 'as a matter of conscience' and insisted there was 'no reason at all why people should fly around the UK'.
'Those flights should be knocked out,' he told GMTV in an interview to be broadcast on the Sunday Programme tomorrow. 'What we should do is tax domestic flights so heavily and use the money to improve the railways so that in five years' time everyone is choosing to go by train within the UK.
'That would make a big step in the right direction. The long-haul flights are harder to tackle, but the domestic flights we can be taking action on right now and we should be. I honestly do believe that within ten years there should be virtually no domestic flights.'
However, Mr Yeo was immediately accused of hypocrisy last night. It emerged that the MP recently made an 'epic' golfing journey for a regular newspaper column, in which he was whisked by private jet between three courses in England and Scotland in a single day.
He also accepted free flights to California, Cuba and Singapore for meetings and conferences last year, according to the register of MPs' interests.
Reader views (10)
Here's a sample of the latest views published. You can click view all to read all views that readers have sent in.
Does this mean David Cameron and Greg Barker won't fly to the Arctic to publicise the effect of global warming?
- Tracy Martin, East Sussex
I have been loyal to the conservative part since I was old enough to vote.
I have suffered the Labour Party and its tax ragime in the hope that when the Conservatives are restored to power we might see the end of these covert ways of raising money in order for the exchequer to balance the budget. Please don't give us the green issue, it really is getting a bit thin.
- Stanley Tasker, Minehead
If the tory's think this is going to win them votes then think again.
Every politician is cashing in using global warming as an excuse to raise money for their own behalf and not the public, another con!!
It's about time labour got a grip and dealt with real problems like the council tax, the biggest rip off so far, what are they doing with all the billions of council tax money? pensioners shouldn't have to pay any council tax, the labour is starving innocent people of their savings.
- Graham Lacey, Peterhead Scotland
16°c
