British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday virtually dismissed calls for taxes on aviation fuel to help prevent global warming. Blair suggested the move - also being proposed by members of the European Union to finance development aid - could harm his chances in an expected May election. A tax on aviation fuel would push up the cost of flights. "I do not think you are going to have any political consensus saying we are going to slap some huge tax on people for cheap air travel," Blair told a parliamentary committee.
"Hands up around this table: how many politicians facing, let's say or not say, a potential election at some point in time in the not-too-distant future would vote to end cheap air travel?" he asked the cross-party committee of lawmakers.
Blair was answering questions about an aviation fuel tax to help combat climate change. He was not quizzed about a similar proposal to tax aviation to fund the fight against poverty.
At a G7 meeting last weekend, most European Union finance ministers supported a tax on kerosene, the high-powered fuel used by aircraft.
But German finance officials said the plan earned a cool response from the United Kingdom, which says it already has high energy taxes. Washington opposes taxes on aviation fuel.
Blair has put climate change and African poverty at the heart of Britain's presidency of the G8, to be showcased at a summit in July, but the election is expected to precede that. Opinion polls put Blair on track to win a third term.
The idea of an aviation tax, long pressed by environmentalists and Germany's Green Party, moved to the forefront of the international agenda last week when Germany and France joined up to support it.
European airlines have reacted angrily to the proposal.
Aviation is currently exempt from taxation on international air travel under the terms of the 1944 Chicago Convention.
Blair said steps to increase fuel efficiency to curb pollution by aircraft was the only way forward in the fight against climate change.