Embargo: Immediate, 8th December 2004
Charles Kennedy, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, suggested to Tony Blair at Prime Minister's Questions that his failure to meet Britain's targets on climate change undermined his own declaration to lead the industrialised world to tackle this issue. Mr Kennedy said to the Prime Minister that he 'talks a very good game' on climate change but he 'fails to deliver'.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Full text of PMQ exchange follows
Rt. Hon. Charles Kennedy MP
Mr Speaker, given the Prime Minister's admission that the Government will fail to meet its own climate change targets, how does he really expect the British public to have faith in his declared ambition to lead the industrialised world, including President Bush, in actually tackling the climate change issue successfully for once and for all?
Prime Minister
First of all let me make it clear, there are actually two targets both relative to 1990. In respect of the Kyoto targets - which is our international obligation - we will meet those targets, indeed we have met them already. In fact we are one of the very few countries in the world that is going to meet their Kyoto targets. And we should be proud of that. Now it is true that we set an even tougher target for ourselves on CO2 emissions. At the moment, instead of a 20% reduction we will achieve a 14% reduction. However, we have years to go before we have to achieve that target. And as we say today we don't accept we won't meet it. Again we've got to make sure that we take the measures necessary to meet it.
Rt. Hon. Charles Kennedy MP
But Mr Speaker the problem here is that all the various plans and strategies that the Prime Minister has been reiterating in the course of this morning would have sounded great in the first 7 days of a newly elected Labour government. The problem is we are now in the 7th year of a Labour government. So what practical and really effective steps does the Prime Minister propose to take? For example, to tackle aircraft pollution. For example, to reform the climate change levy successfully. For example, to actually achieve a reduction in domestic energy consumption? Isn't it just again the case, Mr Speaker, as with so many things, the Prime Minister talks a very good game, persuades himself and fails to deliver?
Prime Minister
I think he's rather glossed over what I've actually said which is that we will meet our Kyoto targets. And it's correct - at the moment - on the CO2 reductions we set a target of 20%. We are on track to get to 14%. But we've got to do even more. But let me tell him some of the things that we are doing: we've set a target for renewable energy by 2010. We're putting an obligation on energy suppliers to supply increasing proportions of energy from renewables. We have the climate change levy. I hope the whole House will now support us on maintaining the climate change levy. But we had to force it through this House when we actually introduced it, let me remind him. We've got the emissions trading agreement, which again is extremely important. And the measures in the Pre-Budget Report for energy, efficiency, innovation on which we are spending literally hundreds of millions of pounds. So it is not true that we are going to fail to meet our international targets. We are actually going to meet them. We've got more to do to meet our own domestic UK target but we are taking the measures necessary to do it.
ENDS
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