UK To Substantially Cut CO2 By . . . Cutting Taxes On Already-Cheap Domestic Airfares

[hatrack]

Rishi Sunak has defended cutting domestic flight taxes in the run-up to next week’s Cop26 summit, after being accused of going “headlong in the wrong direction” about tackling climate emergency at a pivotal point for Britain.

Labour said it was an “astonishing” announcement from the chancellor in Wednesday’s budget, given the UK government will urge many world leaders, set to arrive in Scotland within days, to speed up decarbonisation plans in their own countries.

Sunak halved the tax on domestic flights, which are already far cheaper and more polluting than train journeys. Air passenger duty was increased by £4 on “ultra-long” flights of more than 5,550 miles, from £87 to £91. Overall, the changes were a tax giveaway of £30m a year. After criticism from environmental groups, the chancellor batted away claims it could lead to 400,000 more domestic flights every year. “What we’re doing on air-passenger duty is going back to a system we used to have, which means we don’t essentially double-tax people for flying inside the UK – so in that sense it’s a pro-union policy,” Sunak told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

He said the new ultra long-haul band was fair because it meant “the further you’re flying, the more emissions, then you will pay a higher rate”. Sunak was asked why he did not simply increase the levy for longer haul flights and leave domestic air-passenger duty at its current level, instead of cutting it significantly.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/28/rishi-sunak-defends-halving-domestic-flight-taxes-in-cop26-run-up