“Whenever there is a genuine combination of carrots and sticks proposed there is popular support for the ideas. So, 80 percent of people favour raising taxes on gas guzzling cars while reducing those on low emission vehicles. Equally, 83 percent support lowering stamp duty on energy efficient homes. By contrast, 70 percent oppose charging people to park in supermarket car parks and 54 percent disagree with the idea of putting VAT on short haul flights. A green agenda that worked on encouraging good behaviour as much as punishing bad would be both good for the planet and a vote winner.”

This is what most of the proposals in the Gummer-Goldsmith report aim to do – reward environmentally good behaviour, and disincentivise behaviour which is environmentally bad.

Allowing local authorities to require supermarkets to charge for parking could (depending on how it is carried out) encourage people to make fewer trips to the supermarket and/or encourage people to use their local shops more.

Personally I think I’d go further than just adding VAT onto short-haul domestic flights with a realistic train alternative… I would argue that VAT and fuel duty ought to be paid on aviation fuel as well as petrol/diesel etc. Airlines surely don’t need subsidising any more. Enough of us make the choice to fly. Obviously this is not just a matter for the UK, but I think it’s something we should be arguing for.