Seeing through the green

The chubby green giant has finally lain some cards on the table. After over a year of harassing huskies, extolling the virtues of wind turbines on bungalows and wearing recycled trainers, David Cameron has at last put his money where his carbon offset mouth is and announced a policy. Yes, having obviously worked out that political leadership does actually consist of more than a series of photo opportunities, Cameron yesterday proclaimed that a Conservative government would introduce VAT on airline fuel and set up an ‘green air miles’ system for travellers, where those flying further than an allotted distance would pay tax on each extra mile. The current system of one-size-fits-all air passenger duty would be scrapped.

So far, so good. Environmental groups have been campaigning for this kind of legislation for many years, arguing that the exemption of aviation fuel from VAT is an archaic hangover from World War Two that is now, with the aviation industry producing nearly 5% of total carbon emissions, indefensible. And the ‘pay as you fly’ system of tax is undoubtedly a fair one, allowing the average one holiday a year family the chance to jet off to the Maldives while penalising the globe-trotting businessman who can more than afford to pay a little extra.

But as ever with Cameron, when you peel back the PR-savvy ‘concerned of Notting Hill’ façade, all is not quite as it seems. As much as he would have us believe his party is a new breed of caring, sharing Tory, back in touch with the world after ten years of navel gazing, the unfortunate reality is that behind the photographs of troubled expressions in front of dilapidated council estates and support for gay adoption is the same old conservative policy backbone of tax cuts, top down traditional morality and business-first fiscality.

As Cameron himself says, "any green taxes we introduce will be offset by cutting taxes on families, or on business, one for one". In other words, he is using his green credentials as a cover for the very same time-honoured Tory policies that were roundly defeated at the last three elections. Tax cuts ‘on business’ will no doubt be centred on that great Middle England ogre of ‘red tape’, usually applied to any attempt by government or the EU to implement legislation protecting worker’s human rights or health and safety, while Cameron’s plans for ‘family friendly’ tax breaks have already been announced. It seems that to Cameron a true ‘family’ is only one that mirrors an Enid Blyton novel – mummy and daddy, married and happy and forever true, with little Tommy skipping wholesomely beneath their feet. Tough luck if you are stuck on benefits alone, through no fault of your own, in a disintegrating tower block flat with three children; thanks to your impertinence in not asking god to bless your holy union, you get nothing.

Presumably Cameron is taking this traditional pro-family stance to reassure the Tory core voters that in his drive to modernise, he hasn’t forgotten them. Of course, the paradox with the tax breaks for marriage policy is that people in gay marriages will be included within the lucky few, an unforeseen aspect that I severely doubt the blue-rinse brigade will be happy with. But there is a pattern emerging here. Despite the constant comparisons with Blair and the recognition that the Conservatives have to appear to be engaged with Britain as it is now rather than as it is in one of Norman Tebbit’s wet dreams, as soon as Cameron is forced to get down to the nitty-gritty of hard policy he all too easily reverts back to the failed post-Thatcher Tory consensus of Major, Hague, Duncan-Smith and Howard. His attitude to the EU – he intends to pull out of the mainstream centre right coalition to form a new far right EU sceptics group, which will include the climate change denying loony that is Czech President Vaclav Klaus – and the mess that was 2006’s John Redwood-led tax commission’s report are just two more examples.

The electorate, despite regular appearences to the contrary, are not stupid. They will eventually see past the green spotlight that Cameron is shining in their eyes to divert their attention away from what is a fundamentally traditionalist agenda. The environment does not, even in these eco-enlightened times, win elections. And, despite what the media tells us, politics is not just about presentation. Substance still matters, and substance is what will be Cameron’s downfall.