29 November 2022

Responding to the government’s decision to give the go ahead to the Sizewell C nuclear power plant in Suffolk [1], Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said:

“This is an ideological decision driven by a misguided energy policy. It is clear there are cleaner, quicker and much less expensive options to meet our electricity needs. Investment in renewable energy and insulation at scale are what is needed to tackle both the climate emergency and cost of living crisis with the urgency needed. 

“The design of Sizewell C will follow the much criticised Hinkley Point C scheme in Somerset which has been delayed by years and beset by technical difficulties and mushrooming costs. It is clear that large nuclear reactors are far too slow to help solve our climate crisis and way too expensive to address sky-high energy bills.”  

Notes

1.  https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/nov/29/sizewell-c-nuclear-plant-confirmed-edf-suffolk-jobs-uk 

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24 November 2022

The Green Party of England and Wales is calling for the government to urgently bring forward its promised Renters Reform Bill in time to stave off a winter of evictions and homelessness.

The call came as new figures showed so-called no fault evictions leaping 76 per cent [1}

Carla Denyer, co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, said the Bill must include:

“An immediate cap on rent increases until at least the end of March 2023, as well as a ban on no-fault evictions over the same period to prevent landlords evicting tenants in order to raise rents.” 

In Scotland, where the Scottish Greens are in government with the SNP, similar measures have already become law [2].

Average rental prices outside London have hit a high of £1,162 a month, jumping 11% in the past year [3]. 

The UK government produced a White Paper in June [4] and Housing Minister Andrew Stephenson told Parliament in October the legislation was still a “priority.” [5]

Carla Denyer added:

“Knowing that you have a secure home over winter is vital for both physical and mental health. Households already face soaring energy and food costs; the last thing they need, on top of everything else they have to contend with, is unaffordable rent rises and the fear of being evicted.

“Rising private rents and increasing evictions have also been cited as major causes of a dramatic increase in homelessness in London and other cities. The number of people sleeping rough on the capital’s streets has jumped by a shocking 24% in the past year [6]

“We are calling on the government to introduce an immediate freeze on rent rises and a ban on evictions by landlords who simply want to increase rents between tenancies. The Scottish government has introduced legislation to safeguard tenants this winter. We want to see the Housing Minister introduce similar measures in England, and for the Senedd to use its devolved powers to do so in Wales [6].” 

Notes

[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-63719126 

[2] Cost of living: rent and eviction – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

[3] Average rent climbs to £1,162, according to Rightmove, up 11% in a year – as charities warn tenants are struggling to make ends meet (msn.com)

[4] A fairer private rented sector

[5] Housing Minister Andrew Stephenson

[6] Number of people sleeping rough in London up 24% in a year | Homelessness | The Guardian 

[7] Rent freeze call by Plaid Cymru voted down by Labour – BBC News

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21 November 2022

• “After one of the most consequential global climate summits in a generation, all our Prime Minister could muster was a 33-word tweet”

Caroline Lucas, Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, has been granted an Urgent Question on the COP27 outcome, taking place in the House of Commons this afternoon at around 15:30. Her statement is below: 

“At the conclusion of one of the most consequential global climate summits in a generation, all our Prime Minister could muster was a 33-word tweet. 

“This frankly pathetic statement is just the latest piece of evidence that our Prime Minister utterly lacks the climate leadership our country, and planet, desperately needs. From a screeching u-turn on showing up to COP27 in the first place, to failing to rule out a disastrous new coal mine in Cumbria, to gifting fossil fuel companies a gigantic tax loophole for climate-wrecking oil & gas investment – these are not the actions of a climate leader. 

“So when the COP26 President Alok Sharma so powerfully stated that 1.5C is “on life support”, can the Government explain in detail its reaction to the summit? Does it agree that the final agreement’s absence of action to peak emissions before 2025, and a clear commitment to phase out all fossil fuels, shows pitiful progress? And if so, why is this Government ploughing ahead with a swathe of new oil & gas licences? 

“And when Ministers were “concerned” about the unjust imprisonment of British citizen Alaa Abd el-Fattah, and the Prime Minister “raised the case” with his Egyptian counterpart, why are his family still being forced to seek answers and action? Alaa has faced intimidation, and has suffered fainting fits and mental breakdowns – yet the Government is standing idly by.  

“Our planet is staring climate catastrophe in the face. While the loss and damage fund agreed at COP27 is a welcome victory for climate justice, the only way we can maintain a liveable planet for all is to keep fossil fuels in the ground for good. A woefully brief Twitter statement simply won’t wash.”

ENDS 

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20 November 2022

Responding to the final Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan [1] from the COP27 climate negotiations in Egypt, Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said:

“The agreement to set up a fund for loss and damage is a significant and historic step towards climate justice for the poorest and most vulnerable countries, those least responsible for the climate crisis. 

“However, the fund is currently empty and we now need rich countries like the UK to step up, honour their commitment to this fund and pay for the harm they have inflicted through historical emissions. 

“But the real failure at Sharm el-Sheikh was that no significant progress has been made in commitments on fossil fuels, which is unsurprising given the hundreds of fossil fuel lobbyists who were active inside the negotiation. In terms of the commitment to eliminating fossil fuels from the global economy, COP27 represents a backward step.

“Future COPs must keep out the oil and gas giants and open the door wider to those with real solutions to offer as well as to a much greater proportion of women, who are bearing a disproportionate burden from climate breakdown yet made up only a third of the negotiating delegates [2].

“There has been a failure of international leadership from the world’s most powerful leaders. That includes the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who had to be dragged kicking and screaming to Egypt, before rushing home to back his chancellor as he announced a continuation of business as usual – new licences for North Sea oil and gas, windfall tax loopholes for the fossil fuel giants [3] and billions on new roads. 

“This COP was billed as an implementation summit where countries were supposed to come with detailed action plans showing how they would create the credible path that the UN says is missing to keep global heating to below 1.5C. Yet there is scant reference to the 1.5C target, let alone a credible path to get us there.

“We needed to make giant strides toward achieving net zero and holding down global heating below 1.5C. Instead global leaders have, at best, taken a few tiny, teetering steps back from catastrophe.”

Notes

1. Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan. Revised draft decision -/CP.27 | UNFCCC

2. COP27: Lack of women at negotiations raises concern – BBC News

3. Loopholes mean oil and gas giants will avoid more than half of govt’s updated windfall tax – New Economics Foundation

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18 November 2022

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s refusal to carry out a Tory Manifesto pledge to “fix social care” through a cost cap highlights the urgent need for a radical NHS-style solution, Green co-leader Adrian Ramsay says today.

“Social care should be free at the point of use for all adults,” says Ramsay.

“A fully publicly funded, free at the point of use system would offer people certainty and dignity in times of need.

“Any of us may develop a long-term condition that requires social care support at any point in our lives, as well as in old age.

“Today – and thanks to Hunt’s Budget for many long years to some – people will have to pay the full cost of private social care if they have assets of more than £23,250 and even those who receive some publicly-funded social care end up paying, between them, nearly £3 billion a year towards their support. [1]

“Even the government’s own analysis shows that people’s homes are having to be sold after their deaths to pay care costs. [2]

“Hunt’s Budget postponed a Tory pledge to put an £86,000 cap on social care costs for individuals until beyond the next General Election. Yet local councils are reporting increasing requests for help, with demand from working-age adults in particular increasing by 15 per cent since 2015/16.

“The Dilnot Commission was set up in 2010 and the Tory government claimed to accept its recommendations, but even Dilnot’s partial costs-cap solution has been kicked down the road again [3].

“The Tory government previously said that charges should be capped at £86,000, now it says they should be unlimited for at least another two years. We say they should be capped at zero – social care should be free at the point of use.

“And there are options to fund a new NHS-style service that the Chancellor simply rejects – a wealth tax on the richest 1 per cent [4], a single unified income tax which could raise an additional £24 billion [5], or adding a social care levy to a more progressive tax system are just three examples.

“The funding options are available to be examined in detail, what’s missing is the political will to solve the social care crisis once and for all.”

ENDS

Notes

1

https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/projects/nhs-in-a-nutshell/social-care-nutshell 

2

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1015737/Build_Back_Better-_Our_Plan_for_Health_and_Social_Care_web_accessible.pdf 

3

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/17/delaying-social-care-reforms-jeremy-hunt-uk-vulnerable

4

https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/33819/20/33819%20TIPPET_The_Case_for_a_Progressive_Annual_Wealth_Tax_%282021%29_v2.pdf

5

https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2021/09/06/green-party-proposes-to-abolish-not-increase-national-insurance-tax-to-fund-social-care/

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