22 October 2021

• Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay to use first leaders’ conference speech to set out emergency measures to help people through this winter

• Will urge government to provide winter fuel payments of £320 for all

• Adrian Ramsay: “This proposal is about keeping households from falling into fuel poverty, it’s about keeping people safe. It’s about the state responding to market failure. It’s about human dignity”

• Carla Denyer: “We have the policy – and the public is with us. We have ambition – and with your support we can fulfil that ambition.”

The newly-elected co-leaders of the Green Party will use their first conference speech today [Friday 22 October] to call on the government to avoid a national emergency this winter by extending winter fuel payments to all.

Half a million people were plunged into fuel poverty earlier this month by the £139 energy price cap increase [1], while an extra 1.5 million could be left struggling to pay their bills if energy bills rise again in April as expected [2].

Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay, who were elected co-leaders of the Greens earlier this month [3], will today urge the government to provide each household across the country with an additional £320 to help them pay for spiralling energy costs and avoid fuel poverty.

The move would cost an additional £9bn, which the Greens propose to fund through a one off windfall land value tax payable by all landlords of privately rented properties.

Ramsay is expected to say:

“In the face of hikes to energy bills and rising fuel prices and to ease the burden on household budgets we’re calling on government to extend winter fuel payments with a one-off payment of £320 to every household to get us all through this winter. 

“It’s a costed proposal to be funded from a one-off 1% land-value tax on residential landlord properties. This proposal is about keeping households from spiralling into fuel poverty, it’s about keeping people safe. It’s about the state responding to market failure. It’s about human dignity.

“Our proposal is what government should be doing to show leadership. It’s an issue which shows how climate justice and social justice go hand in hand – something they just don’t get. It’s also just a bridge to get us to the tough work of a real, Green New Deal.”

The emergency payment would be paid for through a one off windfall land value tax of 1% on the landlords of all privately rented residential properties, which would bring in about an additional £9billion. [4]

The measure would provide people with emergency support ahead of implementing the party’s flagship Green New Deal programme which would provide investment of £100bn a year for the next decade to get the UK on track to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2030. This would reduce household heating bills through large scale roll-out of insulation schemes and renewable energy, and would create millions of green jobs in the energy, housing, transport and land management sectors of the economy.[5]

As part of the speech, Denyer and Ramsay will also set out how there has never been a bigger need for the Greens, as the party looks to become the country’s third party.

Denyer is expected to say:

“People have grown tired of choosing the ‘least worst’ option. Of being patronised, ignored and told what to think. 

“We are tired of a Tory government playing divide and rule. Tired of out of touch policies which ride roughshod over people. Tired of politics which amount to little more than an old boys club serving the interests of its pals.

“We need better – we demand better.

“We see none of it from an official opposition that fails the public, ignores the votes of its own members, and can’t take a stand on the biggest issues of the day. 

“We have the policy – and the public is with us. We have ambition – and with your support we can fulfil that ambition.”

Notes

1 https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/winter-fuel-payment-2021-gas-prices-soar-roll-out-deaths-national-energy-action-1242569

2 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58831110

3 https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2021/10/01/carla-denyer-and-adrian-ramsay-announced-as-new-green-party-co-leaders/

4 Private landlords have profited during the COVID pandemic, seeing rents increase by 6.6% in the last year alone, more than double the rate of inflation, while the value of properties have increased by £25,000 in the same period. The Greens’ proposal will see more than 90% of households benefit (less than 10% of households contain a private landlord) and only dent the wealth of private landlords by 0.6% (landlords’ wealth will have increased by £116bn in the last year, instead of £125bn).

5 https://www.greenparty.org.uk/assets/files/Elections/Green%20Party%20Manifesto%202019.pdf 

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18 October 2021

The Green Party has announced it will not be standing a candidate in the forthcoming by-election in Southend West, following the death of Sir David Amess last Friday. [1]

Greens have decided not to stand a candidate out of respect, and it follows a similar decision taken in 2016 following the death of Jo Cox MP.

As a further mark of respect, local Green Party members in Southend have agreed to suspend all campaigning in the town for two weeks.

ENDS

Notes

1

https://southeastessex.greenparty.org.uk/news/2021/10/15/david-amess-mp/

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15 October 2021

The Green Party has expressed its deepest sympathies to the family of Sir David Amess following the news of his death.

Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer said:

“It is truly awful to hear of the death of Sir David Amess today. My deepest sympathies are with his family and loved ones at this difficult time.

“It is an essential part of our democracy that politicians are able to meet with their constituents and we must find a way to make sure they can do so safely.”

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14 October 2021

Green Party deputy leader Amelia Womack has responded to the government’s announcement that the Prime Minister’s 10 point climate plan has attracted £6 billion of foreign investment and created 56,000 jobs.

Womack said:

“The Prime Minister’s 10 point plan has always clearly been about business as usual, with under-ambitious targets and an over-reliance on private enterprise, rather than a real plan of action for decarbonising the economy and this latest announcement is more of the same.

“While we obviously welcome the additional jobs in offshore wind, the fact that the government is announcing these jobs with such fanfare makes it clear they have no sense of the scale or urgency of the energy transition we need to make.

“Boasting about attracting £6 billion of investment shows how this Conservative government just does not get the sense of urgency we need and the role the state must take, as opposed to offering some wishful thinking about pie-in-the-sky technologies such as Jet Zero which don’t even exist yet.

“We need a Green New Deal to invest £100 billion each year over the course of a decade in railways, warm homes and millions of new sustainable jobs in order to truly lead us out of both the climate crisis and the economic challenges we face right here, right now.”

ENDS

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13 October 2021

• Carbon tax a critical lever to help shift the UK towards a clean green economy
• Tax yield will help deliver social dividend by funding cheap and accessible public transport, free home insulation, and a basic income

The Green Party is calling on the UK to announce a carbon tax at COP26, describing it as one of the greatest levers to drive change in society.   

Greens propose the tax should start at £100 per tonne of carbon dioxide released, rising to £500 per tonne by 2030. [1] 

The tax would apply to all carbon emissions, but the tax yield would provide a ‘dividend’ which would prevent poorer people being hit with higher costs. It would in part be used to fund a Universal Basic Income for all and help those on lower incomes meet the costs of transitioning to a carbon free future.

The party estimates the UK will be responsible for around 800 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2021 [2]. Its proposal for a carbon tax and dividend, starting at £100 per tonne of CO2e, would mean up to £80 billion would be generated, which could then be used to invest in the big changes needed for a rapid transition to a zero carbon economy, and to support UK residents through the transition. [3]

Adrian Ramsay, newly-elected co-leader of the Green Party, said:

“A carbon tax is one of the greatest levers we can apply to help shift us towards a clean green economy and fairer society. 

“Just 100 companies have been responsible for three quarters of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1988 [4]. A carbon tax would target these big polluters, particularly energy and oil companies, and render coal, oil and gas financially unviable as cheaper renewable energies rise up to take their place.

“But as well as tackling the climate crisis, a carbon tax will offer a social dividend which will help the UK to genuinely become a more equal society. Carbon tax yields will provide funds to invest in cheap and accessible public transport, free home insulation, and a basic income. 

“A carbon tax is a win-win for the climate and for social justice. We urge the government to show true leadership and introduce such a tax as a key plank of its COP26 strategy.”

ENDS

Notes

1

Summary of Green party carbon tax proposal: 

A carbon tax of £100 per tonne of carbon dioxide rising to £500 by 2030, applied to all emissions, with some of the tax yield used to compensate those on lower incomes. 

Cost increases from carbon taxes will be more than offset for families through the introduction of Universal Basic Income. Home heating costs would be reduced by a large-scale nationwide home retrofit programme. Additional transport-related costs would be reduced by investment in good-quality, cheap public transport and infrastructure for active travel. 

The carbon tax rate will rise as the use of fossil fuel declines, which will help balance the yield out over time, but the ultimate purpose of the tax is to eliminate fossil fuel use and drive the green transition. Making fossil fuels unaffordable is part of the point of the tax. 

While pushing other countries to follow suit on introducing a carbon tax, it would be important that such a tax does not place the UK at an economic disadvantage. There would therefore need to be a tariff or ‘carbon border adjustment’ on goods imported from countries that are not seen to be playing their part in reducing emissions to levels required to meet the Paris Agreement limit 1.5C – a policy currently being debated by the EU.

2

The Green Party has calculated the UK will be responsible for around 800 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2021 – 520m tonnes of production emissions, including aviation and shipping; an additional 30m tonnes for the high altitude factor on aviation; and 302m tonnes from imports.

3

The Green Party included its carbon tax and dividend in its 10 point climate plan published last year: https://www.greenparty.org.uk/assets/files/Communications/10_Point_Climate_Plan.pdf

4

https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/10/100-fossil-fuel-companies-investors-responsible-71-global-emissions-cdp-study-climate-change

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