Seeing red on Britain's green plan

Much-heralded plans to make British homes greener, to be unveiled by the UK Government today, will actually lower environmental standards.

The plans - to be published as the Finance Minister announces the biggest house-building programme in half a century - will lay down lower requirements for saving energy and water than Government agencies enforce at present.

WWF-UK (formerly the World Wildlife Fund), the only environmental group on the body overseeing the plans, has resigned in protest.

Britain's homes are responsible for a third of the country's emissions of carbon dioxide, the main cause of global warming, and the Government's huge house-building plans in the southeast threaten a water crisis in parts of the region.

- INDEPENDENT