10 January 2024

Reacting to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s statement that new primary legislation will be introduced to exonerate convicted postmasters, Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer said: 

“It is incredible how long it has taken successive governments to address the clear injustice faced by hundreds of honest, hard-working people at the Post Office. 

“It shouldn’t take a TV drama to get the government to do the right thing to address a manifest injustice on this scale. 

“The severity and scale of the scandal was likely made much worse by the economic model chosen for the Post Office – a public corporation with the government as the sole shareholder, that was told to chase profits and allowed to take risks with unproven, outsourced technology while Ministers washed their hands of responsibility. 

“No one was in charge, no one cared and when it all went wrong, no-one was responsible. We need models of ownership that put the public interest and accountability first. The scandal also raises questions about the obsession from all government parties with outsourcing and avoiding responsibility. 

“Of course, it is right that every wrongful conviction is overturned as quickly as possible, but the fact that the government has been forced into bringing forward emergency legislation that overrides the justice process just underlines how numerous Ministers let this tragedy drift on into a full-blown crisis. 

“This is not the first time government has been found wanting when the lives of people have been turned upside down by failings in public administration. Too many people are still waiting for justice, from Grenfell residents to infected blood scandal victims, to nuclear test veterans. 

“Every one of these injustices needs resolving as soon as possible.” 

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5 January 2024

Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer reacts to the resignation of Tory environment champion Chris Skidmore:

“As the world burns, the Tories turn in on themselves. The government’s green credentials are truly in tatters.

“The climate crisis is here and now and being experienced by people across the country, but the Prime Minister can’t hold on to anyone who has any good intentions toward the environment.

“Labour has to be held to account as well – it refused to block Rosebank and other new oil and gas licences. How long before Labour’s own green champions feel their principles are too compromised to continue?”

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4 January 2024

Green Party co-leader today set out plans for the year ahead. 

Denyer said: 

“As politicians go back to work in Westminster next week, most of the population have already been hard at work, dealing with the cost-of-living crisis and, perhaps, thinking – ‘Surely things could be a lot better than this?’ 

“With so much violence and destruction across the world it may seem odd to sound an optimistic note, but I do believe we really can do better than this. 

“We can do better by working together to tackle the big challenges – around war, the environment and the cost of living. 

“I feel hopeful because I’m part of a movement that is looking these troubles in the face and having the courage to choose peace, to choose justice, to choose life. 

“At times like this, we need politicians with the courage to rise to the scale of the challenge. 

“This year, the Green Party will continue to push politicians in other parties for more action on the climate, more action on the housing crisis, and to do more to heal our sickly National Health Service. And we will be pressing all of them to bring our nature back to life. 

“But this is likely to be a General Election year – and so we have the chance to send more Green MPs to Westminster to do the job themselves! To deliver a fairer, greener society for their constituents and the country as a whole. 

“By voting Green, people can show they share our faith that the UK is a country of good, compassionate, talented people – and that together we can solve the problems facing us.  

“Today, the country is being run for the benefit of a tiny number of people, who are growing richer and more powerful at the expense of the overwhelming majority. 

“We can do better. 

“We will invest properly in our public services and in the environment, transforming the tax system so that we end the decades where the rich have got richer and have avoided their responsibility to share their wealth. 

“Our investments in people, in nature and in action on the climate will mean we all do better. They will build security for the future and create hundreds of thousands of skilled and well-paid jobs across the country. 

“We can do better – together we can create a fairer, greener country.” 

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30 December 2023

Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer said: 

“I am really looking forward to the year ahead. There is a General Election on the horizon and with it a chance to create a fairer, greener country – and get more Green MPs elected to Parliament. 

“2023 was a big year for the Green Party. Thanks to another set of record-breaking local election results in May, we now have more councillors than ever before – representing our communities with integrity and commitment.   

“We continue to be the party standing for fairness – defending our environment and our democracy while standing up for the interests of people up and down the country in local communities. 

“More and more people are telling us how much they want to come together and help build a fairer, greener country.  

“More and more people are experiencing the Green Party in action. They see that we stand for and what we achieve in their communities and in Parliament. And that means more and more people are now proudly voting Green.  

“2024 is going to be a momentous year for people and the planet. It’s time for action.” 

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13 December 2023

Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer called for urgent action from the UK government to go beyond the compromise deal agreed at this year’s COP climate summit in Dubai. 

Denyer said: 

“Without sustained government action following this disappointing COP28, the world is heading for a hellish future. We need to press our ambitions with a renewed vigour. 

“The fact that UK climate change minister, Graham Stuart, returned to London to vote on the Rwanda Bill just as the hardest part of the negotiations got underway tells the world this Conservative government just doesn’t care. 

“This is the price we pay for government chaos at home – being sidelined at the most crucial moment in the COP28 negotiations.  

“COP agreed a ‘transition’ away from fossil fuels that falls far short of the fair phase out that is needed. It offers market solutions that will leave behind the poorest countries and bolster the Petro-states. 

“Despite this disappointing result, we can still achieve an outcome that avoids the worst of the climate emergency while also creating safer streets, cleaner air, warmer homes, more jobs in renewable energy and support for our farmers to produce more food locally.   

“There is a groundswell of calls for action from around the world – at least 127 countries called for or endorsed a decision to phase out fossil fuels at COP28. Now is the time for action. 

“We got some limited cash pledges to kick-start the loss and damage fund, more warm words about the 1.5°C target and a desperate compromise on fossil-fuels that protects the interests of oil producers rather than the planet. 

“We urged COP28 to achieve three vital things – the changes needed now to keep to the 1.5°C target set eight years ago in Paris; the phasing out of fossil fuels, and generous contributions to the loss and damage fund to support poorer countries through the climate crisis. 

“The UK’s £60 million contribution to the loss and damage fund is not new money, and the totals pledged from the richest countries amount to less than 0.2% of the irreversible damage poorer countries are facing from global heating each year. 

“Taken together, COP28 has not delivered nearly enough to tackle the climate crisis. That means it is all the more important to make our demand for action now clearer and louder. 

“For instance, we must make the UK government face up to the science and cancel new oil and gas licences for the North Sea.  

“It must now increase investment in onshore and offshore wind, and other forms of renewable energy, to deliver on pledges made. 

“And the government must fund local councils to deliver a nationwide programme of home and business insulation to cut energy use and lower people’s bills. 

“If the government here, and other world leaders, would engage seriously, we could be creating a much better and fairer future for people throughout the UK and around the world.  

“We can still achieve that future. The best time to act was decades ago. The next best time is right now.” 

ENDS 

NOTES 

The Green Party called for: 

• Commitment from the UK government to the 1.5°C Paris Agreement and the massive scaling up of climate action that is now necessary to achieve it 

COP28 delivered: 

• 134 countries pledged to integrate food and agriculture in their climate plans in the first COP declaration to draw a connection between climate change and the food we eat. 

The Green Party called for: 

• The fair and managed phase-out of all fossil fuels, with the UK government leading by example by ending all new oil and gas licences and a rapid acceleration towards renewable energy. 

COP28 delivered: 

• Petro-states and oil companies successfully lobbied to keep the phase out of fossil fuels off the table. 
• The final text puts a heavy reliance on technologies to “abate” carbon emissions rather than deal with their source 
• UK government spokesperson – “The UK position is clear – there must be a phase-out of unabated fossil fuels to meet our climate goals.” 

The Green Party called for: 

• Recognition that it is a super-rich elite who are super-heating the planet, including a generous new Loss and Damage Fund to finance climate action in the poorest countries 

COP28 delivered: 

• Countries pledged £556 million to kick-start the loss and damage fund. The UK pledged £60 million.  
• Save the Children said while the UK money “is an important contribution to a vital fund, it is not new or additional finance, but a repackaging of existing commitments.” 
• The Loss and Damage Collaboration NGO said the total pledge was the equivalent of less than 0.2% of the irreversible economic and non-economic losses developing countries are facing from global heating every year. 

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