Responding to former Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s call for a gambling industry levy to fund tackling child poverty, Green Peer Natalie Bennett said:

“Having been at the heart of the New Labour government, which unleashed the toxic, destructive gambling industry that we have today with the 2005 Gambling Act, it is good to see Gordon Brown now calling for fair taxation of the massive cash cow.

“And excellent that he is calling for that to money to be used to end the two-child benefit cap, a policy deliberately causing child poverty that is astonishingly still in place a year into this Labour government.

“But a tax is only the start. We cannot allow predatory firms to continue to fill our high streets and our computer screens, to barrage us with a flood of advertising, acting as a tax on desperation, doing enormous damage to individuals and communities, particularly the poorest communities.”

Ahead of more planned demonstrations this weekend outside hotels housing asylum seekers, Green Party spokesperson on Policing and Domestic Safety, Amanda Onwuemene, said:

“The unrest we are seeing outside hotels housing asylum seekers and in our communities is unacceptable. The protests are the result of the deliberate spread of myths and lies about asylum seekers and refugees and are being stoked by the far right.

“The Green Party stands in solidarity with all those who are using their right to seek asylum and who must be feeling unsafe and frightened at this time.

“We must remember our basic humanity. Those coming to this country to flee violence include mothers with their children, as well as people of all ages who have endured unimaginable trauma. We have a duty to offer compassion and sanctuary, not fear and intimidation.

“Our political leaders also have a duty to show moral backbone and stand firm against the divisive demands of the far right on migration which will only foster racism and Islamophobia in our communities.”