New carbon emissions target unambitious

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 4th Jul 2006

"David Miliband's evasion speaks volumes about the Government's commitment to tackling climate change."

Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment Secretary, Chris Huhne MP, today criticised the new target for cuts in carbon emissions as unambitious and accused David Miliband of dodging six questions about the scheme.

Questioning David Miliband in the Commons, Mr Huhne called the EU's emissions trading scheme "a good idea undermined by poor implementation." He pointed out, however, that the Government had raised the baseline for emissions against which it assessed targeted cuts making the new target appear falsely ambitious.

Commenting Mr Huhne said:

"The UK will fail to meet the EU deadline on Friday for submitting our carbon emissions plan, putting into context the Prime Minister's claim that global warming is the world's greatest challenge.

"The EU process raises serious questions about the need for a more objective process of assessment. There must be equality of sacrifice not only between businesses in the EU, but between households and businesses in cutting carbon emissions.

"By failing to answer my questions, David Miliband's evasion speaks volumes about the Government's commitment to tackling climate change."