24 October 2021

The Green Party has set out proposals for a tax on the country’s wealthiest elites to fund a green recovery from Covid in its conference today [Sunday 24 October].

A motion proposed by Molly Scott Cato, a Professor of Economics and former member of the European Parliament’s Economics and Monetary Policy Committee, calls for an annual tax on financial wealth, including stocks and shares and bonds, although it would exclude pension investments. [1]

Green Party Finance and Economy Spokesperson Molly Scott Cato said:

“The Government’s promises on ‘levelling up’ ring hollow while they allow a tiny, extremely rich elite to increase their personal wealth at the expense of everyone else. 

“During the pandemic, the wealth of the world’s ten richest men rose by £400 billion [1], an amount that could pay for vaccines for the entire world. While ever more people are forced to use food banks and are unable to afford their energy bills, owners and shareholders of global corporations have banked their gains from profiteering during the pandemic.

“A wealth tax on even just the richest 1% could raise as much as £43 billion, which could then go into funding a Green New Deal and create the millions of high-skilled green jobs that will ensure our Covid recovery is good for equality as well as good for the climate. 

The proposed tax will sit alongside other forms of taxes on wealth that already form part of Green Party policy, including a tax on the value of land, and is designed to tackle rising inequality. In recent years, wealth for the poorest in society grew by only 3%, far outstripped by an 11% increase among the richest. London and the South East also saw a far greater increase in wealth compared to poorer regions. [2]

The Green proposals do not commit to a specific threshold for the tax or to a specific rate, instead promising to consult with relevant stakeholders to identify a workable policy. Crucially, the proposed wealth tax would be accompanied by capital controls to prevent the rich from simply taking their wealth elsewhere.

ENDS

Notes

1

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-55793575 

2

ONS, Total wealth in Great Britain: April 2016 to March 2018, Main results from the sixth round of the Wealth and Assets Survey covering the period April 2016 to March 2018, release date 5 th December 2019.

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24 October 2021

The Green Party has set out plans to increase Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) and Climate Finance to a projected £50bn per year by 2030 to help developing countries respond to climate change.

At the party’s conference, Greens voted to support ODA policies that acknowledge the harm caused by the UK’s historical carbon emissions and would provide reparations for that damage. 

The policy was agreed as new analysis sug’[]gests richer OECD countries need to commit almost double the amount previously pledged as part of the Paris Agreement to $190bn a year. Analysis of the UK’s “fair share” of climate contributions, meanwhile, suggests that the UK would need to provide at least £1 trillion in climate finance by 2050 in order for the obligations of the Paris climate agreement to be met. [2] The Glasgow negotiations rely on global solidarity and respectful relationships between countries in the Global South and North.

Greens of Colour Chair Azzees Minott spokesperson said, 

“We need to fund planet repairs in a just and equitable way. It is crucial we acknowledge that this global capitalist economy is rooted in the extraction of resources from the Global South and the exploitation and enslavement of their people. Only by recognising this can we begin to build solutions that address ‘climate justice’.

“If the UK is serious about its global climate responsibilities it has to stop subsidising fossil fuels and provide necessary resources to those whose lives will be most affected by this climate crisis.”

Greens would more than triple the proportion of the UK’s Gross National Income (GNI) spent on ODA from 0.7% to 2.5% by 2030. This proposed increase would include 1.5% of GNI specifically allocated to climate finance. Greens say that more money will be needed for climate finance as the world must rush to reduce carbon emissions and to address the impacts of climate change. The proposed ODA budget stands in contrast to the £10.5 billion that the UK provides in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry every year. [3]

The move from the Greens comes just over a week before the UK hosts the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, where finance from richer countries to lower-income countries will likely be a hotly debated topic among world leaders. It also comes after Boris Johnson scrapped the Department for International Development: the Green Party would reinstate this department and rename it to include reference to climate finance and the Sustainable Development Goals.

ENDS

Notes

1

https://news.sky.com/story/who-should-pay-the-worlds-climate-debt-12438217 

2

https://waronwant.org/resources/uks-climate-fair-share-infographic

3

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/23/uk-has-biggest-fossil-fuel-subsidies-in-the-eu-finds-commission 

4

The Government has reduced its allocation of ODA from 07.% of GNI to 0.5%. That 0.5% includes the envelope of climate finance, even though the Paris Agreement says that climate finance should be additional to ODA. This means that overall ODA and climate finance has reduced.

For more information or to arrange an interview contact the press office on press@greenparty.org.uk or call 0203 691 9401

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23 October 2021

The Green Party has called for ecosystems to be provided legal protection in a new suite of policies adopted by members at its party conference today [Saturday 23 October].

Under the new policy, the party would enact a Rights of Nature Act which would extend legal protections for wildlife and habitats in England and Wales, and would establish an independent Commission for Nature to oversee the Act’s enforcement.

Green Party Natural World spokesperson, Jonathan Elmer, said: 

“We face an ecological emergency which threatens the survival of all life on the planet including our own. The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world with about half of its biodiversity lost [1]. 

“There is overwhelming public support for protecting nature and rewilding. By giving nature legal rights and establishing a Commission for Nature, Greens have agreed the most forward looking national policy in the world for the protection and restoration of nature.

“This bold approach must now challenge the government and other parties to go further in addressing the tragic depletion of nature and wildlife and creating a thriving natural environment for the future.”  

Also included in the wide-ranging set of policies adopted by the Green Party today are proposals to ban pesticides harming pollinators, including neonicotinoids, and plans to pay farmers to set aside at least 15% of their land for wildlife. 

And the Greens say they will increase access to nature for people of colour and people with mobility difficulties, including by commissioning research into barriers for these groups and through ensuring there is accessible public transport to areas of nature from within cities.

The proposals would be carried out through a fully-publicly funded 30-year strategy for nature. 

ENDS

Notes

1

Biodiversity: UK is one of world’s most nature-depleted countries, new data finds

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23 October 2021

The definition of a refugee should be extended to include those forced to leave their homes as a result of the Climate Emergency, the Greens have agreed at their conference in Birmingham [1].

As the government seeks to introduce a Borders Bill [2], described by some human rights lawyers as the “biggest legal assault on international refugee law ever seen in the UK” [3], the Green Party is seeking to extend rather than further restrict the rights of refugees.

The motion, which was voted for by Green Party members at their conference, also agreed that the definition of refugees should go beyond that contained in the UN Convention to include those persecuted on the grounds of any characteristic protected in this country under the Equality Act 2010 such as LGBT rights.

Benali Hamdache, Green Party Migration and Refugee Support spokesperson, said:

“What Green Party conference agreed today is a compassionate antidote to the cruel hostility this government is showing towards refugees and asylum seekers. Indeed, the Borders Bill could be in breach of international human rights law.

“Greens have agreed we need to go even further in protecting and welcoming refugees who are displaced due to the climate crisis, something that is a reality for tens of thousands of people already. We will also offer sanctuary to those persecuted on any characteristic protected in this country by UK law.

“The overwhelming support for this motion shows that for Greens refugees are welcome here.”

The Party also agreed that the UK should accept at least 10,000 refugees annually under the UK Resettlement Programme, in addition to those seeking asylum.

ENDS

Notes

1

Nationality and Borders Bill

2 

Priti Patel’s borders bill ‘breaches international and domestic law’

For more information or to arrange an interview contact the press office on press@greenparty.org.uk or call 0203 691 9401    

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23 October 2021

The Green Party has called for social care to be free at the point of use for all adults at its party conference today, to put social care on a par with the NHS.

Green Party members voted in favour of proposals to ensure social care is fully publicly funded. This would mean the end of a system in which many people have to pay for private social care, which has been estimated to cost £11 billion per year, and even those who receive publicly-funded social care end up paying a total of more than £3 billion towards their support. [1]

The Green motion comes after the Conservative Government recently announced an £86,000 cap on social care costs for individuals and imposed a rise in National Insurance to pay for social care services, a move the Green Party condemned.[2] 

In advocating for free social care, the Green Party highlights how individuals with disabilities are discriminated against by this cost, as it places them at a financial disadvantage to their peers, and for many is unaffordable.

The Green motion also comes after the Labour Party u-turned on its free social care policy in June. 

The Green Party’s Larry Sanders, who proposed the motion, said: 

“The NHS is based on the principle that need, not wealth, should determine the health care we get. Today, the Green Party backed the same principle for Social Care.

“The hundreds of thousands of people who need help to eat and wash, get residential care when they need it and to lead a full life under their own control, can do so with their support paid for in the same way as the NHS. The Tory government said that charges should be capped at £86,000. We say they should be capped at zero.

We also committed ourselves to good pay and conditions for care workers and to giving family carers the support they need.”

ENDS

Notes

1

https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/audio-video/key-facts-figures-adult-social-care 

2

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

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