PM vows huge cut in fumes... but are your hols at risk?

A FREQUENT flyer tax, a gas boiler ban and electric-only car sales could all be soon on the way after Boris Johnson pledged that the UK will slash its greenhouse gas emissions by 78 per cent over the next 14 years.

The prime minister said the goal, to be enshrined in law, would be a step towards achieving zero emissions by 2050 and would help to keep global warming above 2C.

‘We want to continue to raise the bar on tackling climate change,’ he added. ‘That’s why we’re setting the most ambitious target in the world.

‘The UK will be home to pioneering businesses, new technologies and green innovation, laying the foundations for decades of economic growth in a way that creates thousands of jobs.’

Mr Johnson said new technology would allow the target to be met while preserving people’s ‘freedom of choice’. But a flying tax and boiler ban were called for in a report last year by the Independent Climate Change Committee.

The report said annual state investment of £50billion would be needed by 2030 to hit the emissions goal.

It suggested slashing passenger numbers on planes by 15 per cent and encouraging people to cut their meat and dairy consumption by a fifth.

And it called for all homes to be upgraded to improve energy efficiency, supported by government grants of up to £10,000. However, No.10 last night distanced the government from those suggestions. ‘Our published analysis [for a 78 per cent cut] is based on the government’s own assumptions and does not, for example, assume the CCC’s change in people’s diet,’ a spokesman said.

No.10 will unveil more details before November’s COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow, he added. But critics say radical changes are needed for Britain to even come close to achieving the target. ‘Too many times we’ve seen big promises not backed up with real plans’, Greenpeace said. Shadow business secretary Ed Miliband added: ‘No.10 can’t be trusted to match rhetoric with reality.’