Amelia Womack: We must demand the full renationalisation of our train services.

28 January 2020

Commenting on the latest rail passengers survey, Green Party Amelia Womack says:

“I spend a lot of my time on the rails, and it’s no surprise to me that less than half of passengers are satisfied with the value of their train tickets. We’re paying far too much for services which are far too unreliable.

“It’s clear that the experiment of privatisation on our railways has failed for everyone except the fat cats making millions from our everyday journeys. As ministers prepare to announce the renationalisation of Northern rail, we must demand the full renationalisation of our train services.

“Our railways are a public good, and it’s time to put passengers before profit.”

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Green Party of England and Wales statement on Holocaust Memorial Day 2020

27 January 2020

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day and the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. We are also approaching the 25th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica.

The world in which we live has not woken up from the nightmare of genocide and ethnic cleansing. We see the effects in Myanmar and Xinjiang. In the UK, hate crime and intolerance are on the rise targeting many minorities including Jews, Muslims, LGBTQ+ and Gypsy, Sinti and Roma people but affecting us all.

In the Green Party we support the work of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust to educate about the Holocaust, to keep alive the memory of its victims and ensure its lessons are never forgotten. We encourage everyone to engage with the Holocaust remembrance events happening across the country. The theme of this year’s events is ‘stand together’. We stand together to protect our neighbours, to stop racism and fascism at its earliest stages, and so provide safety for all in our communities and make ‘never again’ a reality for all.

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Greens call for 10:1 pay ratio between chief executives and workers on Fat Cat Day

6 January 2020

The Green Party has called for new legislation to ensure chief executives are not paid more than ten times any of their workers as it was revealed FTSE 100 bosses earn 117 times the annual pay of the average worker.

Jonathan Bartley, co-leader of the Green Party, made the call on Fat Cat Day [Monday 6 January], the day of the year when bosses of the UK’s top 100 companies have already earned more than the typical worker earns in an entire year.

Green Party policy would legislate a 10:1 pay ratio between the highest and lowest paid workers in any company. Greens would also support the ban on any bonuses exceeding the annual wage of the lowest paid worker in the organisation granting the bonus.

The Party would also take action to address the gender pay gap (currently 8.9%), which sees men receive disproportionately higher salaries than female employees.

Jonathan Bartley said: “It is outrageous that fat cat bosses are taking home such vast amounts of money while many of their workers are struggling to make ends meet.

“Such huge disparities only serve to fuel the rampant inequality that is pulling away at the fabric of our society. A lower pay ratio would not only benefit both employees and the company itself, but would also help reduce the ever-widening inequality that is harming communities across the country.

“It is also vital that companies are doing everything they can to close the gender pay gap, which is why we would also want to see all large and medium size companies to carry out equal pay audits and redress and inequality uncovered.”

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Green Party calls on UK government to condemn US assassination of General Qasem Soleimani

3 January 2020

A Green Party spokesperson said: “The Green Party condemns the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani as an affront to responsible diplomacy and a disproportionate and deliberately provocative act in a volatile region.

“We call on the UK government to condemn the attack with the utmost urgency and at the highest level, and to work with US colleagues to counter President Trump’s reckless and dangerous foreign policy.

“The Green Party has always believed and continues to believe that aggressive actions that risk war are never the answer.

“General Soleimani was implicated in violence throughout the region, including attacks on US soldiers, which we would also condemn. However, a responsible and ethical foreign policy would involve bringing an end to this violence through peaceful means, rather than escalating it and risking extreme further escalation.

“It is critical that we see a de-escalation from both sides to allow proper diplomatic talks to take place.”

ENDS

For more information please contact: press@greenparty.org.uk / 0203 691 9401

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Record temperatures in 2019 show UK government must take action on climate, Green Party warns

3 January 2020

The Met Office has today issued new figures which show that four new temperature records were set in 2019, including the highest winter and summer temperatures.

Amelia Womack, deputy leader of the Green Party, said: “The climate crisis is at our doorstep yet all we have seen so far from political leaders is inaction and empty pledges.

“The world has been horrified by the fires in Australia and floods in Indonesia which have killed dozens of people and caused untold damage. Today’s Met Office figures show that nowhere is immune to the impact of climate change.

“The 2020s will be a critical decade in the fight to prevent runaway climate change, the effects of which will have a major impact on us all.

“The UK government has a responsibility to its own people and the rest of the world to step up and lead the way in taking action on the climate emergency.

“It is not too late for the government to adopt a net-zero carbon emissions target of 2030 and bring forward a transformative Green New Deal as has already been set out by the Green Party.”

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