10 Jun 2024by James Chapple
The Liberal Democrats have set out a range of policies designed to mitigate and reduce the carbon impact of air travel, and to shift the tax burden from flying onto frequent flyers.
The party, led by Sir Ed Davey, on Monday (10 June) unveiled five missions to “reduce the climate impact of flying” in its 2024 general election manifesto, including a new “super tax” on private jets flights.
Other ambitions include halting all airport expansion in London, banning short domestic flights that could instead by completed by rail, and requiring airlines to publish emissions data for domestic flights compared with the equivalent rail journey at point of booking.
The Lib Dems are the first party in the UK to publish their manifesto ahead of the general election, with the Conservatives, Labour, Greens, SNP, Plaid Cymru and Reform UK poised to follow this week.
Framing its air travel policy purely in terms of climate preservation, the party said it would reform taxation of international flights “to focus on those who fly the most”.
It said this would have a knock-on positive impact for “ordinary households” by reducing costs for those taking “one or two” international return flights a year.
The manifesto contains no further details of its proposed “super tax” on private jet flights, but the part does commit to removing VAT exemptions for private, first-class and business-class flights.
It makes no mention either of the existing taxes levied on flights, such as Air Passenger Duty, for which new rates for this year and 2025/26 were revealed in the Budget earlier this year.
APD was originally introduced in the mid-1990s as a “green” tax on flying, but the proceeds have never actually been put towards mitigating the environmental impact of aviation. These, instead, go into the general tax pool for redistribution as the Treasury sees fit.
The Lib Dems’ other aviation and climate policies are:
- Requiring airlines to show the carbon emissions for domestic flights compared to the equivalent rail option at booking;
- Banning short domestic flights where a direct rail option taking less than 2.5 hours is available for the same journey, unless planes are alternative-fuelled; and
- Placing a moratorium on net airport expansion until a national capacity and emissions management framework is in place, and opposing the expansion of Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, Stansted or London City airports and any new airport in the Thames Estuary.
Alethea Warrington, senior campaigner at climate charity Possible, said: It’s welcome to see policy which recognises the reality that the level of flying has to go down if the UK is to fulfil our climate goals – and also that the small group of people who fly excessively are the ones who have to change their behaviour.
“The Lib Dems’ proposals to tax the small group of people who fly the most, while avoiding placing higher costs on the majority of people who already fly rarely, are a huge step forward.”
Greenpeace UK head of politics Rebecca Newsom said the party was “showing a willingness” to “take on the UK’s private jet-setters”. “The super-rich bear a far greater responsibility for the carbon already heating our planet, and together with polluting companies they should pay a much greater share of the costs.”
