Who is in charge of the UK's environmental policy? Prime Minister Gordon Brown, environment secretary Hilary Benn perhaps, or is it Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre?

Based on the evidence of this week, my money's on Dacre. No sooner does the Dark Prince of Fleet Street launch a campaign to crack down on plastic bag waste than the prime minister finally signals he is willing to get tough on the supermarkets and introduce legislation to cut the number of plastic bags in circulation if voluntary targets are not met.

It seems that all those green businesses and environmental groups lobbying Whitehall have wasted their money; they'd have been better off wining and dining the Mail's editorial team.

It is a relatively minor incident but it emphasises the absurd level of caution that characterises the government's green policies. For years, ministers have wanted to do something about plastic bags and levels of supermarket waste but have been too scared to take any action. Now, the Daily Mail says it is OK and it immediately starts to get tough with retailers who for too long only played lip service to addressing the issue. Instead of taking a bold and popular move off his own back, Brown now looks as if he has been bounced into cracking down on plastic bags by the Mail.

Countless other good green policy ideas are being similarly ignored for want of a bit of bravery and imagination in Whitehall.

For example, as the Green Alliance's new report suggests, scaling back VAT in favour of a hefty levy on environmentally damaging products would be both popular and effective move that has been repeatedly mooted but has failed secure government support.

Meanwhile, it has been left to the Tories to develop an innovative mean of bolstering cleantech investment without recourse to taxpayers money in the form of its Green ISAs proposals.

At the same time, as our investigation this week revealed, Defra is scaling back successful green business support services because of a budget shortfall the Treasury could resolve with ease if it only saw the environment as a genuine priority.

Similarly, all the government's talk of a renewable energy revolution has to be seen in the light of another record year for wind farm planning application rejections.

All of this is not yet quite disastrous given the sheer scale of the cleantech investment coming out of the private sector and the increasing willingness of firms to embrace and develop innovative green technologies and business models.

And yet you can't help but think how much simpler everything would be if the government took the bold steps required to give these technologies and business models the helping hand they need to reach the mainstream.

Right, I'm off to try and find me some green wine.

Have a good weekend.

Cheers,

James