Proposals to limit the number of flights departing from UK airports as part of a strategy to combat climate change have been rejected by the Liberal Democrats.
The suggestion, made by the chairman of the climate change committee, Lord Turner, is designed to form part of a series of measures to reduce the country’s carbon emissions.
Specifically, the government’s ‘environment tsar’ told the Commons audit committee that individuals would be given “personal flights limits”.
Lord Turner said: “We will have to constrain demand in an absolute sense, with people not allowed to make as many journeys as they could in an unconstrained manner.”
However, this initiative, which would reduce the number of foreign holidays passengers could take, was rejected by Norman Baker, Liberal Democrat transport spokesman.
He said: “There is an absolute need to recognise the serious climate change implications of aviation but 1940s-style rationing is not the way forward.”
