The government is following in Lord Palmerston’s footsteps, says Matthew Hodkin.
Lord Palmerston first backed the idea of reduced carbon emissions in promoting the Smoke Abatement Act 1853. In doing so he said he would not believe that Parliament would back ‘these smoke-producing monopolists’ who claimed that the additional costs to their business of complying with the new rules would make them unable to compete with the French. And this was at a time of economic boom as Britain rode the crest of the industrial revolution wave.
Notwithstanding the current economic position the government is following in Lord Palmerston’s footsteps and is pressing ahead with measures aimed at reducing the carbon emissions of the country over the next eight years despite concerns...
