The Department of Education will today hold an Attendance Summit to discuss the increasing challenges, following the Covid pandemic, to managing pupil attendance at school.

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) is calling on local farmers and growers to take part in an online survey to identify investment needs for farms, going live on Friday 27th October.

24 October 2023

• Call to reform Universal Credit, scrap two-child benefit cap and introduce wealth tax to tackle ‘inequality crisis’  

Following the publication of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s report into destitution in the UK [1], Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said: 

“Thirteen years of Tory government has resulted in a catalogue of social, environmental and economic wreckage. And there can be no worse legacy than leaving almost four million people in destitution – a quarter of them children. This is an utterly shameful record for the sixth largest economy in the world and reveals that the UK faces a deep inequality crisis.   

“But Labour is also failing to address inequality or offer hope to those struggling to meet their essential needs. Research shows that the two-child benefit cap impacts around 1.5 million children and their failure to commit to scrapping the policy leaves thousands of families impoverished. Likewise, their refusal to back a wealth tax will allow inequality to continue unchecked.  

“Only the Greens offer the bold common-sense policies to transform our economy and people’s lives. We have long called for restoring the £20 Covid uplift to Universal Credit and doubling it to £40 per week, with equivalent increases for those on legacy benefits. This would raise the current rate from £85 per week to £125. 

“The Joseph Rowntree Foundation is right: every family needs to be protected and to be able to afford essentials such as food and household bills. Ultimately, the Green Party supports the introduction of a no-strings-attached Universal Basic Income, funded through a more progressive tax system, including a wealth tax on the super-rich.”  

Notes 

1. https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/destitution-uk-2023  

2. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jul/16/two-child-benefit-cap-explainer  

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23 October 2023

• Green Party parliamentary candidate for Waveney Valley, Adrian Ramsay: “We need to shout from the rooftops about the impacts of climate change and water privatisation on flooding.” 

 Adrian Ramsay, co-leader of the Green Party and parliamentary candidate for Waveney Valley spent the weekend talking to people affected by the flooding in Eye, Suffolk. He said:  

“The scenes and stories of flooding I’ve been seeing and hearing from Suffolk and Norfolk residents have been deeply shocking. This is not the first time East Anglia has been flooded, and it certainly won’t be the last. Climate change experts are shouting from the rooftops that these so-called ‘once in a generation’ events will become increasingly frequent.   

“The Conservative government is letting us down badly.  Not only are they not taking the issue of climate change seriously – reigning in on existing commitments – but they, and private water companies, are also failing appallingly when it comes to flood risk management.   

 “Before privatisation, public water bodies were responsible for flood defences. Now defences are at best piecemeal. This is another good reason to take our water industry back into public control.  

“We urgently need a long term and coordinated approach. This can only be achieved with a water industry focussed on investing in plugging leaks and protecting communities, not on syphoning off millions of pounds in dividends to shareholders. And rather than bulldozing planning laws, as Labour proposes, we need to reassess planning regulations which still allow for new buildings on flood plains.  

 “It is clear we will need Green MPs in parliament after the next general election making the case for climate action and protecting communities.” 

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An impactful Department of Justice campaign to raise awareness of the crime of non-fatal strangulation will appear on television screens from Monday 23 October 2023.