First Minister offers ‘in principle support’ of private jet tax
The First Minister has called on Scots to unite to “make a renewed case for the value, for the necessity, of climate action itself.”
In a speech in Glasgow, the First Minister has restated his commitment to tackling climate change, claiming climate action is one of the four key priorities of his Government.
When challenged on if he would take necessary action to implement a tax on private jets, the First Minister said he was ‘in principle supportive’ but blamed bureaucratic hurdles for a lack of action to date.
Campaigners say with the powers to tax air passengers resting in the Scottish Government’s hands, the First Minister must ensure efforts to operationalise those powers are expedited.
More broadly, Oxfam Scotland says Scotland’s climate credibility is in crisis, with a worrying gap between rhetoric and reality.
Campaigners say attempts to blame financial pressures for recent climate failures is nothing more than a smokescreen for inaction, especially when taxing Scotland’s biggest and better off polluters, like private jet users, could raise millions for real climate solutions.
Jamie Livingstone, Head of Oxfam Scotland, said: "The First Minister’s rhetoric on climate action is very welcome, but words won’t cut emissions. Blaming financial pressures doesn’t justify stalling action; especially when a fair tax on the nearly 13,000 pollution-spewing private flights clogging Scotland’s skies could raise up to £30 million more annually. On average, the richer you are, the more you pollute, so it’s only fair that the biggest and better off polluters pay for the destruction they’re causing. Will the First Minister back his in-principle support for it with firm action?”
/ENDS
For more information and interviews, please contact: Rebecca Lozza, Oxfam Media and Communications Adviser, Scotland and Wales: rlozza1@oxfam.org.uk / 07917738450
