Date-sliding

We are used to government U-turns. Indeed, we welcome them, with the proviso that we’d have preferred it if the wrong policies had not been proposed in the first place. Still, better late than never.

There is, however, a form of change that is not quite a U-turn, but does involve the non-implementation of the policy. This happens when the target date for the policy to take effect is pushed further into the future. The government has not abandoned the policy, but has postponed it. This should be called ‘date-sliding.’

The implication is that the policy will eventually take effect, but later than planned. There is no guarantee that it will ultimately happen because it could be slipped further ahead or abandoned during the extra time given before it happens. Or a new government could take office and decide to abandon it altogether before the new target date.

HS2 is probably the most notorious example of date-sliding, but there are others. The Carbon Budget Delivery plan and the Statutory Climate Action plan have both had their implementation kicked further down the road, as has the enforcement of the Climate and Nature Bill. Some commentators might say that this is a good thing, given the limitations they would impose on business and growth.

The achievement of Net Zero has been delayed, and might yet be abandoned, given the stranglehold it puts on commercial development and expansion. The phase-out of petrol and diesel fuels for vehicles has been put back, and may yet be overturned.

What has happened reflects a change in priorities. Seemingly worthy climate goals were set without due consideration of the costs they would impose. As those costs began to manifest themselves, government retreated by weakening them or postponing the need for compliance.

The point often made in these pages is that if the policies make us poorer, we lack the funds to deal with the problems they were designed to confront. Richer countries can tackle environmental problems much more readily than can poorer ones. Date-sliding on the targets represents a recognition of that fact.

Madsen Pirie