Porritt attacks Cameron's 'green' record

The chances that David Cameron will fulfil his promise to lead the "greenest government ever" are "vanishingly remote", Friends of the Earth has warned.

Jonathon Porritt, former chairman of the Sustainable Development Commission, warned that policies which would have enabled the Government to deliver its green pledges are being delayed, watered down or abandoned. The commission was abolished in March and there is now no official body taking stock of the Government's record on the environment. But in a Friends of the Earth report, Mr Porritt has done a progress check on 78 "green" policies, and found little or no progress on 59. He judged that 30 are "moribund".

Problems include the failure by the Chancellor, George Osborne, to reform aviation tax, and his refusal to let the Green Investment Bank borrow funds at least until 2015.

"The Prime Minister's own credibility is at stake here," Mr Porritt said. "As is that of the Liberal Democrats, who have clearly failed to use their influence inside the Coalition to ensure a better performance on the environment.... Things are going to have to change dramatically to make up lost ground."