Sir Digby Jones, former director-general of the CBI has criticised the use of green marketing to generate sales. The man who was “the voice of British business” for 16 years was speaking to more than 200 business leaders, government officials and packaging industry associates at the 34th annual luncheon of the Packaging and Films Association (PAFA). “The idea is not to raise lots of money off the emotion of green causes,” he said.

He also praised the efforts of PAFA in campaigning against environmental myth and media misinformation about plastic packaging products. He said the £2 billion UK industry was right to point out when fighting a carrier bag tax in Scotland that it would have resulted in an extra 23,000 lorries on Scotland’s roads and he backed PAFA’s concerns that new so-called environment-friendly materials need to be properly considered and controlled before running the risk of contaminating established recycling schemes.

Staying with the subject of legislation and regulation he said: “One of the clouds on the horizon is to rid the world of regulation - we must fight it. Industry is right to move the argument to a place where it can win.” And reinforcing the value of entrepreneurial business he said: “Politicians never created wealth, only creative entrepreneurs create wealth”.

In a wide ranging presentation moving from global trading to immigration he said, “We now face a world where so much business is being done only on price. In response, we have moved our whole economy towards adding value, innovation, quality and brand.”

Sir Digby also made an emotional plea for openness and honesty in the controversial area of immigrant workers, “We also do immigration better than anyone else because we have a long and successful history of it stretching over centuries. We are the world’s most liberal and tolerant country. We say - come here, risk your money, create wealth, pay tax and we’ll give you a return. ”