Facing the liaison committee, - a panel of the heads of all the government's select committees, - the Prime Minister was adamant that global warming would be best tackled by the introduction of a global carbon market and that science would allow us to continue the lifestyles to which we have grown used.
Asked by Tim Yeo, chair of the environmental audit committee, whether the £5 raise in air passanger duty was a "hefty whack or just a light tap" on air travellers, Blair said that it would have "some impact." He added that it was not "serious or practicable" to tell people not to travel, and that cheap flights had been "a great bonus to people."
The Prime Minister continued to insist that science would come to the rescue. He called for more money to be put into fuel cell, carbon capture and storage, and nuclear research. When challenged by Michael Jack, chair of the Defra committee, that measures needed to be bolder and more revolutionary, Mr. Blair replied:
"We'll be radical and bold but also sensible and practical."
This article first appeared in the Ecologist February 2007
