Britain’s suicidal (and pointless) drive to net zero continues to deliver more pain.
A new “grocery tax” designed to achieve the Government’s net zero targets will push up household shopping bills by up to £1.4 billion a year, The Telegraph can reveal . . .
The green levy – which will see retailers and manufacturers charged per tonne of packaging materials they use – is aimed at helping the UK to reduce waste and meet its net zero targets.
Under the scheme, they will be charged more for using plastic wrapping than for using paper or cardboard.
But critics have warned that the measure will “push up food costs for every family” while imposing red tape on businesses.
According to its critics, the direct cost of the measure could hit £2 billion, an overrun that would be par for net zero’s shoddily costed, extravagant course.
The Telegraph also reports that Lord McKinlay, a Tory peer and chair of the Net Zero Scrutiny Committee, has criticized the measure. Good for McKinlay, but it’s interesting to read that the original idea for the levy came from the then Conservative environment secretary, Michael Gove. That’s the same Gove who paid court to Greta Thunberg, and then declared that:
“As I listened to you I felt great admiration but also a sense of responsibility and guilt because I recognise I am of your parents’ generation. I recognise we have not done nearly enough to deal with the problem of climate change.”
Thunberg’s true nature was already obvious at that time. Gove’s groveling was evidence either of cowardice or of how deep the green rot had penetrated some sections of the Conservative party.
Under Rishi Sunak, a relative realist on environmentalist issues compared with his predecessor, the feckless Boris Johnson, this scheme was suspended, but not scrapped (why not?), where it could sit on the shelf, ready for use by Labour.
The Daily Telegraph adds:
The scheme effectively places a tax on manufacturers and retailers for the cost of collecting and disposing of packaging waste, which is currently borne by local authorities and funded by council tax.
However, there is no suggestion that councils will reduce taxes imposed on residents when they begin benefiting from the funds.
Amazing!