Explaining Conservative thinking on the environment as campaigning begins to warm up prior to the next general election, Mr Howard insisted that a Conservative government would make the environment a “very important priority”.
The Conservative leader said climate change “is one of mankind's greatest challenges” warning, “We cannot predict with certainty what will happen now. But the risk of abrupt climate change certainly exists.”
Speaking as the “first UK political party leader to have served as environment secretary”, Mr Howard recalled bringing in the Landfill Tax and producer responsibility for packaging waste during his party's last term in office. But, he said that he supported “green taxes” only where they did not increase taxation overall.
He explained: “Tax systems can be used to improve green behaviour – but that doesn't mean putting taxes up overall. It is perfectly reasonable to adjust tax to improve green behaviour without increasing the overall tax.”
The Conservative leader's views on green taxes were somewhat in contrast to last month's supposedly leaked government proposals to charge householders for the amount of non-recyclable waste they throw away. Then Mr Howard opposed the idea.
Emissions
Mr Howard spoke briefly about waste and recycling and commented: “In local government, where we are the largest party, eight out of the ten best councils for recycling are Conservative.”
The government came in for strong criticism for its approach to implementing European directives. Mr Howard said “their incompetence in managing European legislation has been unbelievable”, particularly on the regulations for the recycling and disposal of fridges.
And, Mr Howard backed up recent Conservative calls to cut down on “wastage” in Defra and axe over a thousand Environment Agency jobs, as well as insisting that the government had been inflicting too much “red tape” on consumers and businesses.
He said: “Labour have failed to engage the British people, whose decisions as consumers, taxpayers and parents are of crucial importance in shifting Britain towards being a low carbon economy. In fact, over issues like fridge mountains, they have alienated them.
“Because of Labour's high-handedness, consumers, communities and small firms now more often than not see environmental regulation as a burden and a hindrance, rather than what it should be, as a step towards a sustainable future,” he added.
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