The Conservatives' promise we can vote blue to go green, but their policies are a confusing mish-mash of ideas with no apparent consistency.

They will legislate on food labelling to ensure we know if our beef is born and bred British, but have no formal targets for a more secure and localised food supply.

They won’t legislate to reduce waste or increase responsible disposal, preferring instead a voluntary agreement for manufacturers, yet insist on a goal of “a zero waste society”.

A Fair Fuel Stabiliser “would cut fuel duty when oil prices rise, and vice versa” which the Tories claim will provide a more stable environment for low carbon investment, but arguably will detract from the necessity of doing so by hiding from the public shocks in the market.

There are no mentions of targets to cut carbon dioxide levels to 80% of 1990 levels, as scientists say is a must, instead preferring to use 1990 as a benchmark for immigration levels. And, perhaps most ominously, the Conservatives intend to repeal the Hunting Act, making fox hunting once again a legal sport.

It’s hard to deny Labour have done a lot for the environment during their stint in power, but their manifesto is now a mountain of contradictions. People will be encouraged to “switch to lower carbon public transport” and we are promised reform of our railways, but then we’re hit with a stubborn insistence on a third runway at Heathrow.

Investment is offered in a high-speed railway from North to South, yet M25 widening is also a key policy.

One thing they do not shy away from, perhaps unsurprisingly, is legislation.

A “zero waste Britain” will be achieved through banning recyclable and biodegradable materials from landfill, and they “will legislate to introduce ‘Pay As You Save’ financing schemes under which home energy improvements can be paid for from the savings they generate on energy bills”.

Both parties are going nowhere new with their green policy, meandering around ideas borrowed from each other, tagging on suggestions where they’ll fit.

For ingenuity and fearlessness, the Liberal Democrats have trumped them both in quite spectacular fashion.

They say they will sort out aviation tax so flying within the UK is no longer cheaper than getting the train and invest in rail and lower ticket prices. They want to ensure economic growth occurs within environmentally sustainable parameters and introduce a green economic stimulus package. They say they will bring empty properties back into use, reduce pressure on the NHS by reducing air pollution, instate a target of carbon neutrality by 2050 and create zero targets for waste, deforestation and biodiversity loss.

They also want to restore the right to protest, and promise to refurbish shipyards in the north of England and Scotland to “manufacture offshore wind turbines and other marine renewable energy equipment”.

A clear index lays out how everything will be paid for and the big downer comes in the form of tax hikes, but only, they insist, as a last resort.