Emissions Based Hypocrisy

Brent Liberal Democrats have come out against our proposals for emissions based permits in today's papers. The egregious Cllr Daniel Brown claims the proposals are a disgrace "in view of Labour's election promises".

This is rather odd, given that one of Labour's promises was to introduce a permit system based on the "polluter pays" principle.

It is even odder as a reversal of their party's existing position. The first Council in London to adopt such a policy was the then Lib Dem administration in Richmond. Sarah Teather was much more aggressive on the subject, seeming to suggest she wanted to price SUVs off the road altogether. Cllr Daniel Brown himself seemed to support the principle when the Lib Dems and Tories were in office in Brent. Indeed I recall him telling us all at a Council meeting that he wanted to introduce a scheme based on "the Richmond model" to Brent. Of course, nothing was done about it as with so many Brent Liberal Democrat promises.

Now they seem to have abandoned a position that they have been defending for several years for the sake of mounting petty attacks on the Labour Party. How can anyone trust in the integrity of such people?