Philip Hammond blasts Michael Gove for piling green taxes like the ‘latte levy’ on shoppers
The Environment Secretary has claimed Brits would 'pay more to help the environment' — but the Chancellor wants to use tax incentives on producers and retailers instead
AN explosive Cabinet row has broken out over green taxes, The Sun can reveal.
Chancellor Philip Hammond has privately blasted Michael Gove’s radical approach to cutting plastic waste - arguing that it wrongly targets consumers.
Mr Hammond has told Treasury insiders that he’s “not interested” in creating new taxes such as the 25p on disposable coffee cups backed by the Environment Secretary earlier this year.
Mr Gove described the so-called ‘latte levy’ as an “exciting idea” and also claimed the British public were “prepared to pay more in order to help the environment”.
In a dig at Mr Gove, Mr Hammond told friends that he wants to take a “more intelligent” approach such as using “very small but significant tax incentives” on producers and retailers.
He believes this approach would force businesses to “take more responsibility over the products they choose rather than increasing taxes on consumers,” a source close to the Chancellor said.
The source told The Sun: “The Chancellor takes the view that we’re not particularly excited about creating new taxes like coffee cup taxes and so on, which are just going to hit working people.
“We’re much more interested in if we can do something that we think is more intelligent that is very small but significant tax incentives on the retailers and producers which will make them change behaviour and hopefully not hurt customers at all.”
The Treasury insider added: “There are more systemic ways to change the system and get retailers and producers to take more responsibility over the products they choose rather than increasing taxes on consumers, which at the end of the day means more money for hardworking people when they shop in the supermarket.
“That’s our approach.”
The Treasury insider added: “There are more systemic ways to change the system and get retailers and producers to take more responsibility over the products they choose rather than increasing taxes on consumers, which at the end of the day means more money for hardworking people when they shop in the supermarket. That’s our approach.”
Mr Hammond’s attack on Mr Gove follows a similar rebuke by his deputy Liz Truss, who used a speech in June to openly mock Mr Gove over his nanny state crackdown on disposable cups, plastic straws and wood-burning stoves.
Earlier this month the Treasury signalled it would announce a new “plastic tax” on firms selling single-use water bottles, takeaway boxes and coffee cups.
The levy will be charged on businesses producing “bad” plastics in to encourage them to use recycled plastics instead.
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News of the row comes as the Government prepares to double the charge for plastic bags to 10p.
And the levy - which has lead to a dramatic drop in the use of supermarket bags - is to be rolled out to smaller retailers amid fresh environmental measures to be unveiled within days.
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