£400,000 on WAG bag tax publicity is "too much"

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 8th Jun 2010

Welsh Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment Minister, Michael German, has criticised the decision by WAG Environment Minister Jane Davidson to spend nearly half a million pounds on a plastic bag tax public awareness campaign.

As budgets are set to become tighter over the next few years, Mr. German has called on the Environment Minister to rethink her decision to spend nearly half a million pounds on telling people that a levy will be introduced on plastic carrier bags.

Many retailers already charge for their plastic carrier bags and this is not a new concept.

It was revealed that the Minister was going to spend this amount of money during Finance Committee as she faced questions about the financial implications of the new scheme.

Mr. German, Welsh Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment Minister said:

"While I am fully supportive of the Environment Minister's decision to introduce a levy on plastic bags in an attempt to reduce the number of bags we use as a nation, it is not acceptable that nearly half a million pounds will be spent on raising awareness of it. Much publicity has already been given to this issue and people will be made aware of the levy when they go to the check out and pay 7p per plastic bag.

Some of the biggest retailers already charge for carrier bags so this issue is already common knowledge.

"We've been left with a terrible financial situation due to the previous Labour government and for that reason we must ensure that money in Wales is spent effectively. Since shops and retailers will be the ones collecting money and giving it to charities, it seems obvious that the biggest publicity we need is in the shops they and many have said that they are willing to publicise this issue. A few posters telling people about the levy and the charitable donations will suffice and £400,000 need not to be spent.

"I find it astonishing that the Labour-Plaid government here in Wales berates the cuts coming from London while they are doing little to prepare for the difficult times ahead. The Labour-Plaid government thinks that there is an endless pot of money to spend on whatever they want. That is not the case and the sooner they realise this the more money we can save to protect front line services. We must see more effective spending from this Labour-Plaid government".