Welcome for plastic bag tax

Local MP, Andrew George, has welcomed the Deputy Prime Minister’s announcement that it is the intention of the Coalition Government to introduce a plastic bag tax from 2015.  Mr George had been leading the campaign in the Commons from his benches to encourage the Government to take on this policy.

Unfortunately, whilst Liberal Democrats had been pushing the proposal there was significant resistance from Tory Ministers – especially in the Treasury.

Mr George said:  “This is a significant step forward.  The plastic tax bag has proven to be a great success in Wales and very soon Cornwall and England will be the only places that do not have such a plastic bag tax.

“The impact of single use plastic bags on the environment is considerable and the tax alone doesn’t really compensate local authorities and the Environment Agency for the work that needs to be undertaken to deal with the problems caused by these bags – most of which will take hundreds if not thousands of years to biodegrade.”