7 November 2023

Responding to what is likley to be the last King’s Speech from the current Conservative government, co-leader Adrian Ramsay said:

“This King’s Speech, which must have really stuck in the throat of King Charles, demonstrates a government out of ideas and out of touch. There’s nothing in it to offer communities any hope with the cost of living crisis or the growing impacts of the climate emergency. 

“Instead, Rishi Sunak has decided: when in a climate hole, keep digging. Pushing for new oil and gas drilling licences is an act of environmental vandalism. Especially at a time when the country is reeling from hugely damaging storms and floods, which scientists warn will become more frequent, ferocious and destructive as our planet heats.   

“Encouraging energy giants to exploit fossil fuel reserves they then sell on the global market at global prices cannot provide either security or cheaper energy bills. Even the government’s own Energy Security, Claire Coutinho, had to admit that the government’s plan to require annual oil and gas licensing in the North Sea offers no guarantee of keeping energy bills down.  

“Energy security, addressing high energy bills and reducing emissions will only come from ramping up cheaper and abundant renewable resources such as solar and onshore wind together with a mass home insulation programme.   

“With the Conservatives now looking increasingly like a zombie government today is a big challenge for Labour. Will they pledge to undo the damage inflicted on the climate by the Conservatives today and commit to not a single new oil and gas licence from day one of a Labour government?  

“What is clear, is that whoever forms the government after the next general election, Green MPs are going to be needed to push for legislation that will lead to a greener and fairer country.”  

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2 November 2023

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay has called for next week’s King’s Speech to tackle the climate and nature emergencies. 

Ramsay said: 

“Rishi Sunak has decided when in a climate hole keep digging. Pushing ahead with new oil and gas drilling licences is an act of environmental vandalism. Especially at a time when the country is reeling from hugely damaging storms and floods, which scientists warn will become more frequent, ferocious and destructive as our planet heats.  

“It seems fossil fools are driving government energy policy – pushing a false narrative that extracting more climate-wrecking oil and gas out of the North Sea will lead to energy security and lower bills. Nothing could be further from the truth. 

“Green lighting energy giants to exploit fossil fuel reserves they then sell on the global market at global prices cannot provide either security or cheaper energy bills. This can only come from ramping up cheaper and abundant renewable resources such as solar and onshore wind together with a mass home insulation programme.  

“That’s why Green MP Caroline Lucas has set out five Bills that the government ought to introduce to tackle the climate and nature emergencies and address the cost-of-living crisis, including a Just Fossil Fuel Phaseout Bill and a Green New Deal Bill.   

“The attack on road safety measures is a further deplorable and desperate attempt to pick up a few votes through creating a culture war. But the fact that the Conservatives need to go to such extremes to create a wedge issue with Labour shows that Labour simply aren’t offering the bold alternative or hopeful vision that our communities so desperately need.  

“It is clear, whoever forms the government after the next general election, we are going to need more Green MPs pushing legislation that will lead to a greener, fairer, healthier and safer country.” 

ENDS 

To arrange an interview with Adrian Ramsay on a reaction to the King’s Speech please contact the press office on press@greenparty.org.uk or call 0203 691 9401 or mobile 07971 598896  

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1 November 2023

The co-leaders of the Green Party have written to the UK government and the official opposition urging them to “listen to the people” and join international calls for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict.

In a letter to both the Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly [1], and his Labour counterpart, Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy [2], Green co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay, deputy leader Zack Polanski and Global Solidarity spokesperson Carne Ross set out how the only way to protect civilians is for the fighting to stop.

In addition, they call on both the Conservatives and Labour to throw their weight behind an “internationally arbitrated once-and-for-all settlement” so that “Israeli and Palestinian citizens can live in safety and security with their rights, at last, fully protected.”

Co-leader Carla Denyer said:

“The mass civilian suffering we have seen in Israel and Gaza has shocked the world. Over 700 civilians are being killed every day, one child every ten minutes. The dire humanitarian situation is clearly intolerable and must end.

“We cannot hear arguments about violence now somehow preventing further violence in future without shuddering. The lives of children cannot be bartered in this way.

“We are deeply concerned that neither the UK government nor the official opposition has joined international calls for a ceasefire. It is with deep regret that the Green Party feels the need to point out that at times like these, silence is complicity.

“We urge both the government and the Labour Party to listen to the British people, three-quarters of whom want an immediate ceasefire [3].”

In the letters, the Green Party sets out how war crimes have been committed by both sides since Hamas’s horrific attacks on 7 October.

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said:

“The awful attacks committed by Hamas on 7 October were brutal violence, and the hostages must be released unconditionally, but the horrific attacks we saw on that day cannot justify military actions that break international law.

“There is no military route to long-term safety and security for the Israeli and Palestinian peoples, as they both deserve. Instead, there must be a political settlement, based on the requirements of international law and beginning with an end to the occupation.

“The UK government should push for an internationally arbitrated once-and-for-all settlement that fully ends the occupation of Palestinian territories including East Jerusalem, in accordance with the requirements of international law.

“It used to be the case that international law was the basis of UK government policy, and the positions of both Conservatives and Labour.  It is deeply troubling that this seems to have been forgotten by both government and opposition.  Such an abandonment will do long-term harm to Britain’s already-questionable reputation as a defender of the international rules-based order.”

ENDS

Notes

            1

https://greenparty.org.uk/assets/files/letters/letter-to-foreign-secretary.pdf

           2

https://greenparty.org.uk/assets/files/letters/letter-to-david-lammy.pdf

            3

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/travel/survey-results/daily/2023/10/19/e363e/1

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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31 October 2023

Responding to news that the government has dropped plans to close rail ticket offices following overwhelming public opposition [1], Co-leader Carla Denyer said: 

“This is a huge victory for people power and a massive defeat for the government’s attempt to run down public services.  

“Up and down the country, people have protested, signed petitions, responded to the consultation, written to their MP, written to the local paper, organised in trades unions and more. The result has been so clear and overwhelming that even this government could not ignore it. 

“People can have renewed confidence that coming together on issues that really matter can produce positive change.” 

NOTES 

[1]  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67263931 

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24 October 2023

• Call to reform Universal Credit, scrap two-child benefit cap and introduce wealth tax to tackle ‘inequality crisis’  

Following the publication of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s report into destitution in the UK [1], Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said: 

“Thirteen years of Tory government has resulted in a catalogue of social, environmental and economic wreckage. And there can be no worse legacy than leaving almost four million people in destitution – a quarter of them children. This is an utterly shameful record for the sixth largest economy in the world and reveals that the UK faces a deep inequality crisis.   

“But Labour is also failing to address inequality or offer hope to those struggling to meet their essential needs. Research shows that the two-child benefit cap impacts around 1.5 million children and their failure to commit to scrapping the policy leaves thousands of families impoverished. Likewise, their refusal to back a wealth tax will allow inequality to continue unchecked.  

“Only the Greens offer the bold common-sense policies to transform our economy and people’s lives. We have long called for restoring the £20 Covid uplift to Universal Credit and doubling it to £40 per week, with equivalent increases for those on legacy benefits. This would raise the current rate from £85 per week to £125. 

“The Joseph Rowntree Foundation is right: every family needs to be protected and to be able to afford essentials such as food and household bills. Ultimately, the Green Party supports the introduction of a no-strings-attached Universal Basic Income, funded through a more progressive tax system, including a wealth tax on the super-rich.”  

Notes 

1. https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/destitution-uk-2023  

2. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jul/16/two-child-benefit-cap-explainer  

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