Health inequalities ‘a challenge to us all’
The latest Health Inequalities Annual Report must be essential reading across all parts of public life in Northern Ireland, Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has stated.
The latest Health Inequalities Annual Report must be essential reading across all parts of public life in Northern Ireland, Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has stated.
Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has acknowledged the contribution of the voluntary and community sector in supporting employability provision for those facing barriers to employment.
The Green Party will today promise real change in a manifesto designed to “invest to mend broken Britain.”
A fairer, greener tax system will raise tens of billions of pounds by asking super-rich multimillionaires and billionaires to pay more, equalising the treatment of income from work and wealth, and ensuring top earners pay National Insurance on their higher incomes.
The money raised from the fairer tax system and borrowing to invest will be used for “game-changing” transformation in health, housing, transport and the green economy
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned the next government will need to either cut public spending or increase taxes. The Green Party will show they are the only party being honest with voters by setting out how public services can be protected through a fairer, greener tax system.
Green Party Co-Leader, Adrian Ramsay will say: “There is a conspiracy of silence between the main Westminster parties at this election.
“Labour and the Conservatives would rather hide their plans for cuts to public services than confront the need for a fairer tax system that asks those with the broadest shoulders to pay more – including the very wealthiest in society, who have grown even wealthier over the last 14 years.
“If people are to have access to an NHS dentist or a GP appointment, if we are to create warm secure homes for all and fund the green transition to tackle the climate crisis and create the jobs of tomorrow, we must be honest today.”
Green Party Co-Leader Carla Denyer will add: “Things can only get worse under Labour unless we dramatically change our tax system to raise money from those with the broadest shoulders.
“Young people, in particular, know just how broken Britain’s frontline services are. The economy is not working for them. They have been priced out of the housing market and are struggling to fund their education.
“Now is the moment to be ambitious – not unrealistic – but ambitious. To be clear about the kind of country we want to live in. About how broken our public services are and the action that’s needed to fix them.”
The Green manifesto pledges to invest in the next generation through a focus on quality housing, education and transport.
The Green Party will also invest to protect the climate for future generations and to bring nature back to life.
The Green Economic Transition will deliver an unprecedented retrofit programme for homes to make them warmer and cheaper to run.
Green Party Parliamentary Candidate for Brighton Pavilion, Sian Berry, will launch the manifesto in Brighton later today.
Sian will say: “The time for half measures and empty promises is over. Only the Green Party is offering real hope and real change at this election.”
The manifesto also details plans to invest to nurse the NHS back to health with extra spending on health and social care rising to over £50bn per year by 2030, and £20bn capital investment to bring crumbling hospitals, primary care buildings and outdated equipment up to modern standards.
Green Party Co-Leader, Adrian Ramsay, will say today: “Britain’s health care is broken. After 14 years of underinvestment, it now needs bold plans to nurse it back to health.
“Greens are proud to be offering more than any other party to invest to nurse our NSH back to health. Greens will be honest about what is needed. By asking those with the broadest shoulders to pay more – including the very wealthiest – we can invest in the frontline service and infrastructure that we all rely on.
“With more Green MPs in Parliament, we will stop Labour backtracking on any more of their promises. We will push them to be braver, to be more ambitious, and to actually do what’s necessary to fix our broken country and get us back on track.”
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
Responding to PM Rishi Sunak’s pride in Tory achievements, Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer said:
“This Conservative Prime Minister is heading for the exit because he is totally out of touch.
“He claimed: ‘I am proud of what’s been achieved over the last 14 years’, but it is 14 years in which we broke away from our closest neighbors through Brexit, real wages fell, the NHS crumbled, and rivers filled with sewage.
“No Prime Minister so out of touch with the hurt his government has caused so many people can expect to be re-elected.
“So, we will have change on 4 July. The question is will it be the timid, tiny steps offered by Labour or can we achieve the real change the country needs to heal the NHS, tackle the climate crisis and give people hope that life can be so much better?
“On Wednesday, the Green Party manifesto will offer just such a vision of real change and real hope.”
Responding to the news that 408 leading climate scientists have demanded more action on the climate emergency in an open letter, Green Co-Leader, Adrian Ramsay, said,
“It is time for politicians to sit up and take note. Here we have 408 scholars who have dedicated their careers to understanding the climate crisis demanding not more words, but real action. Their call for an ambitious climate programme aligns closely with how The Green Party sees the role of political and government leadership in transitioning us to a more sustainable and secure future.
For Greens, it’s in our DNA that we will commit to cutting greenhouse gas emissions with urgency, bolster our resilience to unavoidable climate impacts, and lead the global effort in transitioning away from fossil fuels. Equally, we stand ready to implement a credible, legally binding strategy to meet our carbon budgets and achieve net zero. We will accelerate adaptation measures and adhere to the expert advice of the Climate Change Committee.
More than that though we stand in solidarity with those demanding a just and fair transition and see the need for finance to come from the industrial north to those in need to most urgently mitigate and adapt from the impacts of climate change. The time for half measures is over. We need real change and real hope from our politicians that now, more than ever, the climate crisis will be given the focus and funding it deserves.
This, fundamentally, shows why we desperately need more Green MPs elected. To ensure that these demands are being made inside Westminster as well as by colleagues outside.”