Tuesday 21 July 2009

"..They say the sky high above is Caribbean blue.."

Floella Benjamin has realised that there’s a case to make that the government’s green taxes might be racist:
At my local train station, the normally chirpy lady behind the glass booth in the ticket office looked sad and forlorn. Her grandmother in Trinidad had died and she couldn't afford the fares to attend the funeral.

Next year, though, things will get even tougher for people like her, when the departure tax for flights to the Caribbean will shoot up by almost 100%. When I told her this, she replied angrily: "Pretty soon you're going to have to pay to breathe in this country, it's just not fair."
Welcome to NuLabour’s Britain, love…
Under the new Air Passenger Duty (APD) scheme, which began life as a green measure aimed at reducing aviation emissions, the tax will be calculated according to the distance in miles from London to the capital city of the destination country. This all sounds fine in theory, but the system places the Caribbean in a more expensive band than the US. Not only will this make the tax on a flight to the Caribbean higher than for a flight to southern Florida – both roughly equidistant from London – but it will also result in travellers on a flight to Hawaii, some 7,200 miles from London, paying less than those going to the Caribbean, 4,000 miles away. How is this in the interest of reducing emissions?
None of it is in the interests of reducing emissions.

It’s in the interests of seeming ‘green’, and increasing stealth taxes, and ensuring that enough of the hoi-polloi are priced out of the market to ensure a comfortable flight for the rich, and the people not using their own money to pay for flights – ministers, journalists, heads of charities, etc.

Our new ruling class, in other words.

Still, good luck with the ‘Is it ‘cos we is black?’ tactic:
The duty will hit British Caribbean families hard. Many of those who migrated to Britain in the 1950s and 60s are reaching their twilight years and they and their children are travelling back to their homelands to retire or for christenings, weddings and family funerals.
Perhaps a complaint to the Equality Commission is in order, Floella?
Not surprisingly, Britain's Caribbean community is deeply concerned about the livelihoods of their friends and families. They are angry at the injustice of the system, angry about the possibility that from November they will find it much harder to visit their loved ones or conduct business in the region, and very concerned that the Caribbean will be at a competitive disadvantage to neighbouring destinations in the US.
So vote! And don’t vote Green, or anyone else in hock to the ‘man made global warming’ theory.

Sadly, that doesn’t leave you with many options come election day…
Treasury minister Sarah McCarthy Fry defended the proposal, but agreed to look further at the US v Caribbean disparity. This is encouraging, but the pressure needs to be kept up for the sake of my friendly ticket lady and thousands like her.
Actually, it needs to be kept up for the sake of everybody, not just ‘your friendly ticket lady’.

Because these people don’t give up. Ever. Not until we are all, as your ticket lady put it, ‘paying to breathe’…

12 comments:

Sue said...

What about asian people? Will it affect them too? Many of them travel back and forth to Pakistan and India visiting relatives.

Letters From A Tory said...

Like Sue said, I doubt the Caribbean is the only affected area. Such a shame that green taxes never achieve what they are supposed to.

Old BE said...

Just fly via Paris?

Ross said...

If the law is so clunky as to treat Hawaii as being closer than the Caribbean then perhaps it would be possible to fly to a British or French overseas territory in the Caribbean and then onto wherever it is they want to go. Martiniques and Guadaloupe have the same constitutional status relative to France as Hawaii has to the USA, and their capital city is Paris.

Blognor Regis said...

Go to either Guadeloupe or Martinique (capital city Paris) and take a boat. Problem solved. Usual consultancy fees apply.

Blognor Regis said...

Damn you Ross!

Anonymous said...

I'm sure that government will be able to introduce an assisted fares scheme for members of our immigrant communities, obviously not means tested otherwise how will the fraudsters make a fortune?

patently said...

Shock News Just In - Minority group discovers that pointless nannying meddling government regulations apply to them, too.

JuliaM said...

"Like Sue said, I doubt the Caribbean is the only affected area."

Nope, it isn't. They have just been the first to get into print.

"If the law is so clunky as to treat Hawaii as being closer than the Caribbean.."

Indeed..

"Shock News Just In - Minority group discovers that pointless nannying meddling government regulations apply to them, too."

Oh, yes. It rather reminded me of this case in the States...

blueknight said...

Playing the Racism Card is a wise move. It trumps green issues and carbon footprints.
If sexual orientation can be thrown into the mix as well, that will help

JuliaM said...

"If sexual orientation can be thrown into the mix as well, that will help"

Difficult to see how, but I'm sure some group somewhere is working on it!

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