LIBERAL Democrats in the Westcountry face a backlash over plans to impose a £20 levy on all domestic flights.

Airlines in the region claim they could be forced to axe routes, which can cut travel times to northern cities or the capital from up to six hours to 60 minutes.

Flybe said the "calamitous and naïve" proposals posed a "real threat" to the region's economic recovery.

Lib-Dem leader Nick Clegg insisted the new green tax proposal – which could raise £400 million a year – was needed to send a clear message to people to cut their emissions.

It formed part of his plan to target the wealthiest members of society.

Combined with new green taxes, anti-avoidance measures and cutting relief for high-earners, the Lib-Dems want to lift four million people out of income tax altogether.

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The starting threshold for income tax would be raised to £10,000 a year, meaning anybody earning less than that would pay nothing while most people would enjoy a £700 cut.

The introduction of a levy on domestic flights aims to "discourage travellers from choosing air travel over land travel for routes in which the latter is readily available".

It claims it would not "unfairly penalise" people who live in the geographical "extremes of the country" by only applying between destinations where a train ride would take more than six hours.

But Flybe chief commercial officer Mike Rutter accused the Lib-Dem "metropolitan elite" of drawing up "unworkable plans that ignore the world outside the M25".

"Bizarrely, given the number of seats the party currently holds in the Westcountry, this tax would have a direct impact on thousands of their own constituents," he said.

"I'm not a politician, but the idea of slapping an extra £20 on regional aviation seems to be an attack on their own constituents who choose to fly in order to do business or take a well-deserved break.

"A curious case of political self-flagellation, indeed."

The Lib-Dem tax policy document did not include a fixed amount for the levy but Mr Clegg told BBC Radio 4 that it would increase "average price of an airline ticket by £20". Travelling by train, the early morning Newquay to London Paddington service takes five hours and 28 minutes, with two changes. By contrast, a flight from Newquay airport to London City takes one hour, 45 minutes. An Anytime Single rail fare would be £119.50, while a flight currently costs £111. The same ticket on a fast train from Exeter to Manchester costs £90 and takes four hours, 17 minutes while a flight lasts only one hour and five minutes, with a £101.39 price tag.

Mr Clegg said: "Our plans represent the most radical, far-reaching tax reform in a generation.

"They embody everything the Liberal Democrats stand for – fairness, protecting the environment, rewarding hard work. It is right to ask those with the broadest shoulders to bear a little more of the burden so that millions of people on normal earnings get the break they desperately need."