31 January 2018

The Green Party has called on the Government to scrap nuclear weapons for good after Government figures revealed the costs rose by £575.5 million in 12 months.

Jonathan Bartley, co-leader of the Green Party, said the Government’s failure to deliver the weapons on time or in budget “reveals the lie behind its claims to be economically competent”.

Bartley made the call in response to a National Audit Office report which found the Ministry of Defence’s Equipment Plan for 2017-2017 to have a spending shortfall of between £4bn and £20bn [1].

Jonathan Bartley, co-leader of the Green Party, said:

“The spiralling cost of nuclear should be the final nail in the Trident coffin. It is unacceptable that the Government is set to spend an estimated £575.5 million more on nuclear weapons it will never use, while inflicting cuts on an NHS and public services already in crisis. The fact the Government cannot deliver these weapons on time or in budget reveals the lie behind its claims to be economically competent. It’s time Trident was scrapped for good.”

ENDS.

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

Notes:

1.       The National Audit Office states that the MoD’s Equipment Plan 2017-2027 is not affordable: “At present the affordability gap ranges from a minimum of £4.9bn to £20.8bn if financial risks materialise and ambitious savings are not achieved”: https://www.nao.org.uk/report/ministry-of-defence-the-equipment-plan-2017-to-2027/

Point 2.13 on page 19 states the forecast 10-year costs of the Dreadnought project increased again, by £575.5 million: https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/The-Equipment-Plan-2017-to-2027.pdf

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30 January 2018

The Green Party has called on the Government to take bold action on air pollution after news Brixton Road in London reached the limit for the whole of 2018 [1].

Jonathan Bartley, co-leader of the Green Party, said:

“The fact we’re not even out of January and London’s filthy air has already hit the yearly pollution limit is damning. The Government’s failure to tackle this public health emergency is just one of the cracks in its new green veneer.

“We all have the right to trust the air we breathe yet air pollution is cutting lives short and triggering asthma in our children.

“If the Government is serious about tackling this crisis it must bring forward the ban on petrol and diesel cars, introduce a proper scrappage scheme, invest in public transport and expand clean air zones across the country.”

ENDS.

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

Notes:

1. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jan/30/london-reaches-legal-air-pollution-limit-just-one-month-into-the-new-year

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29 January 2018

Jonathan Bartley and Caroline Lucas, co-leaders of the Green Party, said:

“Turkey’s ongoing military attacks on Afrin are utterly wrong, and the killing of civilians is morally indefensible.  The Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, must urgent make a statement on behalf of the government making clear that they condemn the Turkish Government’s actions. 
 
“The people of this region have been targeted by all sides. The atrocities they have suffered at the hands of Daesh are now  exacerbated by the military onslaught of the Turkish Government. The British Government should be using all diplomatic means to bring an end to Turkish military incursions – and should start be using urging the UN and others to condemn Turkey’s actions.”

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23 January 2018

Caroline Lucas, the co-leader of the Green Party, has slammed ‘brass neck Boris’ for his stance on the NHS. Lucas called Johnson’s intervention ‘self-aggrandising of the worst kind’ and pointed to his role in damaging the NHS [1].

Caroline Lucas said:

“It seems that brass neck Boris has struck again. Not only does this brexiteer-in-chief keep repeating lies about mythical savings from leaving the EU, but now he’s trying to position himself as a saviour of the NHS after his party’s extreme brexit stance has caused EU nurses to leave the UK in droves.

“The crisis in the NHS is the fault of the Conservative Party. For Boris to suddenly chime in with platitudes for the health service he’s playing a part in dismantling is self-aggrandising of the worst kind.” 

ENDS

Contact: Matthew Butcher on 07885 459 904 or clucasmedia@parliament.uk

[1] For example the number of nurses and midwives coming to work in Britain from Europe has plunged by 89% since the UK voted to leave the EU.

The sharp fall coincided with a sudden increase in qualified European medics leaving the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s (NMC) register: from 2,435 in 2015-16 to 4,067 in the last year – a rise of 67%.

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17 January 2018

* Jonathan Bartley: “There’s no excuse for the Government’s continued abdication of responsibility.”

The Green Party has backed French President Emmanuel Macron’s call for the UK to take in more refugees from Northern France, ahead of a meeting with Theresa May on Thursday [1].

Jonathan Bartley, co-leader of the Green Party, called on both Macron and May to do more to help refugees. Bartley has visited the camps in Northern France three times to meet refugees and see first hand the conditions they face.

There are currently about 1,000 refugees living rough in Northern France right now, 100 of whom are children as young as ten.

Conditions are becoming increasingly desperate with three refugees losing their lives in Calais in recent weeks, including a 15-year-old boy [2]. Freezing temperatures mean hypothermia, frostbite and trench foot are commonplace.

Jonathan Bartley, co-leader of the Green Party, said:

“The French president is absolutely right to ask the British Government to do more to help solve the humanitarian crisis on our doorstep. There’s no excuse for the Government’s continued abdication of responsibility.

“Child refugees in Northern France are extremely vulnerable to abuse and trafficking. The UK Government must urgently fulfil its promise under the Dubs scheme to take in at least 480 unaccompanied child refugees, and extend the cut-off date beyond March 2016 so even more young people can be helped.

“But the Prime Minister must also have her own demands to make of Macron when they meet. As a first and immediate step, refugees in Northern France need safe and dignified accommodation to survive the freezing French winter.

“May must also demand Macron ends the French police’ excessive force and violence against refugees. A portion of the millions of pounds given to France by the UK every year must be used to protect those in Calais, not harm them, through investment in anti-trafficking and anti-exploitation policing.”

Notes:

1. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/emmanuel-macron-refugees-theresa-may-europe-brexit-eu-calais-camp-jungle-pay-border-a8160236.html
2. https://helprefugees.org/preventable-deaths-calais-border/

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