14 April 2022

Responding to the government’s plan to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda, Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer said:

“This is absolutely no way to treat people who are seeking sanctuary from war and persecution. This inhumane policy is yet another sign that the UK government is turning into an authoritarian regime that appears unconcerned with whether or not it remains within  the rule of law domestically and internationally.

“It is horrifying that Boris Johnson would commend such a cruel proposal, which could very well break international law as well as being costly and ineffective, simply as a way to appease the Tory backbenchers and divert attention from his own criminality. 

“The decision to send those seeking sanctuary to Rwanda, a country with an appalling human rights record [1], seems to be nothing more than an unspeakably cruel attempt at distracting people from the Prime Minister’s law-breaking and lies surrounding partygate.

”Sacrificing innocent bystanders to defend the leader is a technique typical of authoritarian regimes. Ministers, spokespeople and civil servants have all been sacrificed and now the most vulnerable people seeking asylum are being added to the list. That in itself demonstrates that the Tories are not fit to govern.”

ENDS

Notes 

1

https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2021/09/27/how-does-paul-kagame-rwandas-president-get-away-with-it

Back to main news page

Adblock test (Why?)

12 April 2022

Responding to Downing Street’s confirmation that both Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Chancellor Rishi Sunak will be fined for attending parties during lockdown[1], Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said:

“There is nowhere left for Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak to hide. They both broke the very laws they made to try and keep this country safe in a pandemic and must now resign.

“This is a damning indictment of the reckless culture of a Conservative Party and Prime Minister that consider themselves untouchable.

“During lockdown, people throughout the country were making unimaginable sacrifices, yet Boris Johnson and his chums thought they could act with apparent impunity, regardless of what they were asking others to do.

“Not only is this a cruel and callous way to run a government, it also shows that throughout the Conservative Party there runs a streak of sheer contempt for the vast majority of us. 

“The only way either Boris Johnson or Rishi Sunak can maintain a shred of decency is to apologise for the harm caused and step aside.”

ENDS

Notes

1

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-61083402

Back to main news page

Adblock test (Why?)

5 April 2022

Responding to news that the Government has ordered a new report into the impact of fracking, Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer said: 

“Fracking will only deepen our country’s dependence on fossil fuels, will not bring down fuel bills for people who are struggling, and will cause yet more damage to local communities and to the climate.

“The most effective and sustainable way of bringing down the cost of living is to invest in insulating houses and massively ramping up renewable energy. Fracking is an expensive and dangerous distraction from that urgent goal.”

Back to main news page

Adblock test (Why?)

5 April 2022

• Green Party co-leaders will promise to deliver locally-led insulation projects to reduce energy needs and keep people’s homes warm amid cost of living crisis
• Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay will visit Central Hill housing estate in Lambeth to speak to residents campaigning for retrofit and refurb of their homes
• Denyer: “Insulation programmes don’t sound very glamorous but what they can deliver is nothing short of incredible. Imagine – a warm, snug home even on the coldest days. Little to no heating bill at all. A neighbourhood that has almost zero emissions. That’s what Greens are pushing for here alongside residents.”
• Ramsay: “Because that’s what Greens are all about – fairness and community – sensible, practical solutions –  and protecting the places we live and the people we care about.” 

The Green Party will promise to help tackle the cost of living crisis at the launch of its local election campaign today [Tuesday 5 April].

Co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay will set out how Green Party councillors have been leading projects across the country to insulate peoples’ homes, helping to keep them warm and reduce bills. 

The leaders will visit Central Hill housing estate, in London, which is currently facing demolition under regeneration plans by Lambeth Council [1]. There, they will speak to residents campaigning against the estate’s demolition, who instead want to see a retrofit and refurb project carried out so they can stay in their homes and ensure they are warm and comfortable.

Denyer and Ramsay will promise Green Party councillors elected on May 5 will work to emulate those in Green-led Lewes District Council, who are leading the way by working with six other local authorities to retrofit 40,000 council homes, using the collective financial firepower of their housing maintenance accounts – a combined total of £1 billion. [2]

Elsewhere, Green-led Stroud District Council has also set out plans to invest £180 million to retrofit, insulate and decarbonise its five thousand-strong housing stock to ensure warm, sustainable housing for residents. [3]

At the launch, Denyer will set out how Greens elected across the country are working hard to build fairer, greener communities.

Denyer is expected to say: 

“In the middle of this cost of living crisis, we know what needs to be done and yet the government is falling so chronically short. 

“On top of that, Labour and Conservative-run councils up and down the country are not listening to what residents want. The Labour council here in Lambeth want to knock down this estate. To displace families and friends from their community. 

“As a result they have simply neglected these buildings for a decade. And they are forcing people to live in constant fear of losing their homes, with all the physical and mental trauma that brings. 

“Greens have another plan. Not to discard these homes but to upgrade them.

“Insulation programmes don’t sound very glamorous but what they can deliver is nothing short of incredible. 

“Imagine – a warm, snug home even on the coldest days. Little to no heating bill at all. A neighbourhood that has almost zero emissions. 

“That’s what Greens are pushing for here alongside residents.”

Ramsay is expected to say:

“Because that’s what Greens are all about – fairness and community – sensible, practical solutions –  and protecting the places we live and the people we care about.

“Local Green Councillor Pete Elliott has been working with the people who live in this neighbourhood.

“Living and breathing the Green value of community first – that more power should be in the hands of the people who are impacted by the decisions made. And why is Pete doing that?

“Because he thinks it’s fair that everyone should have a warm home. He thinks it’s fair that no-one should feel terrified of their next energy bill. And he thinks it’s fair and right that we take the steps needed to protect our natural world.”

ENDS

Notes

1 https://www.brixtonbuzz.com/2020/12/greens-back-resident-campaign-to-stop-demolition-on-lambeths-central-hill-estate/

2 https://greenworld.org.uk/article/lewes-model-explained

3 https://greenworld.org.uk/article/warm-words-warm-homes-stroud

Back to main news page

Adblock test (Why?)

4 April 2022

Caroline Lucas, Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, has the following response to the launch of the International Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Working Group III: Mitigation of Climate Change report, out today: 

“This report confirms that the devastating future towards which we are hurtling can still be avoided if Governments make the right choices right now. The heart-stopping consequences of yet more failed climate leadership are unimaginable for every single individual and species with whom we share this planet. It’s time to pick a side – the fossil fuel polluters and those who bankroll them, or the future of humanity. We already have the solutions we need, and we know that action is far cheaper than delay. 

Yet our reckless Government, which talks up new North Sea oil & gas drilling, while rumours abound over reviewing the moratorium on fracking, is fiddling while the world burns. It’s failing in its first duty – to keep its citizens safe. If Global Britain is to mean anything, then Ministers must rise to the challenge of the COP Presidency and demonstrate real leadership now. 

Locking us into new oil & gas for decades means we’ll have to rely on expensive, unproven and as yet unscalable carbon dioxide removal technologies. While some extraction for past emissions will be unavoidable, the impact of the giant hosepipe of carbon emissions currently gushing into the atmosphere won’t be stopped by sucking it back out with a paper straw. This ‘burn now, pay later’ approach simply gives fossil fuel companies licence to wilfully continue with business as usual, when this emergency demands the opposite. 

There’s no silver bullet to tackling the climate emergency. But we do have an array of effective, realistic and genuine solutions at our fingertips – from rapidly winding down fossil fuels, to reversing the depletion of our natural world’s carbon sinks, and developing long-lasting energy efficiency for our leaky homes. The only thing we lack is the political will to deliver them.   

The goals of energy security, tackling the cost of living crisis, and cutting climate-wrecking emissions all point in the same direction: an energy system based on renewables and energy efficiency which will deliver a safer and fairer world for all, with bountiful energy supplies, warm homes, clean air, and a thriving natural world. This report shows there’s no time left to delay.” 

Back to main news page

Adblock test (Why?)