Green Party Manifesto Reach for the future A just economics The just society Ecological justice Securing justice globally Democratic justice 1. LABOUR’S TRAFFIC FAILURE UK traffic miles from 1950 to 2010 (page 7) Green Party 2001 400 billion 300 billion Reach for the future 1 200 billion Projected growth A just economics 2 2000 to 2010 – 17% Benefits of taxes 2 100 billion Source: DETR Spending to save 3 Localisation – taming the tiger 3 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 The just society 5 2. BRITAIN BOTTOM OF THE LEAGUE % Recycled waste per country (page 10) The right to a home 5 Learning for life 6 Aluminium cans 1998 Glass 1998 Steel 1998 Household 1993-98 100% Healing the NHS 6 Source: FoE 90% Getting around 7 80% Ecological justice 8 70% Safe food 8 60% A future for farming 9 50% A future for fishing 9 40% Energy and climate change 9 Pollution, waste and 30% resources 10 20% Living wild – justice for the natural world 11 10% Securing justice globally 12 Switzerland Sweden Netherlands Norway Germany Finland Austria France UK Defending the peace 12 3. RICHER – BUT NO BETTER OFF Developing self-reliance 13 ISEW against GDP (UK) 1950-1996 (page 3) Asylum and migration 13 £10000 £9000 Democratic justice 14 £8000 GDP (Gross domestic product) per head Rehabilitation not 14 £7000 retribution £6000 Dealing with drugs 14 £5000 A voice for all 15 £4000 ISEW (Index of sustainable economic welfare) per head Constituting Britain 16 £3000 1990 Pounds Sterling Rescuing Europe 16 £2000 £1000 Conclusion Inside back cover 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 Source: Jackson, T. et. al. (1994) Centre for Environmental Strategy/New Economics Foundation Reach for the future Right: Councillor Mike The Green Party is reaching for the future. We are Woodin, Principal Speaker. working to create a caring and secure society in Britain, at peace with itself and the world; a multicultural society, in harmony with nature, where justice underpins every aspect of national life. We are already having an effect. Green Party policies that Left: Margaret Wright, were once marginal are becoming mainstream. Our Principal Speaker. rejection of road building is widely shared. The Government has begun to write off ‘third world’ debt. Nuclear power is seen as a threat, not an asset, and the reality of climate change is accepted. But there is still much to be done. Green Party – the growing force in British politics Successive governments have realised the necessity of our Green solutions. They have made speeches, issued white papers, and signed international treaties. Yet almost always, Right: Robin Harper, they have failed to act. Why? Because to put people and the Member of the Scottish planet before profits would have been considered ‘unreal- Parliament. Elected 1999. istic’ when so many powerful vested interests are at stake. It’s not as if they failed to act because they were too busy delivering benefits elsewhere. There might be more material wealth in our society than ever before, but it is bought at a heavy price. It is spread increasingly unfairly between rich Left: Caroline Lucas, and poor. It is not used, as it should be, to provide decent Member of the European Parliament. Elected 1999. public services and quality of life for all. As a result, our health service is failing and our railways are crumbling. Stress, depression and juvenile delinquency stand at record levels. Right: Jean Lambert, Member This manifesto presents the policies to cure these ills and of the European Parliament. make our vision real – policies that will provide for our needs Elected 1999. without denying those of future generations; share wealth Below: Victor Anderson, fairly at home and abroad; gain control of the spiralling Darren Johnson, Jenny Jones, Members of the global economy; and give everyone a stake in how our Greater London Authority, society is run. elected 2000. More and more people are trusting the Green Party to provide not just the ideas, but also the political leadership to make them happen. At the last European elections British Green MEPs were elected for the first time. We hold seats in the London Assembly and Scottish Parliament. We have more councillors now than ever before. We are reaching for a future that is sustainable and just. Join us. Vote Green. 1 A just economics We need a just economy. The socially corrupting divide between rich and poor is growing at home and abroad. Future generations will suffer as we plunder the earth, leaving them an inheritance THE CITIZEN’S INCOME of deserts and climate change. The Citizen’s Income (CI) is a non means-tested payment to every Consumption and growth dominate conventional politics, but citizen, working or not. It will cover basic needs without when we measure the things that determine quality of life, it is removing all motivation to take clear that Britain is getting poorer. The costs of our increasingly paid employment. It will replace state pensions, tax-free stressful and over-industrialised way of life outweigh the material allowances and most benefits advances of the last thirty years. (initially not including housing benefit). Pensioners and people The Green Party seeks a fundamental shift in economic policy. with disabilities will receive We need a new economics that produces for need not greed, supplements. CI will abolish the poverty trap distributes wealth equitably, operates within the ecological limits and free people to choose the of the planet, and involves everyone in providing for their family type of work and hours they want. It will build a cohesive society by and community. providing a basic wage for carers and community volunteers. Can we afford it? Here is an Benefits of taxes example. Under the current regime of direct Child (0-18 years) taxes and benefits the gap between Current 16-17 Income Support rich and poor is increasing and many level (significantly more than people are ensnared by the poverty Child Benefit) trap. Indirect taxes such as VAT provide a major part of tax revenues yet, with Adult (18-60 years) few exceptions, they have no regard for Current level of Job-seeker’s the environment or public health. For Allowance example, a locally made ceramic plate carries as much VAT as a disposable Pensioner (60+ years) one, transported across the world and Adult rate supplemented without sold in an out-of-town supermarket. means test to Minimum Income The Green Party would right these Guarantee level wrongs. Person with special needs Installing solar panels Direct taxes and benefits Supplements to at least the level We would introduce a Citizen’s Income of current benefits scheme, with extra payments for people with disabilities and pensioners Raising basic income tax just 7% (see right). Income tax should become would fund this. CI paid to those more progressive with higher bands for in work would offset most of this top earners. In the short term, students increase (in effect, more than should become eligible to claim doubling the tax-free allowance). benefits again and the under 25s should Only the top 20-30% of earners receive full housing benefit. would be less well off. Source: Citizen’s Income Trust 2 Eco-tax not VAT necessary to rebuild public services ‘Eco-taxes’ should replace VAT. These and fund the transition to a sustainable would be levied on all products economy. This would yield massive according to the health and environ- savings, not just financial ones, in the mental impacts of their full life-cycle. future. Eco-taxes on fossil fuels would be directly proportional to their carbon Public finance MIND THE GAP content. Import duties should be Local authorities and health trusts are introduced to prevent imports from being forced into costly and undemoc- countries without Eco-taxes unfairly ratic Private Finance Initiatives and The UK poverty gap has widened undercutting domestic prices. EU and since Labour took office. The top Public Private Partnerships. These world trade rules that prevent this must 20% of earners receive 45% of should be scrapped and replaced by national income – up 2%. The be reformed. proper government funding and local lowest-earning 20% receive 6% – bonds. down 1%. Taxing motoring Guardian 13 April 2000 Vehicle excise duty should be abolished Investing in the future and incorporated into higher levels of The Government should invest in fuel duty. This would link motoring sustainable industries such as costs more closely to mileage. recycling, energy conservation and Research shows that higher levels of public transport, starting with the fuel duty would create jobs, be more hundreds of millions currently spent to QUALITY OF LIFE equitable and better for the environ- lure foreign investors to Britain. The Index of Sustainable ment. Economic Welfare (ISEW) is a measure of quality of life. It Protecting the poor adjusts the Gross Domestic Indirect taxation hits the poor hardest. Localisation – taming Product (GDP)* by adding the We would adjust the level of benefits value of ‘free’ goods such as the tiger and Citizen’s Income to ensure all housework and subtracting the The global economy has outgrown the households can afford basic necessi- costs of ‘defensive’ spending on planet’s ability to support it. This is ties, such as heating, which will attract things like crime and pollution. It largely because the main players are also accounts for the long-term relatively high Eco-taxes. removed in time and space from the costs and benefits of current so-called ‘external’ costs they inflict on production and the social effects Local taxation the rest of us. Board members of the of the distribution of work and income.