British Government Substantially Cuts Environmental Programs - Independent

[hatrack]

"Ministers have slashed funding for campaigns to improve the environment and have quietly scrapped an initiative designed to combat global warming and increase recycling in Britain.

In a decision that will cast fresh doubt on the Government's commitment to green issues, funding for environmental campaigns has dramatically decreased in the past year, and now sits at its lowest level since Labour came to power.

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The Government's own figures show that its expenditure on environmental campaigns will total £7.7m this year, a 58 per cent decrease from 2000 to 2001, when funding stood at £19m. The cuts come as figures show that road traffic has increased by nearly 8 per cent in Britain and domestic energy consumption by almost 7 per cent. Carbon dioxide emissions have also risen.

Norman Baker MP, the Liberal Democrat environment spokesman, accused ministers or "green hypocrisy". He said: "The Secretary of State for the Environment, Margaret Beckett, has said that changing consumer behaviour is vital, yet, at the same time, cut the very programme which aims to do this. She must come clean and say how she plans to stop public awareness on this issue from withering away. 'Doing your Bit' doesn't mean binning environmental campaigns."

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http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=512818