FSA chief voices support for higher fuel tax

As the pressure is mounting on the government to ease fuel taxes, the newly installed Financial Services Authority (FSA) chairman says higher energy prices are a ‘legitimate’ way to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Adair Turner, government’s climate change committee chairman and Gordon Brown’s chief adviser on climate change, told the Financial Times last Fridat, that, as a matter of principle, ‘everyone accepts that putting a price on carbon is a crucial instrument’ to cut emissions. ‘That will put up the price of energy and there is no way round that. We should not deny that is what these policies do,’ he said.

Lord Turner’s comments highlights the rising conflict between environmental policies, which demand increasing energy costs to encourage emission cuts, and the government’s need to respond to widening concerns over soaring energy prices.

Although he refrained directly from criticising Brown, who last week made a U-turn on motoring taxes and unveiled measures to ease fuel poverty, Lord Turner said there were ‘huge opportunities of energy efficiency’, and that emphasis should be on encouraging people to cut their fuel use, rather than easing price pressures.

Further reading:

Turner confirmed as FSA chairman

Darling promises to review fuel duty hike

Read the Financial Times story