Gateshead Green Party

The World Development Movement has analysed and scored the main parties’ policies on international development – and has rated the Green Party higher than any other party.

The Greens, who score an impressive 8 out of 10, come out on top on issues such as trade justice, international aid and IMF reform, ahead of the Liberal Democrats (6 out of 10), Labour (5 out of 10) and the poorly scoring Conservatives, who lag behind on a score of just 3 out of 10.

To tackle world poverty, the Green Party has said the UK should:

• Introduce a “Robin Hood” tax  which would generate as much as £250bn by taxing bankers transactions by a tiny amount (maybe 0.05%). This money would be used to tackle global poverty, as well as tackling climate change and investing in public services.
• Increase aid by exceeding the UN’s target and allocating at least 1 per cent of UK Gross National Produce for aid by 2011, adding an extra £4.5bn pa. This aid should be targeted for the poorest, not involve economic policy conditions, respect gender equality and not be diverted to equipping security forces.
• Keep an International Aid Department separate from the Foreign Office, so as to separate foreign policy interests from humanitarian assistance.

Green Party leader Caroline Lucas, herself a former policy advisor for Oxfam, commented today:

“I am delighted to see that Green Party policies are considered better than those of the other parties.

“We think our policies would radically improve the lives of the poorest.

“When it comes to international aid, we would exceed the UN target.

“The “Robin Hood” tax, which officially became Green Party policy at our spring conference in February, would provide billions of pounds to tackle global poverty, whilst taking a minute percentage of large financial transactions.

“We are on the brink of getting our first MPs into Westminster, which would mean an independent voice in parliament talking about these vital issues, and holding the Government to account.”

Julian Oram, the World Development Movement’s head of policy commented:

“Anti-poverty campaigners have been shocked by the Conservative party’s admission that part of the aid budget under a Tory government could be used for British military operations in developing countries.

“And Labour’s promise to help countries cope with climate change would also come out of the aid budget, diverting finance away from health and education, rather than being additional to that much needed aid.

“The take-home message to the three main party leaders is: must do better if you genuinely want to tackle the root causes of global poverty.”

Notes:

1. For more information please see: http://www.wdm.org.uk/news/tories-and-labour-criticised-over-development-policies-ahead-world-poverty-day.

2. to read more about the Robin Hood tax please see: http://robinhoodtax.org.uk/.

Of course not. Being green covers every area of life. In summary the Green Party manifesto can summarised as follows.

The banking system

The Green Party would not bail out bankers with taxpayers’ money, but fight for a fair financial deal, with community banks, credit unions and mutuals, providing realistic loans.

We will fight to introduce a High Pay Commission to ensure bankers and highly paid executives are not rewarded for failure.

Health and the NHS

Over £1billion of public money is wasted on privatisation despite quality of care suffering when hospitals and surgeries are treated like profit-driven businesses rather than public services.

Greens oppose cuts, closures and privatisation and demand a full programme of locally accessible services. We will provide free social care to the elderly, abolish prescription charges, re-introduce free eye tests and ensure widely available NHS chiropody. We will also fight to restore free dental care and provide everyone with an NHS dentist.

Pensions

Under The Green Party all pensioners would receive a non-means tested pension of £170 per week. We would also provide free care and support for those living independently..

The Green Party would introduce free home insulation for all, with priority for pensioners and those living in fuel poverty.

Housing

Britain has a shortage of affordable, good quality housing to buy or rent.

The Green Party will make it easier for people to get on the property ladder, to protect home-owners and to eradicate homelessness by:

Building new council homes, supporting the development of housing co-ops, bringing back into use 300,000 long-term empty private sector homes, renovating 37,000 empty council homes to help cut waiting lists, giving social housing tenants greater control over the management of their homes and neighbourhoods, improving the quality of housing stock to help reduce household bills and helping people at risk of repossession keep their homes via a Right to Rent scheme.

Jobs and a living wage

Our priority is the creation of an extra million jobs and training places. A £44bn package of measures would include workforce training, investment in renewables, public transport, insulation, social housing and waste management.

To reduce inequality The Green Party will fight for a National Minimum Wage of 60% of net national average earnings, currently £8.10 per hour.

Transport

Train fares in England are some of the highest in Europe. The Green Party would re-nationalise trains to improve service and lower fares.

We would divert £30bn from road projects into public transport. We would spend £1.5bn subsidising public transport to reduce fares up to 10%. This would strengthen communities, reduce crime, improve health, reduce traffic fatalities and create 160,000 jobs.

So at last the truth is out. All three old parties have talked about post election cuts but no one has been willing to say where they will fall. The Tory leader David Cameron left us no doubt yesterday during his interview with Paxman where those cuts would fall first – right here in the North East.

I guess it should come  as no surprise given the Tories are not set to win any more seats in the North East that they should start their programme of cuts right here. So far from investing to support and develop the most disadvantaged of the English regions, the Tories look set to cut its support first. Far away from London and so far away from being a Tory priority.

More than 48% of workers in the North East work in jobs which are funded by the state. Surely this is the time to invest rather than cut back? It now looks like only the Green Party is left to protect jobs and boost local services in the North East of England. Stimulating the private sector won’t happen if we first decimate the public sector.

Vote Tory – more like Vote P45 is you live in the North East and work in public sector.

If you want read more about what Cameron said checkout the Guardian lead story.

Caroline Lucas, Green Party leader, talks about how you can use our new digital tool, www.onlygreen.org.uk, to help elect the first Green MPs in our target constituencies of Brighton Pavilion, Norwich South and Lewisham Deptford. Make sure you send your friends the good news!

Gateshead Green Party today called for the scrapping of Trident and cancelling the programme to develop a replacement nuclear deterrent. The Green Party candidate for Gateshead Andy Redfern said “We have an opportunity to make the United Kingdom a nuclear weapon free country. We should grab that opportunity with both hands. Initial estimates suggest that the cost of replacing Trident will be around £25 billion. That’s the equivalent of the money needed to pay for 60,000 newly qualified nurses and 60,000 new secondary school teachers for the next 10 years.”

“Disarmament isn’t a dream. It can happen, and has happened in many places around the world. In a few short weeks, the British electorate has the opportunity to have its say too. We must send a message to all parties, that replacing Trident is immoral, irrelevant – and a cost simply not worth paying.”

Redfern added “We have a once in a generation opportunity to scrap our weapons and turn the skills we have to building an economy built on sustainable power generation. The North East has already built the foundation to the lead the way – cancelling Trident and investing in Green engineering jobs is the obvious next step.”