Clause 31 - Directions to waste collection
Waste and Emissions Trading Bill [Lords]
3:30 pm
Mr Paddy Tipping (Sherwood, Labour)
I am sure that the hon. Gentleman is not raising any party political issue. Under the last Conservative Government, revenue support grant fell by 7 per cent. Under the Labour Government, the amount of money going to local councils has increased by 25 per cent. That is one of the issues that is being discussed in the Chamber today with, I suppose, Thursday on hon. Members' minds. However, the hon. Gentleman makes a fair point in that responsibilities are placed on local councils, and it is not always entirely clear where the funding for those responsibilities is coming from. There is an amazing lack of transparency in the environmental and cultural block grant in support for local authorities. One has to be a magician to understand what goes into that pot and what needs to be paid out of it.
The purpose of the amendment tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton, Test is to say to the Minister gently that there will be a growing demand for variable charging in the long term. Having reviewed the international literature, I conclude that a strong case is beginning to pile up with implications for the UK. I put it no more strongly than that. It must be right. It is one of the emerging themes of government. It has been slow coming from the Treasury, but we need new green legislation. We also need taxation that takes into account what one pays for the pollution that one produces.
As householders, we all produce waste. I am not asking for the amendment to be accepted, but there is a strong argument for considering what would happen to domestic household waste if householders were rewarded for segregating their waste and for producing less of it. We would all be winners if we moved towards that situation. I hope that this afternoon's brief discussion has raised the issue's profile. I appreciate that the Minister might not be
able to make much progress on the matter at the moment, but in the long term this campaign will grow and will, I believe, eventually succeed.