No other unionist party can deliver a lasting settlement in Northern Ireland, according to the Ulster Unionist Party leader.

Launching his party’s manifesto, David Trimble said “the job of firmly establishing peace and democracy is not yet finished”.

In a foreword to the 16-page document, Mr Trimble said there had been recent progress in the effort to rid Northern Ireland of paramilitaries.

“Progress occurred. Republicans talked of pursuing their objectives peacefully,” he said.

“They defined the Agreement as providing full and final closure of the conflict. But they failed to decommission in a manner to maximise public confidence or to give the assurance that this time the process would be completed.

“Nonetheless the job can be completed. We know what is needed. We understand the difficulties. We have stuck at it. And we know that there is no-one else in the unionist community who can do it.

“We want to see the assembly restored - but only when republicans have dealt conclusively with the issues of decommissioning, continued paramilitary activity and the effective winding-up of their private army.”

The UUP said Northern Ireland’s Assets Recovery Agency had to have sufficient funding to tackle paramilitary and criminal gangs.

‘Mobile classrooms’

The party’s manifesto pointed to its record in government and its pledges for devolution and the peace process.

The main points of the UUP manifesto include:

Nearly two-thirds of motorists would continue to drive even if a congestion charge was introduced in their area, a survey has found.

It also suggested that less than 60% of drivers would give up their cars for part of the day to help cut pollution.

Insurance firm Swiftcover’s survey follows news that the London charging zone is to expand from February 2007.

A recent Transport for London survey showed 63% of residents and 72% of firms were opposed to the extension.

Business warning

Swiftcover chief executive Anthony Blowers said the research proved that British drivers were not prepared to give up their cars, even if motoring costs spiralled.

He said: “A more effective strategy would be for the government to work with fuel suppliers and car manufacturers to reduce the cost of environmentally-friendly cars and increase the availability of refuelling stations.”

When the Chelsea and Kensington extension comes into effect, charging hours will end 30 minutes earlier at 6pm.

Mayor Ken Livingstone said the extension would reduce traffic in the zone by up to 22%, shaving five minutes off a typical journey time.

But critics say extending the zone will push traffic into Hammersmith and Fulham and could kill off local trade.

Originaly from Source

Budget airlines have been one of the business successes of the last decade. Led by easyJet and Ryanair more people are flying than ever before.

Eastern England, and in particular Stansted and Luton, airports have become the engines of this growth.

Low-cost airline easyJet claims it has created 30,000 jobs directly and indirectly through its growth.

Yet environmentalists say our love air fare with budget air travel means pollution and harmful greenhouse gas emissions are rising so fast that the government will miss its target to cut carbon dioxide from 1990 levels by 20% by 2010.

It is time, they say, to hike taxes on aviation.

At present travellers pay air passenger duty but there is no tax on aviation fuel, no VAT on the purchase of planes and no VAT on airline tickets.

Mary Edwards a “Friends of the Earth” East region campaigner said:

“Airlines are getting a free ride worth 9.2bn a year, equivalent to 300 per taxpayer.

“If they paid some of the above taxes the rest of us would be able to have lower National Insurance.”
Aviation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas.

At the carbon reduction unit at the University of East Anglia they say the need for action is urgent.

Dr Tovey: Energy Science Director at University of East Anglia

Dr Keith Tovey is the energy science director at the University of East Anglia’s carbon reduction project.

“If you fly to Sydney, Australia, a plane will emit 5.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide per passenger, which is as much as an average household will emit all year.”

The green lobby wants air passenger duty to go up in the Budget.

It is currently 5 a journey when you leave the UK on a short-haul flight.

Putting it up by, say, 10, as Friends of the Earth recommend, might reduce demand.

Mary Edwards of Friends of the Earth, said: “If people were to pay a full price for their ticket, not a subsidised price, they wouldn’t go off to Rome for a cup of coffee at the weekend, which is what industry is based upon now.”

The airlines point out they are busy buying new aircraft which pollute less than old ones.

And they are discussing an emissions trading scheme to take account of environmental damage.

As for a levy on aviation fuel, there are international treaties in place which say it should be exempt from tax.

For Britain to work in isolation of other countries seems impossible, according to experts.

Dr Peter Morrell, Cranfield University, said: “If the UK tried to introduce a fuel tax it would be against these treaties.

“Norway tried to do it but had to back down.”

But would Gordon Brown really want to hamper that growth with higher taxes in his budget?

Might the motorist be an easier target. The RAC Foundation is calling for a new 200 tax disc for gas guzzling vehicles.

Sheila Rainger, of the RAC Foundation said: “We wish to see a bigger difference between the taxation of cars.

“Smaller cars paying less, and those with very large engines, polluting the most, paying more.”

The Prime Minister has described climate change as the greatest issue facing the planet. Critics say it is high time his Government faced up to that challenge.

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The Liberal Democrats were warned against lurching to the right as they debated the policies they will campaign on at the general election.

“We don’t need three right-wing parties in Britain,” Donnachadh McCarthy of the Camberwell and Peckham party said during a manifesto debate.

An amendment restating the party’s commitment to a free and publicly funded NHS was passed unanimously.

It follows calls from some senior party members for the NHS to be disbanded.

‘Progressive’

In an essay in the Orange Book on Liberal thinking, Treasury spokesman David Laws urged the party to consider bringing in a private health insurance scheme to help fund the NHS.

This and other essays in the book have provoked an internal debate on which way the Lib Dems are heading, although many have dismissed the arguments as an attempt to court Tory voters.

Mr McCarthy told delegates at the party’s conference in Bournemouth: “We don’t need to follow New Labour to the right… We remain at the progressive centre left.”

“Pure markets don’t provide decent housing, working conditions or health care for the poor,” he added.

Former health spokesman Evan Harris also backed the amendment saying he was disappointed the commitment to abolish charges for dental and eye check-ups, for example, had not been included in the pre-manifesto.

Mr Kennedy opened the conference by condemning the Iraq war

But delegates backed the party’s pre-manifesto, which includes plans to end all university fees and bring in free personal care of the elderly, adopting it as policy.

A new 50% tax rate for all earnings above 100,000 a year would help fund the policies.

It was the first chance the wider party has had to debate the full package the leadership wants to campaign on when they face the electorate.

Delegates also heard plans for “green incentives” to cut pollution.

Speaking on the BBC’s Breakfast, Mr Kennedy claimed the party had both Labour and the Conservatives rattled, following attacks in the left and right-wing press.

“The Liberal Democrats are something different, the party of the future. We are going places and that is why we are under attack, but we are up for it,” he said.

Lib Dem campaigns chief Lord Razzall predicted his party would form the next non-Labour government, adding: “The Tories are finished.”

The Lib Dems insist their plans are fully costed but Labour Chief Secretary to the Treasury Paul Boateng said their figures did not add up.

Class sizes

“The Lib Dem draft manifesto adds significant further costs to the 100 separate spending commitments they’ve made over the last two years,” said Mr Boateng.

The conference in Bournemouth also debated the future of Iraq and a motion calling for the coalition to account fully for the expenditures of the Iraq development fund and cash gained from Iraq’s oil revenues.

The party has also been debating its education policy, which not only includes scrapping tuition and top-up fees for universities but calls for increased vocational opportunities for youngsters aged over 14.

Education spokesman Phil Willis promised to limit class sizes to 20 for five to seven-year-olds and 25 for eight to 10-year-olds.

The government’s limit of 30 per class did not go far enough, he said.

Delegates also heard calls from transport spokesman John Thurso for a high-speed rail link between Edinburgh and London.

The Lib Dems say work on the link, which would cost up to 12bn and take pressure off the existing network, could begin in 2013 and be completed 10 years later.

Originaly from Source