CARRIER BAG TAX

Early day motion 593, tabled 28 January 2003 by Lynne Jones (Labour). Signed by 57 members.

That this House notes that plastic bags sent to landfill take around 500 years to decay and that the UK uses 500 million of these each week; congratulates the Republic of Ireland for introducing a tax on disposable carrier bags which has reduced their use by 90 per cent.; notes that the Irish tax has generally been popular and well received as it has reduced both litter and waste and that approximately ú5.7 million, to be spent on environmental initiatives, was raised during the first four months of the scheme; believes that a tax policy is the best way of reducing the 26 billion disposable carrier bags used in the UK per year; and therefore calls on the UK Treasury to implement a carrier bag tax based on the success of the Irish experience as soon as possible.

Signatures by party: Labour 35, Liberal Democrat 14, Labour/Co-operative 5, Plaid Cymru 3.