Chancellor announces boiler scrappage scheme in Pre-Budget Report
The Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling has announced measures to introduce a scrappage scheme for boilers in his Pre-Budget Report in order to help build a low carbon recovery for the UK.
It is part of one of his key green initiatives to “support the economy until recovery is established”.
Announcing the measures, Darling said: “Building on our successful car scrappage scheme, I will help up to 125,000 homes replace the most inefficient boilers with new models.”
The Greener Boiler Incentive scheme will offer £400 to households with the least efficient working boilers to upgrade to the highest efficiency models, saving households around £230 a year in energy bills. The scheme will also mean more old boilers will be available for scrap.
The Chancellor also announced that he will be investing in green technologies through the Innovation Investment Fund [Government fund for technology-based businesses] and the Carbon Trust’s Venture Capital scheme, which it will support with at least £160 million of public and private investment.
He also committed to investing £90m in the European Investment Bank’s new 2020 fund, which will enable €6.5bn of finance for green infrastructure projects.
Environmental lobby group Aldersgate Group chairman Peter Young welcomed the funding announcement but said the EIB “cannot be relied upon to deliver renewable technologies in the UK at the scale and pace required”.
He added: 'There were some broadly positive announcements for environmental industries in the Pre-Budget Report but a more urgent approach to financing green technologies is needed for the Government to meet its low carbon targets. The majority of this can be delivered by the private sector but only with significant government commitment.
“The adoption of new financial mechanisms, such as green bonds and a green infrastructure bank, would accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy and lead to the creation of the highly skilled and highly paid jobs that the Chancellor is targeting.”
The Chancellor mentioned the “bleak news last week that Corus is to shut its Teesside plant underlined that the reduction in global demand will have an impact on jobs for some time to come”. (see MRW story)
He continued: “That’s why yesterday, I agreed, with the Secretary of State for Business, to provide £30m from within existing resources to help industry in Teesside.
“Again no Government, even during times of the strongest economic growth, can prevent every job loss.”
In order to secure economic recovery and promote long-term growth, the Chancellor said he will introduce a 10 per cent corporation tax rate on income which stems from patents in the UK.
He also declared initiatives to help small businesses and has deferred the increase in corporation tax for smaller companies. Darling said: “This will leave the 2010 tax rate unchanged for 850,000 small businesses – helping them until recovery is secured.”
VAT will change from 15 per cent to 17.5 per cent as of from 1 January and no other changes to VAT will take place.
The Chancellor will also extend the ‘Time to Pay’ scheme that defers tax rises and extends tax allowances for businesses.
-
Most popular related searches
Customer comments
No comments were found for Chancellor announces boiler scrappage scheme in Pre-Budget Report. Be the first to comment!