Tag: Green Party

The press release issued by the Green Party on 29 November 2022.

Responding to the government’s decision to give the go ahead to the Sizewell C nuclear power plant in Suffolk [1], Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said:

“This is an ideological decision driven by a misguided energy policy. It is clear there are cleaner, quicker and much less expensive options to meet our electricity needs. Investment in renewable energy and insulation at scale are what is needed to tackle both the climate emergency and cost of living crisis with the urgency needed.

“The design of Sizewell C will follow the much criticised Hinkley Point C scheme in Somerset which has been delayed by years and beset by technical difficulties and mushrooming costs. It is clear that large nuclear reactors are far too slow to help solve our climate crisis and way too expensive to address sky-high energy bills.”

Notes

1.  https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/nov/29/sizewell-c-nuclear-plant-confirmed-edf-suffolk-jobs-uk

The press release issued by the Green Party on 24 November 2022.

The Green Party of England and Wales is calling for the government to urgently bring forward its promised Renters Reform Bill in time to stave off a winter of evictions and homelessness.

The call came as new figures showed so-called no fault evictions leaping 76 per cent [1}

Carla Denyer, co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, said the Bill must include:

“An immediate cap on rent increases until at least the end of March 2023, as well as a ban on no-fault evictions over the same period to prevent landlords evicting tenants in order to raise rents.”

In Scotland, where the Scottish Greens are in government with the SNP, similar measures have already become law [2].

Average rental prices outside London have hit a high of £1,162 a month, jumping 11% in the past year [3].

The UK government produced a White Paper in June [4] and Housing Minister Andrew Stephenson told Parliament in October the legislation was still a “priority.” [5]

Carla Denyer added:

“Knowing that you have a secure home over winter is vital for both physical and mental health. Households already face soaring energy and food costs; the last thing they need, on top of everything else they have to contend with, is unaffordable rent rises and the fear of being evicted.

“Rising private rents and increasing evictions have also been cited as major causes of a dramatic increase in homelessness in London and other cities. The number of people sleeping rough on the capital’s streets has jumped by a shocking 24% in the past year [6]

“We are calling on the government to introduce an immediate freeze on rent rises and a ban on evictions by landlords who simply want to increase rents between tenancies. The Scottish government has introduced legislation to safeguard tenants this winter. We want to see the Housing Minister introduce similar measures in England, and for the Senedd to use its devolved powers to do so in Wales [6].”

Notes

[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-63719126

[2] Cost of living: rent and eviction – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

[3] Average rent climbs to £1,162, according to Rightmove, up 11% in a year – as charities warn tenants are struggling to make ends meet (msn.com)

[4] A fairer private rented sector

[5] Housing Minister Andrew Stephenson

[6] Number of people sleeping rough in London up 24% in a year | Homelessness | The Guardian

[7] Rent freeze call by Plaid Cymru voted down by Labour – BBC News

The press release issued by the Green Party on 20 November 2022.

Responding to the final Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan [1] from the COP27 climate negotiations in Egypt, Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said:

“The agreement to set up a fund for loss and damage is a significant and historic step towards climate justice for the poorest and most vulnerable countries, those least responsible for the climate crisis.

“However, the fund is currently empty and we now need rich countries like the UK to step up, honour their commitment to this fund and pay for the harm they have inflicted through historical emissions.

“But the real failure at Sharm el-Sheikh was that no significant progress has been made in commitments on fossil fuels, which is unsurprising given the hundreds of fossil fuel lobbyists who were active inside the negotiation. In terms of the commitment to eliminating fossil fuels from the global economy, COP27 represents a backward step.

“Future COPs must keep out the oil and gas giants and open the door wider to those with real solutions to offer as well as to a much greater proportion of women, who are bearing a disproportionate burden from climate breakdown yet made up only a third of the negotiating delegates [2].

“There has been a failure of international leadership from the world’s most powerful leaders. That includes the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who had to be dragged kicking and screaming to Egypt, before rushing home to back his chancellor as he announced a continuation of business as usual – new licences for North Sea oil and gas, windfall tax loopholes for the fossil fuel giants [3] and billions on new roads.

“This COP was billed as an implementation summit where countries were supposed to come with detailed action plans showing how they would create the credible path that the UN says is missing to keep global heating to below 1.5C. Yet there is scant reference to the 1.5C target, let alone a credible path to get us there.

“We needed to make giant strides toward achieving net zero and holding down global heating below 1.5C. Instead global leaders have, at best, taken a few tiny, teetering steps back from catastrophe.”

Notes

1. Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan. Revised draft decision -/CP.27 | UNFCCC

2. COP27: Lack of women at negotiations raises concern – BBC News

3. Loopholes mean oil and gas giants will avoid more than half of govt’s updated windfall tax – New Economics Foundation

The press release issued by the Green Party on 18 November 2022.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s refusal to carry out a Tory Manifesto pledge to “fix social care” through a cost cap highlights the urgent need for a radical NHS-style solution, Green co-leader Adrian Ramsay says today.

“Social care should be free at the point of use for all adults,” says Ramsay.

“A fully publicly funded, free at the point of use system would offer people certainty and dignity in times of need.

“Any of us may develop a long-term condition that requires social care support at any point in our lives, as well as in old age.

“Today – and thanks to Hunt’s Budget for many long years to some – people will have to pay the full cost of private social care if they have assets of more than £23,250 and even those who receive some publicly-funded social care end up paying, between them, nearly £3 billion a year towards their support. [1]

“Even the government’s own analysis shows that people’s homes are having to be sold after their deaths to pay care costs. [2]

“Hunt’s Budget postponed a Tory pledge to put an £86,000 cap on social care costs for individuals until beyond the next General Election. Yet local councils are reporting increasing requests for help, with demand from working-age adults in particular increasing by 15 per cent since 2015/16.

“The Dilnot Commission was set up in 2010 and the Tory government claimed to accept its recommendations, but even Dilnot’s partial costs-cap solution has been kicked down the road again [3].

“The Tory government previously said that charges should be capped at £86,000, now it says they should be unlimited for at least another two years. We say they should be capped at zero – social care should be free at the point of use.

“And there are options to fund a new NHS-style service that the Chancellor simply rejects – a wealth tax on the richest 1 per cent [4], a single unified income tax which could raise an additional £24 billion [5], or adding a social care levy to a more progressive tax system are just three examples.

“The funding options are available to be examined in detail, what’s missing is the political will to solve the social care crisis once and for all.”

Notes

1

https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/projects/nhs-in-a-nutshell/social-care-nutshell

2

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1015737/Build_Back_Better-_Our_Plan_for_Health_and_Social_Care_web_accessible.pdf

3

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/17/delaying-social-care-reforms-jeremy-hunt-uk-vulnerable

4

https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/33819/20/33819%20TIPPET_The_Case_for_a_Progressive_Annual_Wealth_Tax_%282021%29_v2.pdf

5

https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2021/09/06/green-party-proposes-to-abolish-not-increase-national-insurance-tax-to-fund-social-care/

The press release issued by the Green Party on 17 November 2022.

• Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay: “The Greens would put an end to the spiral of chaos and invest in the green infrastructure and world-class public services our country deserves”

The Green Party has condemned the Chancellor’s Austerity 2.0 budget after he announced spending cuts of £30 billion which will impact the poorest the hardest.

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay has warned that today’s Autumn Statement has left people paying the price for a decade of Conservative economic mismanagement, while those with the broadest shoulders and those profiting from the crisis have been let off the hook.

The Chancellor announced he was sticking to his cash spending plans for the next two years, meaning public sector pay rises of just 2% with inflation at 7% next year, which would result in a 5% real terms pay cut for public sector workers across the country.

Co-leader Adrian Ramsay said:

“Whatever Jeremy Hunt claims, this amounts to taking £30 billion away from people who need it during a cost of living crisis–both directly and through cuts in services.

“The cuts will force local councils and vital national public services to deny people vital support.

“Yet we know there is enough wealth in this country for us to avoid the dire economic situation this Conservative government is forcing us into.

“The problem is that wealth is concentrated in too few hands, when it should be spread throughout the economy to the benefit of everybody.

“The Green Party would introduce a 1% wealth tax on the super-rich and increase taxes on unearned income to ensure there is sufficient money to fund the public services we deserve.

“We would also close the loopholes in the windfall tax to enable investment in green solutions to the energy and the climate crisis.

“This would put an end to the spiral of chaos and invest in the green infrastructure and world-class public services our country deserves.”

Ahead of the Autumn Statement, the Green Party put forward its own proposals, including:

• Taxing the wealth of the richest 1% of households to raise at least £70 billion
• Imposing dirty profits taxes, without any loopholes, on the oil and gas companies making huge sums from fossil fuels and the energy crisis
• Provide increased funding for the Environment Agency and Ofwat to ensure proper enforcement of privatised water companies so that they invest in the infrastructure needed to end the scandal of sewage being poured into the rivers and seas

Money raised from the wealth tax and the dirty profits tax would help fund:

• a new green skilled workforce
• a dash for renewables to bring down bills
• a national home insulation programme to keep people warm
• free childcare to ease the cost-of-living burden
• reducing the cost of travelling by train and bus to make public transport cheaper than travelling by car
• an end to the sewage scandal
• a National Minimum Wage of £15 an hour
• decent pay increases that reflect rising inflation for public sector workers.

Ramsay said:

“More Tory austerity will create fear in communities across this country. Services are already facing extreme pressures and the country cannot stand billions more of public spending cuts.

“And while the government seems to have belatedly acknowledged the importance of driving down our use of gas through energy efficiency, the measures announced today go nowhere near far enough to help people who need their homes insulated right now.

“Our tax-raising alternative would mean polluting companies and the very richest households contribute more, while our investment in a rapid move to a net zero economy would fund the new skilled, sustainable, well-paid jobs that will be needed to replace those reliant on fossil fuels.

“Our plans ensure those most able and those most responsible pay, while the vast majority reap the rewards of a rapid move to a green economy.”

The press release issued by the Green Party on 11 November 2022.

Reacting to news that the UK economy shrunk in the last three months, the Green Party of England and Wales called for protections for people and the planet.

Adrian Ramsay, co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, said:

“GDP is a poor and limited measure of sustainable economic activity, but news that the UK economy on this measure has shrunk must not be used by the government as an excuse to cut public services or delay investing to tackle climate change.

“Wages are falling, prices are rising and at COP27 analysis by the Global Carbon Project shows that despite the need to cut emissions by half by 2030 to restrict global heating to 1.5C and avoid the most devastating impacts of the climate crisis, emissions are rising.

“We need a radical shift in economic priorities to protect people from poverty, properly fund schools and the NHS, and ensure the urgent shift to a net zero economy takes place now. This would create more sustainable economic activity while also reducing carbon emissions.”

The press release issued by the Green Party on 7 November 2022.

The Green Party has called on Rishi Sunak to come clean and reveal the shortfall in UK climate finance. At COP26, Boris Johnson pledged to boost spending on supporting the nations most at risk from the impacts of the climate emergency. However, figures suggest the UK has only paid £1.3bn of the £2.3bn a year pledged and the government has refused to reveal exactly how much it has short-changed the countries in greatest need [1].

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said:

“Ahead of Rishi Sunak’s speech to COP27 this afternoon, we call on the government to come clean and reveal exactly how far short the UK has fallen in its contributions towards climate finance – a crucial fund to support those poorer countries on the front line of the climate crisis but which have done little to contribute to the problem.

“It is suggested that the UK may have short-changed the fund by a whopping billion pounds. But let’s see the figures.

“What we do know is that collectively the rich nations have consistently failed to meet a $100bn annual target on climate finance, and that the UK government is party to this failure. We also know the government has raided the overseas aid budget to pay for climate finance when it pledged that it would be additional money. And the aid budget itself has already been cut from 0.7% to 0.5% of GDP.

“The Prime Minister must use his speech today to pledge he will deliver the UK’s overdue climate finance. The whole COP process risks failure unless richer countries deliver climate justice by paying their fair share. Any claims of global leadership by Rishi Sunak will sound hollow when we are failing to meet our own promises to the countries most affected by the climate crisis.”

Notes

[1] https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/cop27-climate-finance-sunak-johnson-b2218057.html

The press release issued by the Green Party on 4 November 2022.

Rishi Sunak must honour the commitment the UK made as COP president and update its climate targets to reflect what is necessary to limit global warming to 1.5C, the Green Party has said ahead of the start of COP27 this weekend.

The Glasgow Pact agreed at COP26 last year required all countries to revisit and increase their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) this year in order to ensure the world was on track to reduce carbon emissions at a rate that would keep global temperature rise to 1.5C [1].

However, the UK’s updated NDC in September this year included no increase in its own NDC, despite the fact it had presided over the agreement in Glasgow to do so. [2]

The need for each country to update its NDCs is even more urgent now after the UN recently stated that there is “no credible pathway” to saving 1.5C on current trajectories. The UN said: “Only an urgent system-wide transformation can deliver the enormous cuts needed to limit greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.” [3]

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said:

“The UK government was applauded for overseeing a commitment from all countries to increase their NDCs, but its actions subsequently suggest it was just for show.

“It is shameful that at a time when people across the world are seeing their lives destroyed by climate change, the UK government could not live up to its commitments and set meaningful climate targets that would protect millions of people.

“In fact, since last year in Glasgow the UK government has gone in completely the wrong direction by introducing new North Sea oil and gas licences, continued to roll out airport and road expansion and will not even rule out the opening of a new coal mine in Cumbria.

“Regrettably, Rishi Sunak will arrive in Egypt under a cloud, with the UK also having failed to make a promised £260 million climate finance payment [4].

“This is negligence on a historic scale, but it can be rectified. It is right that the Prime Minister has now decided to attend COP27, but he now needs to put his money where his mouth is.

“Sunak must immediately revisit the UK’s climate targets to ensure they are in line with a 1.5C global rise in temperatures and show he is willing to act on the global stage by putting climate justice and finance for poorer countries most impacted by the climate emergency at the top of the agenda.”

The Green Party has also set out a further six crucial tests for the UK government at this year’s COP climate targets:

• The UK government must call for offsetting to be ruled out as part of the measurement of net zero reporting for governments and industries
• The UK government needs to put loss and damage at the top of the agenda and back calls from the countries most impacted by climate change for the establishment of a financing facility, and to follow in the footsteps of Denmark and Scotland by delivering new and additional finance for loss and damage
• The government must urgently deliver the UK’s overdue climate finance, reinstate the mandatory 0.7% aid budget and support calls for increased adaptation finance
• The UK government should lobby for an immediate end to all fossil fuel subsidies and an urgent managed decline in the use of fossil fuels
• The UK government should advocate for the global roll out of loophole-free dirty profits taxes to ensure the most polluting industries not only pay for the impact of their emissions, but are also incentivised to find efficient means of reducing them
• The UK government should champion a system of nationally determined contributions requiring all countries to produce scientifically verifiable plans every year to show their progress in reaching the climate targets they have set themselves.

Notes

1

https://www.bond.org.uk/news/2022/11/heres-what-the-uk-needs-to-do-for-cop27/

2

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1109429/uk-nationally-determined-contribution.pdf

3

https://www.unep.org/resources/emissions-gap-report-2022

4

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/nov/01/uk-criticised-for-failing-to-pay-300m-in-promised-climate-funds-ahead-of-cop27

The press release issued by the Green Party on 4 November 2022.

The Green Party has welcomed the news that plans to build a new nuclear power plant in Suffolk are under review [1] and urged for more investment in renewables and insulation.

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said:

“New nuclear power is a distraction from addressing the climate emergency with the speed that is required – it is far too slow and much more costly than more effective renewable energy and storage alternatives, as well as having significant environmental concerns for the local community.

“So, we are pleased to see the government has put it under review but we now need to see real commitment to the measures that will make a benefit to people’s lives.

“It is vital the government invests more in renewables and insulating people’s homes as this is the cheapest, quickest and most effective way to bring people’s bills down, create millions of jobs and help tackle the climate crisis all at the same time.”

Notes

1

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63507630

The press release issued by the Green Party on 31 October 2022.

As speculation continues to grow on whether Rishi Sunak will bow to mounting pressure and attend this year’s COP27 climate talks in Egypt after all, Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay, said:

“Despite being pushed into attending, if he does ultimately go to the COP27 climate talks, we should welcome this news. With the UK holding the COP26 presidency, attending to hand the baton on to Egypt is absolutely essential to demonstrate the UK’s commitment to building on last year’s climate talks.

“Rishi Sunak must show global leadership. The UK government must push for real finance for the loss and damage being experienced by poorer countries that are on the front line of climate breakdown. At home there must be urgent action to address both the climate emergency and the cost of living crisis. That should begin with a mass home insulation programme to cut energy bills and carbon emissions and ramping up renewable energy generation. We also need to phase out fossil fuels. More North Sea oil and gas licences takes us in the wrong direction and is the exact opposite of the kind of global leadership needed.

“With the UN warning that there is no credible pathway to keeping temperatures within the 1.5C limit, this year’s COP negotiations are more important than ever. The UN says that only an urgent transformation of society and our economy can avoid disastrous climate impacts. If our government rises to this challenge we can show global leadership and create a better society at the same time.

“Reversing the attacks on nature and restoring the natural environment, funding farmers to manage land for wildlife, good quality and affordable public transport, warmer homes, cheaper energy bills: the policies we need to tackle the climate emergency can create real improvements to people’s everyday lives.”