7 March 2022

The Green Party has warned the Prime Minister that there is no such thing as the “climate change pass” that he is arguing for, because climate change doesn’t wait for politics [1]. The party says that only by going further and faster on climate action will the UK government be able to reduce its reliance on Russian gas.

Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer has urged Boris Johnson not to be fooled by climate-sceptic Conservative MPs and right-wing commentators who are now using the travesty of war in Ukraine as an opportunistic attempt to further their pro-fossil fuel views.

Denyer said:

“There is no such thing as a ‘climate change pass’ – unfortunately climate change doesn’t wait for politics. Last week’s UN climate report [2] said ‘any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future.’ It is clear that only by reducing our need for fossil fuels will we be able to both stop climate change and rid this world of the tyranny that goes hand in hand with this dirty source of energy.

“The Conservative MPs and right-wing agitators who are now calling for the UK’s net zero targets to be scrapped are helping to fuel Putin’s war machine in Ukraine.

“It is our reliance on fossil fuels that have stopped us from taking the necessary action so far which would have any impact on Putin. We must be doing everything we can now to reduce our reliance on Russia’s fossil fuels by massively ramping up our installation of renewable energy sources before next winter.

“To deliberately increase our reliance on fossil fuels at this time would not only seriously impact our efforts to tackle climate change, it would leave us even more exposed to the whims of dictators and tyrannous individuals seeking to exploit such frailties now and in the future.

“If the Prime Minister was serious about reducing our reliance on Russian gas he would start the massive investment we have repeatedly called for in renewables, energy efficiency and the skills required to deliver such projects in order for us to reach net zero as quickly as possible.” [3]

ENDS

Notes

1

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/boris-johnsons-call-to-relax-green-target-jbtvrfklx

2

https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/resources/press/press-release/

3

The Green Party’s 2019 general election manifesto set out how to spend £100 billion a year for a decade to make Britain net zero as quickly as possible. The party has continued to call for this urgent action at every opportunity since

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6 March 2022

• Greens commit to uphold the values of peaceful protest and direct action
• Jenny Jones slams government as hypocrites for condemning Russian governments’ mass arrest of peaceful protestors, “while passing laws that allow them to do the same in this country.”

Green Party members have today voted to support a policy that would repeal the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill at their party conference. 

Green peers Jenny Jones and Natalie Bennett have been staunch critics of the Bill and lobbied Labour hard in the Lords, persuading them to reject a series of amendments which would effectively criminalise protest [1]. The Bill is currently in ‘ping-pong’ stage between the Commons and Lords. 

Jenny Jones said:

“I am delighted that conference has backed this motion which commits us to repealing this dangerous piece of legislation should it become law. It infringes on the essential rights of free speech, free protest, free assembly, and free conscience.

“Greens have demonstrated that they are committed to upholding the values of peaceful protest and direct action, recognising that they form an essential part of a healthy democracy. This is a government of hypocrites who rightly condemn the Russian governments’ mass arrest of peaceful protestors, while passing laws that allow them to do the same in this country.”

Notes

1. https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2022/01/14/lords-likely-to-vote-down-draconian-protest-clauses-in-policing-bill-after-green-campaign/

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6 March 2022

• Molly Scott Cato: “It’s time for us to ensure that banks play their part in the transition to a green economy”

The Green Party has passed a hard-hitting new policy to deprive the fossil fuel sector of investment finance and accelerate the transition towards clean forms of energy [1].

Celebrating the passing of the new policy at the Party’s Spring conference, Green spokesperson on finance and economy Molly Scott Cato said:

“In spite of all the fine words from financiers in Glasgow at the COP26 climate summit, our largest banks are still pumping billions into new oil and gas production, pursuing dirty profits and putting the lives of our grandchildren at risk [2]. 

“This motion means the government will have to put its money where its mouth is on the climate crisis. They will need to bring forward rules and regulations that force the UK finance sector to clean up its act and play its part in the rapid transition away from fossil fuels. Banks, stock markets and other financial actors need to shift finance towards the sustainable sectors of the green economy.

“It is time to hold UK banks to account, starting at the top, with the Bank of England. A condition of holding a UK banking licence must be the presentation of an investment strategy outlining a clear pathway to divest from fossil fuel assets.  

“With UK pension funds holding around £128 billion in fossil fuel assets, regulation is also desperately needed to eliminate fossil fuel assets from securities portfolios, pensions and insurance products.”

“The finance sector has for too long been funding climate chaos and this has been diverting finance from investing in a healthier and cleaner economy. The pursuit of dirty profits means that we will all pay the price. It’s time for us to ensure that banks play their part in the transition to a green economy.”  

ENDS

Notes

1

Key elements of the new policy:

• The Bank of England will be required to produce a climate roadmap for the financial system; with no bank holding a UK banking licence permitted to invest in new fossil fuel development; UK pension and investment funds will be required to remove fossil fuel assets from their investment portfolios.
• The Bank of England should adopt a policy of credit guidance with minimum but rapidly increasing quotas of lending to fund a just but urgent sustainability transition.
• We will introduce credit bans/ceilings for unsustainable activities. These targets will be mandatory for all banks relying on the central bank as a lender of last resort.
• The Bank of England’s mandate will be changed so that funding the sustainability transition becomes a central objective, alongside the maintenance of price stability.
• The UK will adopt a position in negotiations at the Basel Committee that fossil fuel assets will be subjected to higher risk weights and capital surcharges until their value as collateral is gradually eliminated

2

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60366054

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5 March 2022

The Green Party has voted overwhelmingly to introduce schemes which reunite unaccompanied child refugees with their families and to make permanent the current temporary scheme mandating councils to take unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC). 

Since July last year, the number of small boat crossings to the UK has increased [1]. This pressure has forced many child refugees to be held in hotels and intake centres across the south coast, waiting for a council to accept them into care through the national transfer scheme. [2]

Under current arrangements, councils receive grant funding of between £113 and £143 per day to place UASC in their local authority areas through the national transfer scheme. Taking part is voluntary, however the Government temporarily mandated the scheme at the end of last year. [3]

The Deputy leader of Brighton and Hove Council, Cllr Hannah Clare, said: 

“This motion, passed overwhelmingly at our Spring conference, makes clear there can be no exceptions: councils must take responsibility for supporting some of the world’s most vulnerable people while the government must fund councils adequately to enable them to provide such support.”

“Closing the funding gap for councils so they can support UASC could be achieved with an increase of grant funding by around £100m. This is equivalent to approximately one day’s uncollected taxes in the UK. [4]

“Many local councils, often where Conservatives are in power, are failing to provide a warm, safe home for child refugees. Other councils are doing everything in their power to welcome child refugees into their area, despite massive cuts to their budgets and the lack of available placements for children in care. This includes Green-led Brighton and Hove, and Solihull, where Greens are a powerful opposition.

“Ensuring UASC get support immediately when they arrive on our shores is the humane and compassionate response. It is also vital that we create mechanisms for such children to be reunited with their families.” 

Green Party conference called on the government to: 

• make the mandatory rota through the national transfer scheme permanent, with no exceptions allowing councils to opt out
• ensure that the national transfer scheme takes account of UASC best interests and wishes, and that the prescribed 0.07% quota should be a minimum not a maximum for councils supporting UASC in their area
• fund councils adequately to enable them to provide support to UASC in care and care leavers
• introduce schemes which reunite unaccompanied child refugees with their families
• address the lack of placements for all children in care, by funding councils to develop in house provision and end the practice of profit-making private residential homes and foster agencies
• over the long term, work with other governments to address the underlying causes of unaccompanied child refugees arriving on our shores.

Notes

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/sep/27/more-small-boat-channel-crossings-this-year-than-during-all-of-2020 

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/25/child-refugees-were-dumped-in-unsafe-hotel-claims-brighton-council 

[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/national-transfer-scheme-to-become-mandatory-for-all-local-authorities 

[4] https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/unpaid-taxes-the-tax-gap/ 

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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5 March 2022

• Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty takes as its model the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which has been ratified by 50 United Nations member states

The Green Party has today demanded that the UK Government and the Welsh Senedd sign up to the international Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty (FFNPT) to immediately end expansion of new coal, oil and gas production [1]. 

At its Spring conference, members voted to reclaim our future and back the fossil fuel treaty, whichis based on international cooperation to end the exploration and production of fossil fuels in line with the Paris Agreement.

The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty takes as its model the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty [2], which has been ratified by 50 United Nations member states and requires signatories to end the expansion of nuclear arsenals and establishes a verified process for phasing out nuclear weapons. 

The Green Party policy to back the FFNPT calls on the UK government to “seek international agreement for a treaty to phase out fossil fuel production and to bring forward comprehensive domestic fossil fuel regulation for a fast and fair transition.”

The motion to the party’s conference was proposed by Green MP Caroline Lucas. She said:

“The Government is still shamelessly supporting the expansion of fossil fuels within the UK and there are at least 40 new oil, coal and gas projects seeking approval between now and 2025.  This is totally incompatible with the need for urgent action on the climate emergency – and the bottom line is that fossil fuels need to stay in the ground.

“The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) paints a devastating picture of the impacts of the climate emergency and at a scale far greater than previously thought [3]. The window for action is closing rapidly. A rapid shift away from fossil fuels can wedge it open but we must end the reckless drive to exploit more oil, gas and coal and accelerate the shift to a  future powered by renewables. 

“The UK government, which remains president of COP26 until November, talks a lot about the need for international cooperation to tackle the climate emergency. Let’s see it demonstrate its own commitment to such cooperation by signing the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty and ending any new fossil fuel production.” 

Notes

1

https://fossilfueltreaty.org/ 

2

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

3

IPCC: Climate change taking lives and livelihoods – but there is still a window to act | Sky News

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