Michael Gove says Britons are ready to pay more tax to help save the environment

Michael Gove has said the British public is ready to pay extra charges and taxes if it helps preserve the natural environment.

The Environment Secretary said the success of the charge on plastic bags showed people would be willing to take a financial hit as long as the policy behind it works.

It comes as the Government published its 25-year plan on environmental policy, which includes consulting on whether further taxes and charges could be used to curb the use of plastics.

The Independent launched a campaign last week backing a 25p charge on all disposable cups, with waste from them posing a burgeoning problem for the UK.

Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, if he was prepared to tell listeners they would have to pay for a cleaner environment, he said: “Yes. There are two things I would say. The first is that people are already prepared to pay more in order to help the environment.

“That’s been one of the lessons of the success of the plastic bag tax, people are prepared to pay that additional 5p and indeed to reduce the use of plastic.

“The second thing is there is now tension, indeed there is every harmony in thinking seriously about the environment and long term economic sustainable growth.”

In a speech on Thursday, the Prime Minister will commit the UK to eliminating all avoidable plastic waste by 2042 as she launches the Government’s environmental plan for the next 25-years.

Under the pledge waste such as the carrier bags, food packaging and disposable plastic straws that litter the country and pollute the seas would be abolished.

The broader 25-year plan, first promised three years ago, will also urge supermarkets to set up “plastic-free aisles” for goods with no packaging and confirm plans to extend the 5p charge for carrier bags to all English retailers.

The PM will also task civil servants to look at how the tax system or charges could further reduce the amount of waste, while putting out a call for evidence on reducing the use of single-use plastics.

But the target and the wider plan was given a frosty reception from environmental groups with one leading organisation saying it “lacks urgency, detail and bite”, while another said the country “can’t afford to wait” so long.