As the Chancellor announces the latest government budget, we’ve assessed the promises being made and ask: where’s the green investment?
It’s high time for the greenest budget ever – but today’s budget announcement doesn’t deliver this.
We at CPRE have followed today’s 2021 budget announcement by the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, hoping to see real green investment to help the economy recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
And the government has claimed to have a real commitment to green growth. This budget could have been an opportunity to see positive change for the countryside and climate.
As the Chancellor announces the latest government budget, we’ve assessed the promises being made and ask: where’s the green investment?
It’s high time for the greenest budget ever – but today’s budget announcement doesn’t deliver this.
We at CPRE have followed today’s 2021 budget announcement by the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, hoping to see real green investment to help the economy recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
And the government has claimed to have a real commitment to green growth. This budget could have been an opportunity to see positive change for the countryside and climate.
'The green leadership that the government’s rhetoric promises isn’t borne out.'
But, in the words of our CEO Crispin Truman, this budget ‘simply doesn’t add up’. The green leadership that the government’s rhetoric promises isn’t borne out, as we see economic policies being pursued that could disadvantage the lives of people in rural communities and worsen the climate crisis.
Missed chances to balance rural and urban
The challenges to the economy following the impact of the pandemic could have been met head-on with climate-friendly, community-boosting green measures. At CPRE, we’re looking to see moves from the government towards levelling up between urban and rural investment as well as money towards green industries that could bring a wave of new jobs.
But what we’ve seen today is that, once again, the Chancellor has not put his money where his mouth is. It’s not right that government spending per person on public infrastructure is 44% higher for urban areas than it is for rural areas without major cities – but far from using this budget to address this, the government has let this chance slide past.
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Posted On: 03/03/2021