700 million trees; radical housing plans: The Green Party manifesto
- ️https://www.facebook.com/walesonlinepolitics/
- ️Thu Nov 21 2019
The Green Party has published its manifesto for the 2019 General Election with plans to tax frequent flyers, create energy-efficient homes, decommission North Sea oil rigs and the phase out of the UK’s remaining coal plants and coal mines.
The party has entered into a remain pact with the Lib Dems and Plaid Cymru.
The manifesto is titled "If not now, when".
The party's key policies are:
Energy
There will be new support for solar, geothermal, tidal, hydro and other renewable energies to provide much of the remainder of the UK’s energy supply by 2030
The planning system will be "transformed" to support a massive increase in wind power
Remove subsidies to the oil and gas industries.
Apply a Carbon Tax on all fossil fuel imports and domestic extraction which will rise over a decade, rendering coal, oil and gas financially unviable as cheaper renewable energies rise up to take their place.
Housing
Bringing empty homes back into use will create 100,000 council homes a year at an eco-standard
Give councils funding to make more council homes and homes which are within 1km of a local rail, tube or tram station, or 500m of a high frequency bus service
Make energy efficiency and elimination fuel poverty a national infrastructure priority
Improve the insulation of every UK home that needs more insulation by 2030
Reduce heating bills by improving one million existing homes and other buildings a year
Roll out solar panels and other forms of renewable domestic energy generation
Reduce the use of natural gas for heating homes through a programme, to replace polluting boilers with renewable heat from heat pumps, and solar thermal, geothermal, biomass and stored heat technologies
Transform the planning system and building regulations, so that all new buildings built by private developers are built energy efficient standards and to incentivise renovation, extension and improvement of existing buildings, rather than relying on new build
Update the fire safety regulations relating to the use of all types of insulation in buildings
Transport
Spending £2.5 billion a year on new cycleways and footpaths, built using sustainable materials, such as woodchips and sawdust
Make public transport cheaper than travelling by car
Opening new rail connections and re-open, where possible, closed stations
Cancel HS2 and electrify all railway lines that connect cities, improving punctuality
Create a government-owned rolling stock company which would invest in a fleet of new electric trains
Councils to take over running of short-distance passenger rail franchises to councils
Give all council control over bus services as London currently has
Add a tax to all fossil fuels which will increase the cost of petrol, diesel and shipping as well as on aviation fuel for domestic flights
Domestic flights will also lose their VAT exemption and there will be an additional surcharge on domestic aviation fuel to account for the increased warming effect of emissions release at altitude
Try discourage people from flying a "Frequent Flyer Levy" will be introduced to people who take more than one (return) flight a year
End the sale of new petrol and diesel fuelled vehicles by 2030
Make 20mph the norm for residential areas and 40mph the default speed limit in non-residential areas except on major roads
Industry
Support for businesses to decarbonise and the provision of training to give people skills to access millions of new green jobs.
Set new clean technology standards and provide companies with grants to allow replacement of old high-emitting carbon equipment with newly developed low carbon equipment
Decommission North Sea oil rigs and the phasing out of the UK’s remaining coal plants and coal mines
Reduce the emission of polluting fluorinated gases (used in fridges, air conditioners and aerosols) in all manufactured goods by implementing the Committee on Climate Change recommendations in this area
Require manufacturers to offer ten year warranties on white goods, to encourage repair and reuse
Ban the production of single-use plastics for use in packaging and invest in research and development into alternatives to plastic and extend the successful tax on plastic bags to cover plastic bottles, single-use plastics and microplastics, and extend plastic bottle deposit schemes
Develop a reformed waste strategy where manufacturers and retailers are required to pay the full cost of recycling and disposing of the packaging they produce
Food, Farming & Forestry
Give farmers grants to replace carbon farming machinery with low carbon machinery
Replant hedgerows
Create thousands of new jobs in rural areas, through the shift away from intensive farming towards smaller-scale food production and land management
More reliable broadband and mobile internet, delivered through councils
Reduce pesticide and fungicide use by at least 50% by overall weight by 2022
Plant 700 million new trees
Incentivise changes in food consumption including "less but better" meat and dairy consumption
Deploy environmentally friendly flood management measures to protect communities from flooding
Incomes
The creation of a Universal Basic Income, paid to all UK residents to tackle poverty and give financial security to everyone called Universal Basic Income (UBI) sufficient to cover an adult’s basic needs at a rate of £89 per week. Disabled people will receive an additional supplement to their UBI, as will lone parents and lone pensioners
On Brexit
They promise a people's vote and to work from within to reform the EU.
What else?
They would replace the First Past the Post system for parliamentary elections with a "fair and proportional voting system".
Create a fully elected House of Lords.
And give 16 and 17-year-olds the right to vote and have a say on their future.
Increase council funding and reform central Government.
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