Labour and Lib Dems unveil green manifestos

Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband yesterday launched Labour's Green Manifesto, setting out a ten-point plan for slashing the UK's carbon emissions and delivering low carbon growth.

The 21-page manifesto incorporates many of the policy commitments found in the Party's main manifesto, including pledges to launch a low carbon infrastructure bank, introduce a Pay As You Save green home makeover scheme and ban coal-fired power stations without carbon capture and storage.

However, it also includes a number of new policy proposals, such as plans to make it easier for new green energy suppliers to enter the energy market, roll out a "national grid" of electric car charging points to support half a million vehicles by 2020 and provide a Low Carbon Economic Area for every region.

The manifesto also commits a Labour government to talks with the EU designed to shift the EU budget further in favour of spending on low carbon technologies.

And in a move that is likely to please environmentalists it promises to deliver robust new sustainability standards for biofuels.

Miliband said that the manifesto embodied Labour values: "creating jobs for young people, protecting the vulnerable, standing up for the many and enshrining our commitment to fairness now and in the future".

The manifesto launch was welcomed by Friends of the Earth's Executive Director, Andy Atkins, but he argued that the environment should be playing a more central role in the election campaign.

"Today's publication tells us little we didn't already know, and Labour's
failure to increase its 2020 target for cutting UK emissions to at least 42 per
cent remains a fundamental weakness," he said. "Climate change is one of the the biggest challenges this country faces - all the party leaders must do more to ensure that this issue rises up the election agenda in the final days of the campaign."

The manifesto came on the same day as the Lib Dems attempted to underline their position as arguably the greenest of the three main parties with their new green manifesto.

In an attempt to outdo the other main parties on environmental issues the Lib Dems pledged to make the UK "zero carbon" by 2050.

The short eight-page manifesto reiterates many of the commitments made in the Lib Dems main manifesto, including the flagship pledge to launch a £3.1bn Green New Deal during the first year of a Lib Dem government.

It also sets out plans to reform air passenger duty and to raise taxes for short haul flights where a low carbon alternative is available.

Speaking at the launch of the manifesto, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg sought to position the party as the only mainstream choice for green voters.

"My message is this: don't settle for a Labour party that has had thirteen years to deliver on the environment and has failed. Don't settle for a Conservative party that talks the talk on green issues, only to align themselves with climate change deniers in the European Parliament. And don't give your vote to a Green Party that cannot make a difference in Westminster," he said. " Instead, choose the only party that was taking a stand on saving the planet well before it became fashionable."