Foreword Executive Summary The Green New Deal The Green New Deal for energy 10 The Green New Deal for housing 13 The Green New Deal for transport 15 The Green New Deal for industry 18 The Green New Deal for food, farming & forestry 21 The Green New Deal for incomes 26 The Green New Deal and the rest of our Manifesto 27 Remain and Transform 28 Brexit and a People's Vote 29 Transforming the European Union 30 Growing Democracy 34 Shaking up central government 38 Empowering local government 40 Global justice and international aid 45 The Green Quality of Life Guarantee Delivering secure incomes and secure homes 49 Restoring the NHS 54 Unlocking education 55 Restoring our nature and countryside 57 Tackling discrimination 60 Preventing crime 65 Ending the war on drugs 66 Transforming our relationship with animals 68 The New Deal for Tax and Spend 71 Simplifying income taxes 73 Reforming property taxes 74 Making big business pay its fair share 75 Supporting small business 77 Ending wasteful spending 79 Postscript 81 Appendix - How it all adds up The time to vote Green is now. We know these are dark days. The threat of Brexit hangs over us and our democracy is under attack. Above all, the climate and environmental emergency rages from the Amazon to the Arctic. The science is clear - the next ten years are probably the most important in our history. At this time of crisis, we cannot go on as we are. If ever there was a time to vote Green, it's now. We want to unleash a revolution that lifts up everyone. Our plan for a Green New Deal, and four related programmes of reform, will transform the UK and improve the quality of everyone's lives by creating a safer, fairer future for all. We are the only party you can trust to act in time to tackle the Climate Emergency in a way that also tackles pressing social problems. We are the only party you can trust to stand up for remaining part of Europe and for a final say on Brexit, whilst at the same time tackling the underlying reasons why many people voted to leave. We are the only party you can trust to fix our broken democracy, by sharing power as well as wealth more equally, so that we can all be heard. The Green Party has always been on the right side of history and you can trust us to get the future right too. The choices we make now matter like never before. The UK needs a new start. If not now, then when? Note on territorial coverage This is the manifesto of the Green Party of England and Wales. Separate sister Green parties cover Scotland and Northern Ireland. Many public services are devolved, with the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales or the Northern Ireland Assembly taking responsibility. However, most decisions on government expenditure and on taxation are ultimately taken on a UK basis, this is a UK general election and, despite the fact that this Green Party covers only England and Wales, and to maintain consistency and comparability, the policies in this Manifesto will cover the whole of the UK unless otherwise stated. To tackle the Climate Emergency, and deliver social justice, we propose: The Green New Deal The Green New Deal will invest in our shared future, funding improvements in: Energy: including the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy. Housing: including the provision of better insulation for all homes that need it, the delivery of major heating upgrades for 1 million homes a year and the creation of 100,000 new energy efficient council homes a year. Transport: including the delivery of a public and sustainable transport revolution, which will allow people to travel cheaply and safely on new trains, buses, cycleways and footpaths. Industry: including support for businesses to decarbonise and the provision of training to give people skills to access millions of new green jobs. Food, Farming & Forestry: including the planting of 700 million trees and support for healthy and sustainable food and farming systems. Incomes: including the creation of a Universal Basic Income, paid to all UK residents to tackle poverty and give financial security to everyone. New green homes, new green transport and new green jobs will get us on track to reduce the UK's carbon emissions to net zero by 2030 and provide new opportunities for everyone to live happier and more secure lives. This will be a combined investment of over £100 billion a year in the Green New Deal, with an additional investment in Universal Basic Income. To help deliver the Green New Deal, we will deliver four further programmes of reform, closely integrated with our Green New Deal proposals: Remain and Transform A People's Vote to decide the way forward on Brexit, in which the Green Party will campaign for remain. A commitment to realise the full potential of the European Union to lead the fight against the Climate Emergency and to improve the lives of workers, low income families and refugees. Grow Democracy Replacing First Past the Post with a proportional voting system, giving 16-year-olds the vote, reforming government to better combat the Climate Emergency and devolving power to councils. The Green Quality of Life Guarantee Reversing austerity and funding our public services, tackling discrimination, ending the war on drugs, restoring our natural environment and making wellbeing the focus of our economy. The New Deal for Tax and Spend Ending wasteful spending on government vanity projects and reforming our tax system so that the wealthiest pay their fair share. Unleashing a Green Economic and Social Revolution In 2019, we face a collective challenge greater than we have faced for decades. The climate we all rely on is breaking down. The impacts are starting to affect us all - the weather is becoming more extreme, wildlife is declining, sea levels are rising. Our century is only 19 years old, but already we have had 18 of the hottest years on record. This summer saw the hottest day ever recorded in the UK, and the hottest month ever recorded across the world. None of this is happening by accident. It's the consequence of an out-ofcontrol economic system that plunders the Earth's natural resources to create wealth for the few, casting the climate into chaos and causing corrosive levels of inequality. It's time for a new start, so we have developed the Green New Deal. This is a comprehensive ten-year plan ambitious enough to tackle climate and ecological breakdown at the scale and speed set out by science. It will deliver a fast and fair transformation of our economy and society, renewing almost every aspect of life in the UK: from the way we produce and consume energy, to the way in which we grow the food we eat, and how we work, travel, and heat our homes. As the originators of the Green New Deal, we are the only party you can trust to act in time to tackle the Climate Emergency and rapidly reduce social and economic inequality - and to make these our top priorities. The Green New Deal will get the UK on track to reducing climate emissions to net zero by 2030 by: > Meeting most of our energy needs through the domestic production of renewable energy. > Reducing our overall energy demand from buildings and homes. > Transforming UK industry, transport and land use. There will be a combined investment of over £100 billion a year in the Green New Deal, with an additional investment in Universal Basic Income. Through this investment, we will provide new opportunities for everyone to work and live more sustainably and more securely. The Green New Deal will deliver solid financial foundations across society, through a range of measures including: > The creation of millions of new jobs in renewable energy, transport, land management and other sectors transformed by the transition to a net zero carbon economy. > The provision of the training people need to access these new jobs. > The creation of at least 100,000 new socially rented homes a year through low carbon construction and retrofitting, converting and extending existing buildings. Implementing the Green New Deal will need to become a fundamental objective of government, nationally and locally, but it will also involve every single one of us: workers and investors, creatives and care workers, scientists and seniors, administrators and accountants, farmers and factory workers, and beyond. The Green New Deal will give power and resources for devolved governments, elected mayors and local governments to transform the communities they represent. Local people will be directly involved, actively engaging all of us in the future of the places where we live and work. It will also mean new forms of common ownership throughout vital parts of our infrastructure, such as waterways, buses, parks and railways. Investment will be targeted at those who need it most, including communities with high unemployment, those excluded from full participation in the economy and those dependent on old, energy guzzling, polluting industries. We will work alongside trade unions to ensure a just transition to a green future, which will leave no one behind. Business will share collective responsibility for delivering the Green New Deal too and will be incentivised to lead the way by innovating and manufacturing a better future. Businesses that are currently obliged to maximise returns to shareholders will need to take account of other stakeholders - including the ecosystem - and the impact of their activities on the climate and on communities. Public sector investment to kick-start the Green New Deal will act as a catalyst for private sector investment, as private investors seek to share in the financial rewards of the transition to a net zero carbon future. We will create a new public banking infrastructure to help deliver our ambitious programme and the Green New Deal will ensure the banks invest and lend at low, affordable interest rates to support the economy's environmental transformation. It will also deliver financial mechanisms and the transfer of new technologies to help the Global South adapt to climate change in a just way. The Green New Deal will make space for nature, with policies to restore habitats in urban, suburban and countryside settings. It will transform our food and farming system, to improve human and environmental health, maximise the landscape's ability to store carbon and prevent flooding, promote innovations in land management and ownership, and ease the transition by protecting jobs and creating new green employment opportunities. The wider economy will be transformed too, re-purposed to protect and enhance the wellbeing of citizens, society and the natural world. Economic growth will no longer be the way we measure progress. Instead, we will prioritise measures of real prosperity and wellbeing, like improvement in health, reduction of inequality and the restoration and protection of the natural environment on which we all depend. The Green New Deal is also about fairness in a warming world. Building on the Green Party's commitment to global justice the Green New Deal includes finance and technology to help the majority world adapt to climate change and support human well-being, breaking the carbon chains of fossil fuel dependence and ending the economic culture that has viewed people and places primarily for the extraction of profit. In short, the Green New Deal will unleash an urgently needed green economic and social revolution. There is no time to lose - we must start now. 8 Bristol Councillor Carla Denyer, who secured the first declaration of a Climate Emergency in the UK. Declaring a Climate Emergency In October 2018 the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published a landmark report warning of the urgent need for rapid and unprecedented change in all aspects of society to cut emissions in half in just 12 years. Green councillors in Bristol were the first very politicians in the UK to act in response. Weeks after the publication of the UN Report, Green Cllr Carla Denyer brought an urgent motion to Bristol City Council declaring a Climate Emergency and committing the Council to comprehensive action to make the city carbon neutral by 2030. The motion passed - and set off a cascade of others. Over 150 local authorities have now declared their own Climate Emergencies, along with the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales. Green councillors and activists are now working to help those declaring emergencies to follow through on their promise of action, delivering radical action to halt the Climate Emergency from the ground up. Carla is the Green Party candidate for Bristol West in this General Election. In spring 2019 the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, Caroline Lucas, sponsored an Early Day Motion highlighting the Climate Emergency, and welcomed environmental activist Greta Thunberg to Parliament. A few weeks after Greta addressed MPs on the need for action, Parliament itself declared a Climate Emergency. Caroline continues to work to ensure that warm words from MPs on tackling the Climate Emergency are followed through with meaningful action. From council chambers to Westminster, and in hundreds of places in between, Greens are leading the fight against climate chaos. This election is your chance to stand with us and put the Climate Emergency at the top of the political agenda. The Green New Deal for energy The key to reducing our impact on the climate is to stop burning fossil fuels as soon as possible. The UK has an abundance of the wind, tides, sun and rivers needed to be self-sufficient in energy - and it's time for investment to unleash this potential and enable us leave oil and gas in the ground. The Green New Deal will accelerate the transformation of our energy supply and create the energy infrastructure of the future - one powered by renewables - working in harmony with a reduction in energy demand. With our renewable energy supply unlocked, we can hugely reduce fossil fuel use in our energy system, and with it our reliance on nuclear power. The Green New Deal for energy will revolutionise the way we produce and use energy. It will: > Enable communities to develop their own renewable energy projects, so that the benefits of locally generated energy can stay local. > Introduce new support and incentives to directly accelerate wind energy development, paving the way for wind to provide around 70% of the UK's electricity by 2030. > Introduce 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. > Transform the planning system so that it works to support a massive increase in wind power and other renewable generation. > Work with the Crown Estate, which owns much of the UK's coastline, to open up more coastal waters for offshore wind and marine energy. We will ensure that the long-term profits from these vital energy assets come to the UK government rather than energy firms. > Remove subsidies to the oil and gas industries. > Apply a Carbon Tax on all fossil fuel imports and domestic extraction, based on greenhouse gas emissions produced when fuel is burnt. We will also apply a Carbon Tax on imported energy, based on its embedded emissions. We will raise the Carbon Tax rate progressively over a decade, rendering coal, oil and gas financially unviable as cheaper renewable energies rise up to take their place. > Connect our electricity supply more closely to that of our neighbours in Europe, to provide a wider supply we can call on when needed and to allow us to export electricity when we have a surplus. Subsea connections to Norway and Iceland to connect to their hydro and geothermal power supplies will be particularly encouraged. > Deploy demand side management and significantly expand and improve the efficiency of the electricity grid, doubling its capacity so that it can distribute the increased electricity the UK will need as it transitions away from fossil fuels. > Expand our short-term capacity for energy storage so that electricity from peak periods of renewable electricity generation (e.g. days with very strong winds and many hours of sunshine) can be effectively stored - utilising solutions such as domestic solar batteries, storage as heat in hot water cylinders and thermal stores, and smart control of vehicle battery charging. > Prohibit the construction of nuclear power stations. We know that nuclear is a distraction from developing renewable energy, carries an unacceptable risk for the communities living close to nuclear energy facilities, creates unmanageable quantities of radioactive waste and is inextricably linked with the production of world-destroying nuclear weapons. > Encourage greater energy efficiency across the economy, including by providing energy efficiency training for businesses and public bodies, emphasising the need for behavioural change - we all need to value energy as we value money. Small businesses and co-ops will receive this training for free. > Ban fracking, and other unconventional forms of fossil fuel extraction, now and forever. 12 The Green New Deal for housing Green New Deal investment in housing will simultaneously reduce climate emissions, tackle fuel poverty and provide genuinely affordable housing. We will improve the insulation of every home in the UK, making sure they are all warm in winter. This green homes revolution will make sure nobody is forced to choose between heating or eating. Everyone should have a safe, affordable and warm place to call home. We will end the housing crisis by creating enough affordable homes - including 100,000 new council homes a year. Our plans will also ensure that all new and renovated homes meet the highest possible standards and meet social needs. Work on our homes, businesses and public buildings will create quality jobs in every part of the UK as we shift to a net zero carbon economy. Our Green New Deal for housing will: > Empower local authorities to bring empty homes back into use and create a total of 100,000 new homes for social rent (council homes) a year, built to the Passivhaus or equivalent standard. This standard will see these new homes use 90% less energy for space heating than the average home, significantly reducing household bills. > Allocate funding to local authorities for council home creation based on the needs of their area. We expect much of the need to be concentrated in areas where Green New Deal jobs will be created. We will incentivise local authorities to spread small developments across their areas, rather than building huge new estates, and to build, renovate and convert to high quality designs that respect local architectural heritage. The new council homes will offer secure, lifetime tenancies. > Ensure all new developments will be located and designed to ensure that residents do not need cars to live a full life, either having safe pedestrian access to local shops and schools, or 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. The material used for these insulation improvements will be sustainable. > Significantly reduce heating bills by improving 1 million existing homes and other buildings a year, so that they reach the highest standard of energy efficiency (over and above the Energy Performance Certificate A rating). Homes lived in by people on low incomes will be the first to receive these major improvements and benefit from reduced heating bills. This will be a deep retrofitting of 10 million homes by 2030, on top of the insulation improvements every home that needs it will receive. > Roll out solar panels and other forms of renewable domestic energy generation, giving 1 million households a year the means to generate a proportion of the energy they use. This will mean that 10 million homes are able to generate their own renewable energy by 2030. > 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. > Insulate non domestic buildings, addressing the large amounts of energy lost from offices and public buildings. > Deploy heat networks to transport heat from the source of renewable heat to individual buildings in a district or neighbourhood. > Transform the planning system and building regulations, so that all new buildings built by private developers are built to the Passivhaus standard (or to a standard that delivers energy efficiency at an equivalent or better level). We will enable self- build development that meets the same standards. > Improve building regulations so that all renovations to roofs, external walls, windows and doors improve the energy performance of that part of the building to the equivalent of (or better than) an Energy Performance Certificate A rating. We will reinstate the requirement for local council building control inspectors to carry out inspections themselves of new build properties and renovations to ensure this work is carried out to the required standards. > Ensure that all 8 million rented homes are A rated for energy efficiency, or as close to this as possible, by implementing a Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard escalator to raise the minimum level allowed from the current E rating to A rating by 2030. > Update the fire safety regulations relating to the use of all types of insulation in buildings. > Change the planning system to incentivise renovation, extension and improvement of existing buildings, rather than relying on new build, to reduce the use of steel, concrete, cladding and finishes, which produce massive amounts of carbon in their manufacture. Similarly we will incentivise the use of sustainable materials. These reforms will integrate closely with the proposals set out in the 'Delivering secure incomes and homes' section on page 49. The Green New Deal for transport Our transport system is built on fossil fuels. As well as destabilising our climate, this reliance traps us into stressful, unhealthy and expensive forms of travel. Car dependency contributes to congestion, road danger and air pollution whilst reducing physical activity. The Green New Deal will revolutionise our transport system by ending dependence on carbon, and investing instead in alternatives that work for better for the climate and for people. This means more reliable and affordable trains, electric buses and trams, and better options for cycling and walking. From new trains and targeted fare reductions, to rapidly expanding bike hire schemes, we think it's time to transform the way the UK moves. Our Green New Deal for transport will invest in public transport, walking and cycling so wherever people live they are not forced to use a car, by: > Spending £2.5 billion a year on new cycleways and footpaths, built using sustainable materials, such as woodchips and sawdust. > Making travelling by public transport cheaper than travelling by car, by reducing the cost of travelling by train and bus. Coach travel will also be encouraged, with new routes for electric coaches provided across the country. > Creating a new golden age of train by opening new rail connections that remove bottlenecks, increase rail freight capacity, improve journey times and frequencies, enhance capacity in the South West, Midlands and North, and connect currently unconnected urban areas. We would also look, where possible, to re-open closed stations. These rail improvements will benefit from funding switched from the damaging HS2 scheme, which we will cancel (see 'Ending wasteful spending' section below for more details). > Electrifying all railway lines that connect cities, improving punctuality. > Creating a government-owned rolling stock company which would invest in a fleet of new electric trains to run on newly electrified lines. > Giving responsibility for running short-distance passenger rail franchises to councils, or groups of councils that come together to work on local transport. This will give local communities a greater say in the running of the rail services they rely on. We will bring all railways back into public ownership over ten years. > Ensuring good railway connections with all ports to enable more freight between ports and inland terminals to be carried on rail. We will invest in additional freight routes resulting in the majority of long-distance freight switching from road to rail. > Giving all local authorities control over bus services (as London currently has) and supporting local authorities to restore lost bus routes and open new ones. Local authorities serving urban areas will be encouraged to explore tramways as an additional public transport option. > Providing more bus priority measures on the roads to improve punctuality. > Funding local authorities to improve the appearance and facilities of bus stops, bus stations and train stations, to make them more user friendly and convenient for both passengers and transport staff. This includes the provision of more public toilets, and ensuring full accessibility for disabled people. > Apply a Carbon Tax on all fossil fuels, as outlined above in the 'Green New Deal for energy' section, which will increase the cost of petrol, diesel and shipping fuel, 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. We will lobby against the international rules that prevent action being taken to tax international aviation fuel. > Ban advertising for flights, and introduce a Frequent Flyer Levy to reduce the impact of the 15% of people who take 70% of flights. This Frequent Flyer Levy only applies to people who take more than one (return) flight a year, discouraging excessive flying. > Stop the building of new runways and all increased road capacity, saving thousands of acres of countryside every year and protecting people from the harm of increased air pollution and traffic danger. > End the sale of new petrol and diesel fuelled vehicles by 2030. Over the next ten years we will ease this transition by incentivising the replacement of diesel and petrol vans, lorries and coaches with electric vehicles. Our priority is reducing overall mileage and the number of vehicles on our roads - in 2030 create the minimum of pollution. Even electric vehicles pollute, so they represent an improvement on the current situation, not a solution in themselves. > Create a network of electric vehicle charging points across the country, by requiring their construction through the planning system and encouraging the private sector to deliver them. We will ensure that these charging points are located in public places, and do not take up pavement and cycling space. We will require all existing petrol stations and motorway service stations to offer electric vehicle charging points by 2025. > Civilise our streets by making Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (in which rat-running is blocked) the norm for residential areas and making 20 miles per hour the default speed limit. These changes would reduce traffic, carbon emissions and danger to people walking and cycling. They would restore our streets to all people. They would also form part of a wider commitment to the core principle of the Vision Zero campaign - that there should be no fatalities or serious injuries as a result of road traffic collisions. these further measures will ensure > Make 40 miles per hour the default that the vehicles still on our roads speed limit in non-residential areas except on major roads. > Ensure through the planning system that all new housing is served by high quality walking and cycling routes and much improved bus, tram and local rail services. New residents must not be forced into car use. > Incentivise changes to travelling behaviour by promoting more stay at home working (with working hours' heating, electricity and Wi-Fi costs reimbursed by employers for low income workers working from home), more business teleconferencing, more local work station hubs and more car club schemes. We will also encourage more domestic holiday travel, through removing VAT from UK hotel and holiday home stays and attractions. The Green New Deal for industry Green New Deal investment will rebalance industry, away from the carbon past and towards the renewable future. New technologies, along with huge expansions in renewable energy, will create millions of new, good quality, well-paid, secure jobs in every corner of the country - with training for these new jobs funded by the Green New Deal. This unprecedented investment in training and skills will prioritise communities hit hard by economic changes over recent decades. A circular economy will underpin this green industrial revolution, designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems. Recycling and repairing will be made easier for all, reducing the need to buy new, expensive products on a regular basis. Our Green New Deal for industry will: > Bring back the UK as an internationally recognised manufacturing powerhouse with proactive, wide-scale support for the UK-based manufacturing of renewable energy infrastructure. > Set new clean technology standards and invest in research and development to help industry to meet them and create new job opportunities through doing so. We will provide companies with grants to allow replacement of old high-emitting carbon equipment with newly developed low carbon equipment. These incentives to replace equipment will avoid the long-term lock-in of high carbon technologies. > Help create a network of regional mutual banks to provide funding for start-up companies (particularly co-operatives, community interest companies and other non-profit businesses) developing technologies which contribute to decarbonising our economy. > Apply a Carbon Tax as outlined above in the 'Green New Deal for energy' section. This will raise the price of processes that use fossil fuels and thus of the products they produce. This will incentivise industry to switch to low and zero carbon technology and equipment as well as encouraging consumers to choose low carbon products. Non-fossil-fuel greenhouse gas emissions from industrial installations will also be subject to the Carbon Tax. > Prepare for the rapid decommissioning of North Sea oil rigs and the phasing out of the UK's remaining coal plants and coal mines, ensuing a just transition for workers affected. > Invest £2 billion a year in training and skills (including new apprenticeships), to help people access the new, decent jobs created through the transition to a low carbon economy. > Give local authorities the power to direct the newly created training and skills programmes. National government will provide the funding and democratically elected local authorities will be given the power to decide how it should be spent, to help residents' access new jobs. > Encourage the renovation of non- domestic buildings, through making planning consent harder to achieve for new commercial property. > 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. > Boost the repair and recondition sector with new apprenticeship schemes. > Develop the infrastructure necessary to enable large corporations and individuals to recycle close to 100% of the items they use. > Require manufacturers to offer ten- year warranties on white goods, to encourage repair and reuse. We will create a comprehensive 'right to repair', to require manufacturers to keep goods operational years after purchase and to ban the practice of producing goods with the intention that they will become obsolete in a few years' time. > Require manufacturers to only produce the most energy efficient white goods, TVs, lighting and electric cookers. > Require manufacturers to only produce the most energy efficient, low emissions vehicles. > Encourage a shift from models of ownership to usership, such as with car-sharing platforms and neighbourhood libraries for tools and equipment. > Ban the production of single-use plastics for use in packaging and invest in research and development into alternatives to plastic. We will also extend the successful tax on plastic bags to cover plastic bottles, single-use plastics and microplastics, and extend plastic bottle deposit schemes. > Develop and implement a reformed waste strategy where manufacturers and retailers are required to pay the full cost of recycling and disposing of the packaging they produce. > Start deployment of a Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) system that can deal with CO2 emissions from manufacture of iron, steel and cement. The Green New Deal for food, farming & forestry The Green New Deal will transform our relationship with the land. It will increase space for nature through the restoration of natural landscapes, habitats and species in urban, suburban and countryside environments. We want to increase the opportunities for food growing, for greening our landscape and improving our health. Through reforestation, rewilding and regenerative farming, we will reduce carbon emissions and realise the land's ability to absorb carbon. The way we produce our food needs to support employment, the ecosystem and improve public health. A ten-year transition to agroecological farming will include the transfer of subsidies to farming methods and food systems that create jobs and restore ecosystem health, including the quality of our soils and rivers. It will also advance food sovereignty, including by localising food systems and putting control over the resources to produce, distribute and access food in the hands of communities and workers across the food system. We will also lay down a new natural inheritance to be passed down to future generations, through the creation of community owned and run forests. Our Green New Deal for food, farming & forestry will: > Work with farmers to refocus farm subsidies to help farmers transition to more sustainable, diverse and environmentally friendly forms of land use, including organic farming, agroforestry and mixed farming, and away from intensive livestock farming. > Provide farmers with grants to allow replacement of old high-emitting carbon farming machinery with low carbon machinery (including vehicles powered by biofuels rather than fossil fuels). Grants will also be available to enable further improvements to farm buildings and infrastructure, to help farmers in the transition to agroecological farming. > Encourage the expansion and replanting of majority of hedgerows lost in the last 50 years through new subsidies, creating new environments for wildlife. > Legislate to give farmers greater security of tenure, so that they can invest in sustainable improvements to their land, whilst ending the use of land as a tax shelter and encouraging new entrants into farming. > Create thousands of new jobs in rural areas, through the shift away from intensive farming towards smaller-scale, more peoplefocussed food production and land management that respects nature. We will invest in training and skills to help people develop and apply the skills needed in these new jobs. > Better connect rural communities through reliable broadband and mobile internet, delivered through councils who understand local connection needs. > Establish a Land Commission to investigate the effects concentrated land ownership is having on food and farming systems, housing, local economies, cultures and livelihoods. This Commission will be introduced alongside a new Land Value Tax (see 'Reforming property taxes' section below), which will help ensure that all land is taxed fairly. > Reduce pesticide and fungicide use by at least 50% by overall weight by 2022, phase out all non-agricultural uses of pesticides, and immediately ban the most harmful substances. We will secure protection of rural residents and communities from exposure to pesticides sprayed on nearby crop fields and prohibit the use of pesticides in the locality of homes, schools and children's playgrounds. We will strengthen the role of independent scientific advice and the application of the precautionary principle in the pesticide regulation and monitoring process - only pesticides that pass strict tests, and demonstrably don't harm bees, butterflies and other wildlife, will be approved for use in the UK. We will also reduce the amount of nitrogen fertiliser used on UK farms. > Plant 700 million new trees and aim for 50% of all farms to be engaged in agroforestry by 2030. We will encourage the planting of more trees in more towns and cities, including apple, nut and other crop trees than can produce food. The new woodland, when fully grown, will store carbon, provide home-grown timber and create new wildlife-rich environments. We will support farmers to diversify their incomes through new forest management. > Encourage, through changes to the planning system, the 'rewilding' of spaces to provide new habitats for wildlife. An ecological crisis is happening - we must tackle it by restoring, expanding and joining up the wild spaces nature needs to thrive. > Maintain a moratorium on production and import of genetically modified (GM) foods, including food from animals fed on GM feed. > Establish a Food and Agriculture Research Council to research sustainable and health-promoting methods of food production and distribution. We will also support research into the reduction of methane emissions from livestock and the conservation and development of high quality soils, as the foundation of all that we grow. > Encourage urban food growing, including new community farms and allotments, through the planning system, as well as matching those with gardens and who want to grow food with those with the skills to undertake the work for communal benefit. Similarly we will encourage the creation of new green spaces wherever they can take root - from pocket parks on vacant land, to living green roofs and walls. We will also encourage urban gardeners to plan for wildlife - opting for grass and shrubs over paving in a garden can create vital new habitats for wildlife. > Incentivise changes in food consumption, by promoting the benefits of healthy diets, based on locally and sustainably produced food, and 'less but better' meat and dairy consumption, including clear labelling to indicate carbon emissions, high animal welfare and intensive production methods. > Support the transition to plant- based diets by phasing in a tax on meat and dairy products over the next ten years, to reduce the 5% of the UK's carbon emissions that come from the methane produced by livestock. The revenues from this part of the Carbon Tax will be recycled back into farming, and will be spent on measures to help farmers transition to more sustainable farming methods. > Promote initiatives to reduce food waste, including education programmes and changing the rules to allow food waste to be used for animal feed for pigs and chickens. > Legislate for a right to food, giving everyone access to healthy, nutritious, locally grown food, including the creation of new providers to supply this food at an affordable price to schools. We will also promote children's access to healthy food and tackle childhood obesity, including by updating the School Food Standards to reflect the latest nutritional guidance and apply to all schools, and renaming 'Free School Meals' the 'School Meals Allowance' to tackle stigma. > Deploy environmentally friendly flood management measures to protect communities from flooding. These measures, which include tree planning and soil restoration in upland catchment areas to tackle excess water at source, are cheaper and more effective than the traditional approach of simply covering river banks in concrete. We will change the planning system to prevent building on floodplains, to further reduce the flooding risk communities face. > Launch a public information campaign to educate the public about the biodiversity loss and other Climate Emergency threats we face, and encourage the behaviour change needed in response. These reforms will integrate closely with the proposals set out in the 'Restoring our nature and countryside' section on page 57. Fighting for Sheffield's Trees Sheffield City Council began a tree felling programme in 2012, as part of a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) deal with a private company. Over the next six years more than 5,000 trees, most of them healthy, were felled in the city. Sheffield Green Party stood with residents horrified at the loss of the trees, protesting in the Council Chamber and the streets against the de-greening of the city. In 2017 Green Cllr Alison Teal was arrested with other residents trying to save trees earmarked for destruction. The Labour council took Alison and several residents to the High Court and had an injunction imposed to prevent them from protecting trees. Later the Labour council accused Alison of breaching the injunction and took her to the High Court to face a committal hearing. However, the judge dismissed the case and the evidence the council had presented against her. More Green councillors were elected in the 2018 and 2019 local elections in Sheffield. Finally in July 2019 Sheffield City Council gave into pressure from residents and Green councillors and agreed to save the city's trees. Alison is the Green Party candidate for Sheffield Central in this General Election. The Green New Deal for incomes It's time to deliver a secure, basic income for all. The Green New Deal will transform our social welfare system by phasing in a Universal Basic Income (UBI), an unconditional financial payment to everyone at a level above their subsistence needs. Through UBI we plan, open the door to opportunities that might otherwise be out of reach, and liberate people from job insecurity. We think financial security is a key building block of a good society. No one currently in receipt of benefits will be worse off under UBI - and many will be much better off. Those excluded or overlooked by the current means-tested system will see the biggest benefits. This includes low to medium income families with children, young people and students, and some pensioners. Someone earning the minimum wage and working 37.5 hours a week would see their income increase by 10 to 15% through UBI. UBI will also start to challenge how work is often valued as simply about earning money to drive consumption, as part of our plans to encourage sensible, green economic decision making for the long term. This universal enrichment will provide all of us with new options and opportunities, in both our work and personal lives. Our Green New Deal for incomes will: > Phase in the introduction of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) sufficient to cover an adult's basic needs. UBI will be an unconditional payment, paid to all UK residents regardless of employment status. > Replace most income-related benefits with UBI (except for the additional benefits described below). Replacing a large range of variously means-tested benefits with one unconditional payment will simplify and streamline the system. > Ensure nobody will be worse off. The adult rate of UBI of £89 per week will result in around a 6% increase in disposable income over five years for someone in full- time work and paid the average salary. It is our firm intention to increase in particular adult rates at regular intervals during the first full parliamentary term. > Include additional payments above the basic adult rate for some groups of people: > Pensioners will receive a weekly payment totalling £178. > Disabled people will receive an additional supplement to their UBI, as will lone parents and lone pensioners. > People who were reliant on Housing Benefit before UBI was introduced will continue to receive it, so that they can cover their rent. > Families with an income of under £50,000 per year will receive an additional supplement of £70 per week for each of their first two children and a further £50 per week for each additional child. > Families with an income of over £50,000 per year will receive smaller additional supplements per child, with the amount decreasing further the more a family earns. > Draw directly on income from the Carbon Tax to help fund UBI, thereby ensuring that the proceeds of the tax on carbon emissions help meet the cost of enabling people to make the transition to a carbon free future. These reforms will integrate closely with the proposals set out in the 'Delivering secure incomes and homes' section on page 49. The Green New Deal and the rest of our Manifesto You can find out more environmental and financial detail about how we would deliver our Green New Deal in the appendix to this Manifesto. The remainder of this Manifesto sets out four related programmes of reform that will help a Green New Deal to succeed - remaining in the EU, growing democracy, making improving quality of life a government priority and reforming the tax system to make it capable of funding the green revolution. This General Election is a chance to show the other parties the scale of support for not just talking about the Green New Deal concept, but implementing a real, meaningful version of it. Every Green vote is a vote to keep the Climate Emergency on the political agenda. Every Green vote is call to action on climate chaos. Every Green vote will make the Green New Deal happen. Saying Yes to Europe. And its Potential to Deliver Climate and Social Justice Brexit and a People's Vote We are a proudly pro-European party and are unequivocally campaigning for Britain to Remain in the EU. Nobody voted for less democracy during the 2016 referendum and we continue to believe that more democracy is the way to break the current Brexit deadlock and start to unite our country again. Our Green MP, Caroline Lucas, was a co-founder of the campaign for a People's Vote. The Green MPs you elect will champion their constituent's right to an immediate final say on the terms of any Brexit deal, through a People's Vote, with Remain as an option on the ballot paper. The place that we've been brought to by the outcome of the Brexit referendum is difficult, dangerous and divisive. Democracy and truth are under attack, and the real agenda of those pulling the populist strings is widespread chaos in which discord will thrive. It's time to choose what kind of country we want to be and to rediscover the hopes and dreams that will unite us. There can be no turning back the clock. The referendum was a radical rejection of a status quo that is intolerable for huge numbers of people in this country. The social contract is broken and the power game is rigged. We recognise the reasons why many people voted for Brexit: hollowed out communities, power centralised at Westminster, local economies starved of investment, run down public services and jobs without dignity. We will make staying and fighting for the Europe we want a pathway to change - to a society that is genuinely fair, green and fulfilling. Greens will play a leading role in mobilising a positive pro-European movement that has young people at its heart. We have demonstrated that we are willing to work across party boundaries to resist Brexit, and will continue to do so. We will inspire a vote to remain with a vision of the way membership of the EU can improve all our lives. And whatever happens, we will guarantee the full rights of EU citizens and their families living in the UK, including the right to automatic settled status and ensure there is no rolling back of the rights and protections enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. A Green vote in this General Election is an opportunity to choose remaining in the EU and transforming the UK. It's an opportunity to choose a People's Vote. It's an opportunity to choose Project Hope over Project Fear. Transforming the European Union Being part of the European Union offers us the best chance of facing down the big challenges of the future - from climate chaos to international terrorism. We are fully committed to working collaboratively with our closest neighbours to resolve the common issues we face and in the pursuit of peaceful and prosperous lives for all. The Green Party believes in this vision of international bridges, not walls, and is committed to realising it through building a truly democratic EU that delivers social rights and opportunities for all its citizens. As Greens we have campaigned hard to keep the UK in the EU whilst also being strong voices for change and reform within the EU. It's time to transform the EU into a beacon of democracy, as well as making it more accountable and transparent. We want to build on the positive changes secured by Green MEPs in Europe so far, to further rebalance power within the EU in favour of citizens and national self-determination, and away from corporate dominance. We believe this will lead to a renewed focus on the EU's potential to deliver effective solutions to poverty, inequality and climate chaos - and help secure a long-term, positive future for the UK in the EU. Our plan to transform Europe will: > Allow Members of the EU Parliament to initiate Europe-wide legislation, something they don't currently have the power to do. In time, we hope that the European Parliament will become the main source of new European legislation to improve the lives of citizens. > Allow groups of EU citizens to propose reforms to the EU treaties. New rules will require every citizen initiative to receive a response, setting out how it will lead to concrete action being taken by the EU. > Increase the transparency of European institutions, including the European Central Bank, with steps such as live streaming all meetings, and publishing minutes and key papers like trade negotiation documents. Citizens have the right to know how decisions are made and how their money is spent. > Open up the European Council by making positions taken by Member States public. > Introduce a binding lobbying register for all EU institutions and set up an independent body to supervise its operation, as well as other rules on transparency and ethics. > Campaign for the operations of the EU to be centred in Brussels, ending the wasteful transfer of EU staff and operations between Brussels and Strasbourg. > Champion reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, so that it promotes more sustainable farming methods. We will also press for a review of the Common Fisheries Policy in order to increase its sustainability. > Advocate for the EU to prioritise policy areas where cross-border co-operation can help deliver real change. These include: > Linking up national Green New Deals, to pool renewable energy resources and share insights and expertise. > Co-ordinating crackdowns on tax avoidance and evasion, so no one seeking to hide from tax rules can do so anywhere in the EU. > Harmonising minimum environmental standards. As nature knows no borders, the EU can play a major role in ensuring that habitats split between different counties are all protected by the same rules. > Enforcing social rights and protections for citizens, such as a guaranteed minimum income for all workers. > Reducing migration in the long term, by correcting imbalances caused by labour-market inequalities across Europe. EU policies hold the key to this, including an EU-wide minimum income guarantee, EU-wide minimum wages, and fiscal transfers via the Euro. > Working for peace, security and human rights. The EU was developed by WWII veterans to support peace in Europe and we celebrate the success of this peace mission. > Enshrine Freedom of Movement as a core principle of the EU - enabling people to freely live, learn and love without borders. > Reform European refugee policy, centring it on principles of humanity and compassion. We will campaign to re-establish a European sea-rescuing mission, to save all lives in danger in European waters. > Press for an urgent review on the safety of all migrants travelling to and across Europe. > Advocate for European legalisation to end factory farming and to reduce transportation times for animals, including the halting of all live animal exports from the UK. We will work to ban the killing of animals for sport across the EU. > Extend the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights to give women in all EU countries access to legal, safe and affordable abortion services. > Support the introduction of an EU-wide carbon tariff on countries that are not reducing their carbon emissions, to further encourage global action on the Climate Emergency. Decriminalising Humanitarian Assistance to Refugees In June 2018 Green Members of the European Parliament proposed a motion calling on EU states to stop criminalising humanitarian assistance for desperate refugees. This came after cases when countries had detained and tried to prosecute European citizens working to save the lives of refugees at risk of drowning in the Mediterranean. The motion was won by the Greens, with then Green MEP for London Jean Lambert saying: 'I am delighted that the European Parliament has sent out a strong message calling on the European Commission and EU Member States to stop criminalising those who provide humanitarian assistance to people in desperate and life-threatening situations. We can, and must, do better.' Unleashing a Democratic Revolution Brexit laid bare the extent to which our governance structures are derelict, but our democracy has been broken for a long time. The First Past the Post voting system means that often more than half of all votes cast simply don't count. The House of Lords gives power to people who have never been elected and our political representation doesn't reflect the diversity and reality of the modern UK. We are one of the most centralised countries in Europe, with disproportionate power held at Westminster, and far too little in our regions and local authorities. These flaws allow those who traditionally hold power to keep hold of power, at the expense of the rest of us. The Green Party will fix our democracy, so that it becomes an effective tool for redistributing power away from the privileged and towards the people. We want an active democracy in which we can all believe and trust. We think it's time for every vote to always count and for citizens' assemblies to develop a written People's Constitution and explore how as a country we can ensure the fair redistribution of power. The Green Party's plans to unleash people power and grow democracy will: > Replace the First Past the Post system for parliamentary elections with a fair and proportional voting system. We are champions of the Good Systems Agreement, a cross- party commitment to democratic reform brokered by the Make Votes Matter campaign group. > Replace the First Past the Post system for local government with a fair and proportional voting system. Voters will be asked to elect half the Council every two years to ensure that fast changing local concerns and priorities can be expressed at the ballot box on a regular basis. > Create a fully elected House of Lords. Members will be elected for a maximum of ten years with half of the house being elected every 5 years. > Give 16- and 17-year-olds the right to vote and have a say on their future. We will also allow people to stand for Parliament and all other elected offices from the age of 16, offering support to elected young people so that they can combine their duties with studying. We are proud to march with the inspiring Youth Strike activists against climate chaos and know the passion and wisdom young people can inject into our policies. > Introduce job-sharing, at all levels of government, to make politics more accessible, especially for disabled people and people with caring responsibilities. We will expand the Access to Elected Office Fund to support disabled people to stand for election, and support women, non-binary people and those from minority ethnic backgrounds to stand. > Require all political parties to report the diversity of their candidates, so that progress in selecting more women and minorities to contest Westminster and local government seats can be monitored. This was set out in Section 106 of the Equality Act 2010 but has yet to be implemented. > Implement a fair system of state funding for political parties to eliminate dependence on large private donations, removing the undue influence large donations can give corporations and the super wealthy. > Remove the cap on fines that can be imposed by the Electoral Commission on political parties that have been found to have breached electoral law. > Strengthen the transparency rules on recording political lobbying and make the work of Think Tanks more transparent too, by establishing a distinct legal entity for political foundations which conduct policy research and political education. > Protect the BBC, reinstate free TV licences for over-75-year-olds and tighten the rules on media ownership so no individual or company owns more than 20% of a media market. To further challenge the control of our media by big tech and unaccountable billionaires, the Green Party will ensure that a suitable independent regulator is better able to safeguard a healthy plurality of media ownership, to undertake regular plurality reviews and to trigger remedies where necessary. The recommendations of the 2012 Leveson Report will be implemented, to hold the UK press to high ethical standards. > Support, through new grants, the growth of a wider range of civic- minded local news publishers. Local newspapers in the UK are an important part of our democracy and culture yet many are closing or struggling to survive. > Introduce a Digital Bill of Rights that establishes the UK as a leading voice on standards for the rule of law and democracy in digital spaces and ensure independent regulation of social media providers. This legislation will safeguard elections by responding to the challenges of foreign interference, social media and declining confidence in democracy. > End the sale of personal data, such as health or tax records, for commercial or other ends. > Revive the role of democratic trade unions. > Back a Citizens Convention and citizens assemblies to examine further ways to strengthen democracy, including developing a written People's Constitution and Bill of Rights, and ensure the proposals come before Parliament. This will enshrine genuine democracy at the core of our political system, making sure that ultimate power will always rest with the people. > Give fuller voice to regional and national identities, holding a referendum on a Cornish Assembly and increasing the powers of the current National Assembly for Wales. > Tackle our toxic political culture, by exploring measures such as new codes of conduct to embed compassion and co-operation in all aspects of public life. > Introduce a public interest defence for breaching the Official Secrets Act, alongside better protection and support for whistle-blowers in the public and private sectors. > Protect the right to peacefully protest and prevent disproportionate police responses to protest. More Local Democracy In 2018 Green councillors successfully campaigned for Worcester City Council to move from a Cabinet system, where power was concentrated in the hands of one party, to a Committee system requiring all councillors to work together. Across the country Green councillors campaign to open up decision making and increase community involvement in it. Shaking up central government A safer, fairer future for all will only be delivered with effective central government. Yet right now we have an out of control executive attacking the independence of the courts, undermining the rule of law and ignoring the great challenges of our time. We have a Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, a feudal barony from the 14th century, but no Cabinet Minister responsible for combatting the Climate Emergency that threatens the future of every UK citizen. It's time to make government fit for purpose today and fit to face the future. We will also transform how Parliament works, to improve accountability at the same time as encouraging greater co-operation and long-term decision making. We will restore central government to its democratic purpose and core function of making the lives of UK citizens better. The Green Party's plan to ensure central government serves a modern UK will: > Create a new government department to oversee the implementation of the Green New Deal, led by a Carbon Chancellor, based at number 11 Downing Street to put the just transition to a net zero economy right at the heart of government. The Carbon Chancellor will set a yearly Carbon Budget, which will drive the decarbonisation of the economy. We will create a fossil fuel free politics, with vested interests who depend on continued fossil fuel use banished from positions of influence. > Move away from consumption and Gross Domestic Product as key measures of economic success and towards indicators that measure human and ecological wellbeing, such as work/life balance and quality of life. > Introduce a Future Generations Act for England, modelled on the current Act for Wales, building the needs of future generations into every government decision. We will also appoint a Minister for Future Generations to represent young people at the heart of government. > Empower the Youth Select Committee, currently a learning programme, to scrutinise and hold the government to account like any other Select Committee. > Scrap the Home Office, and end its decades-long creation of a hostile environment for Black Minority Ethnic (BME) and other minority communities. We will instead create a Ministry for Sanctuary and a Ministry of the Interior. The Ministry for Sanctuary will be responsible for enforcing migration rules with compassion, and due regard for human rights, as well as providing recompense for those affected by the Windrush scandal. One of the Ministry of Sanctuary's first acts will be to abolish income requirements for people wishing to come to the UK to join a loved one - no families should be separated because of how much someone earns. The Ministry of the Interior will oversee domestic security with full regard to human rights and the needs of diverse communities. > Replace the Ministry of Defence with a Ministry for Security and Peace, making the promotion of peace a key foreign policy objective and linking the role of the defence services more closely to the world we now live in - a central part of their responsibilities will become defending environments around the world from the effects of climate chaos and dealing with the humanitarian and environmental impacts of climate-related disasters. > Close down the government's arms sales activities, including the Department for International Trade's Defence and Security Organisation (DSO), and end all subsidies and support for the UK arms industry's exporting of weapons and systems that fuel conflicts, violence and suffering across the world. > Instruct all government departments to work to meet, and when possible exceed, the UK's commitments under the Paris Agreement of 2015, which committed UN nations to combat climate chaos. The Foreign Office will be tasked with promoting the Agreement and other international agreements to tackle climate change around the world, and encouraging nations to uphold them. > Create a legal responsibility for government to give individuals consular support, rather than it being discretionary. > Transform how Parliament works with electronic voting, measures to protect against filibustering, steps to promote cross-party and cooperative working, and a systematic overhaul of parliamentary language to make it self-explanatory. > Develop and implement a robust plan for ending bullying and sexual harassment in Parliament. > Stop the gagging of our democracy through the creation of better protections and support for whistleblowers in the public and private sector including a public interest defence for breaching the Official Secrets Act. These policies will integrate closely with those set out in the 'Green New Deal' chapter of this Manifesto, ensuring that central government is reshaped around the overwhelming need for green social and economic revolution. Empowering local government Across the country, hardworking councillors and council workers strive to improve the lives of people and communities. They do this at a time of staggering and unprecedented cuts to local government budgets. Over £50 billion has been slashed from council budgets over the past decade because of central government decisions. Councils have been forced to close libraries, sell off public land, abandon meals on wheels for older people, close children's centres, stop repairing roads or no longer collect litter. We will choose to devolve real power from central to local government, giving councils the tools needed to deliver public services. Properly resourced and led councils are in the unique position of being able to make real and effective change, bring people together and lead the services people need where they live. We will reverse spending cuts and restore local government budgets so local councils can afford to serve their communities. It's time to transform local government. In this age of climate chaos, action to secure the future of people and the places they love, led by democratically elected local representatives, is needed more than ever. We want local councils to lead the delivery of the Green New Deal and the transition to a resilient, zero carbon economy. We believe this is how to make life better today and create a future where local people and businesses can thrive. The Green Party's plan to empower local government will: > Increase central government funding to councils by £10 billion a year. This funding, combined with the local council revenue raising, will enable local government to improve the frontline services they provide and which local people need and want. We will support councils to also use this funding to nurture arts and culture in their areas, keeping local museums, theatres, libraries and art galleries open and thriving. > Ensure councils can plan with financial certainty by committing to annual, rolling multi-year financial settlements. > Give councils access to an additional £3 billion a year Climate Adaption Fund. Bids from councils facing the greatest threat from climate chaos, and councils with the high levels of poverty, will be prioritised as money is distributed from the Fund. > Give all councils power over bus services in their area, and over franchises for local train services. > Fund councils to deliver new training and skills for residents, to equip them for jobs created by the Green New Deal. > Give councils the power to set their own housing targets, and to strike the right balance between local housing need and the need to preserve the local environment. > Expand the powers of councils to prevent land banking through mechanisms including charging developers who sit on land where permission has been granted or using compulsory purchase powers to accelerate appropriate development where development is stalled or slow. > Give councils the ability to set planning fees locally. Tax payers are subsidising developers for the costs of their planning applications to the tune of £200 million a year - councils need the power to meet these planning costs not from central funds, but from charging developers realistic fees for the planning services councils provide for them. > Fund councils to deliver additional social housing in their area (over 100,000 new homes a year nationally) through sustainable construction, renovation and conversion, and to improve and insulate existing homes (over 1 million homes a year). We will also support councils to set more affordable rent rates for social housing tenants in their area by lifting the local housing allowance and reconnecting it to average area rents. > Support councils to better provide housing for disabled people, supporting every council to draw up their own disability housing plans, and work to significantly increase the numbers of homes built to mobility standards over the next five years. > Give councils clearer guidance and better training on helping homeless people, including support for the Housing First approach, a widening of the grounds on which councils can offer help to people without a home, and the provision of social services once a person is housed. The extra costs of this can be met from the £10 billion yearly uplift to council funding. We will refocus council services in this area on homelessness prevention rather than crisis management, through expanding and combining multiple funding pots into a single grant distributed to councils. We would also repeal the Vagrancy Act 1824, which criminalises street homelessness and can hinder attempts to help those without a home. > Provide an additional £4.5 billion a year to fund councils to provide free social care to people over 65 who need support in their own homes. This model has been in place in Scotland since 2001 and has helped millions of people be cared for in their own homes - it's time to extend this right to free home care to pensioners in England (care in Wales is devolved to the National Assembly for Wales). We will also explore how this free social care at home could be extended to everyone who needs it, regardless of age. > Support councils to extend staying put arrangements, to enable fostered young people to stay with foster parents until they are 21. > Task the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government with reviewing on a rolling basis which powers can be further devolved from central government to local government. > Replace the First Past the Post system for local government with a fair and proportional voting system. Voters will be asked to elect half the Council every two years to ensure that fast changing local concerns and priorities can be expressed at the ballot box on a regular basis. > Legislate to require councils to switch from a Cabinet system, which concentrates power into the hands of a few councillors, to a Committee system - where all elected councillors make decisions together for the community they represent. > Support councils to further democratise their own processes, including introducing more participatory democracy, allowing residents to form panels and assemblies to directly input into council decision making. > Introduce participatory budgeting, to enable local citizens to decide how to allocate part of the council budget, through identifying, discussing and prioritising public spending projects, and having real power to decide how money is spent. > Support councils to promote waste prevention innovations and to increase recycling. > Give councils new powers and resources to deliver environmental improvements and increase biodiversity, as well as tackling flooding and coastal erosion locally. > Require councils (and other public bodies) to divest their pension funds away from fossil-fuel-related investments. We will encourage all private pension funds to do the same. Action on Affordable Housing In 2018 Green councillors on Brighton & Hove Council pushed the controlling Labour group to reduce rents on local council houses, by calculating these rents using local wages - not local house prices. The Green campaign succeeded and in September 2018 council houses were for the first time offered to local families at lower rents based on local wages, meaning that a family with an annual income of £20,000 can now afford to live in a new council house in Brighton. In the 2019 local elections the Greens won the popular vote in Brighton, winning 19 councillors - just short of Labour's total of 20. The Green and Labour groups are now working together on the Council on a plan to build 800 new council homes in the city. A New Year Bus Service for Residents Each and every year, Green Party Green Cllr Andrew Cooper helped activists and councillors in Huddersfield start the voluntary service in 1992, as operate and a run a free New Year's Day residents without cars had to rely on bus service for residents. expensive taxi journeys to visit relatives at New Year, due to limited local bus services. Twenty seven years on, Cllr Cooper still drives the bus every year! Global justice and international aid As one of the world's richest countries and being amongst the first to industrialise, the UK has caused more historical climate change emissions than most. We have a moral imperative to right the wrongs of the past, including using our influence and wealth to help alleviate suffering and redress global power imbalances. We want the UK to be a leading force for good in the world, to be the country that brokers peace and tries to resolve the refugee crisis. Our international policy will focus on co-operation in order to tackle climate chaos, to secure fairer, more sustainable societies around the world and encourage fair and peaceful resolutions to conflict. We will make supporting the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals a priority. We will build bridges not walls and we will empower people in the Global South to control their futures. The Green Party's plan for global justice will: > Phase in an increase in spending on foreign aid from 0.7% to 1% of our GNI, making us the third highest donor (by Gross National Income) in the world by 2021. > Make the Climate Emergency and tackling poverty priorities for our international aid budget. We will phase out payments to richer nations and increase support for the poorest, to help countries deal with the causes and impacts of the Climate Emergency. Support will be given on the basis of need, not UK defence and trade considerations. > Ensure that all UK aid is aimed at the poorest, and is locally designed, appropriate and subject to local scrutiny. Where feasible, aid will be given as grants, not loans. > Making finance and technology available to support developing nations to develop local Green New Deals and transform their economies, equipping them to tackle the causes and impacts of the Climate Emergency. > Increase the proportion of aid paid to individuals through electronic cash transfers, providing regular monthly payments to women in the developing world. This builds on evidence showing that greater control over household resources by women can result in spending that benefits children and builds economic resilience. Write off debts owed to the UK by the poorest countries. Other aid-receiving countries in debt to the UK will have their debt service payments limited to 10% of export earnings per year. > Press other aid-giving nations and international bodies to embed the above principles in their aid programmes, and to abolish 'tied aid' (whereby a nation is only given aid in return for buying goods and services from the donor). > Require UK corporations to abide by the environmental, labour and social laws of their own country and of the country in which they are operating - whichever are the more stringent - and advocate for other corporations to do the same. > Ensure just supply chains for the materials necessary for the Green New Deal. > Introduce a new law on Universal Jurisdiction, to make it easier to prosecute those committing genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, wherever these crimes take place. > Seek to make the combatting of climate and ecological breakdown and the spreading of human rights and justice core purposes of the United Nations. > Support the introduction of an EU-wide carbon tariff on countries which are not reducing their carbon emissions in line with the Paris Agreement of 2015, to further encourage global action on the Climate Emergency. > Seek resolution in line with international law and the principles of self-determination to long running conflicts, illegal occupations and human rights violations. > Guarantee the rights of indigenous and native people by securing their autonomy, land rights and human rights, providing aid to protect cultures and support sustainable initiatives and ensuring that development schemes where the UK government has influence only take place with the permission, and under the active control of, indigenous people. > Champion a treaty which establishes the Arctic, Antarctic and Amazon as World Nature Reserves. In these new reserves, commercial exploitation of natural resources would be banned and the rights of indigenous populations protected. > Create a new international 'ecocide' law to prosecute crime against the natural environment. > Commit that any future trade deals will maintain and enhance environmental and food standards and workers' rights, minimise the environmental footprint of trade, make trade terms explicitly subject to environmental and human rights commitments, and not undermine the implementation of existing or new national and international commitments (including over protections for vital global ecosystems and habitats such as the Amazon, and for indigenous people). > End the current practice of including investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms in trade and investment agreements. These mechanisms can give too much power to investors, at the expense of democracy, and need to be scrapped. > Ensure trade democracy by assessing the development impact of all trade and investment agreements and guaranteeing Parliament a vote on them. These policies will integrate closely with those set out in the 'Green New Deal' chapter of this Manifesto, ensuring that international aid and UK foreign policy help other countries to reduce their carbon emissions and build sustainable economies. Unleashing a Revolution in Public Services and the Public Realm We pay for public services, we use them, we own them. It's time they properly belonged to all of us. From our hospitals to our post offices, energy grid, water, railways and schools, the Green Party will campaign for public services that are run by the people for the people. These services will be properly resourced to meet your needs, now and in the future, not struggling to keep pace with demand. Since 2010 the NHS, facing unprecedented rising demand, has been given barely half the resources it needs to keep up. Schools now have less to spend per pupil than they did in 2010. The government's role is to make you feel safer and more secure, but it's doing the opposite. Too many people fear not being able to access the basic services they need, and this can sometimes turn into resentment against scapegoats eagerly offered up by hard right politicians, such as migrants and people on benefits. The Green Party offers something different: a guarantee that our public services will grow and improve. And we will be honest enough to tell you that this means transforming the tax system so we can afford to invest in quality of life for all. We will ensure those working in our public services have the resources to deliver services they can be proud of. We will invest in public services built on the principle of kindness. We will support new technologies and approaches that will let us live longer, healthier lives. We will revolutionise the relationship between citizens and the public realm. From access to the countryside to spending more time with loved ones, our quality of life guarantee is all about unleashing the potential for everyone to live happier, more secure lives - and making this the central purpose of government. A guarantee of a good quality of life is at the very heart of what the Green New Deal will achieve. Delivering secure incomes and secure homes Social justice is at the heart of our plans to transform the UK into a more equal country, where everyone can build a decent, secure life. The Green New Deal set out in the first part of this Manifesto will deliver a Universal Basic Income (UBI), a weekly payment for everyone, replacing the current benefits system and lifting everyone up. The Green UBI will also: > Provide all pensioners with a decent income, recognising their contribution to society over their lifetimes. All pensioners will receive £178 a week (£10 higher than the current highest possible state pension payment). This rate will be increased in line with inflation over the years to come. > Be phased in, with a view to all adults being in receipt of their full rate of UBI by 2025. with the first tranche of people to receive it being women born in the 1950s. These women, represented by the campaign Group WASPI (Women against State Pension Inequality) have been penalised by unnecessarily abrupt changes to the pension age brought in by the Coalition Government and it is right that are first to feel the benefits of UBI. We will also look at additional ways of addressing this injustice, which has affected hundreds of thousands of women. We hope to have fully phased UBI for every UK resident by 2025. > Ensure nobody who takes times off work in order to care for loved ones, or has an irregular employment record, unjustly struggles to access the state pension. Everyone will receive UBI, at either the adult (£89 per week) or pension (£178 per week) rate. > Provide a supplement to UBI for people with disabilities. This will help restore the benefits withdrawn from disabled people over the past ten years, providing more financial security. > Continue to pay Housing Benefit to those who received it before UBI was introduced, so that they can cover their rent. > Continue to pay a full Carers Allowance to carers, on top of the UBI payment. This means that a full-time carer would continue to receive their £3,200 Carers Allowance, plus £4,630 in UBI payments a year. > Replace Universal Credit and the cruel benefit sanctions regime, which have left hundreds of thousands of people facing destitution. We will also transform the support provided to citizens by: > Increasing the Living Wage to £12 and extending it to workers aged between 16 and 21. > Legislating to ensure the maximum wage paid to any member of staff in an organisation should not exceed ten times that paid (pro rata) to the lowest paid worker in the same organisation. We will also ban any bonuses exceeding the annual wage of the lowest paid worker in the organisation granting the bonus. > Reviewing current employment law to close loopholes that allow employers in the gig economy (where workers are offered freelance work or short-term contracts only) to deny gig workers key rights. We will ensure that gig economy workers always receive at least the current minimum wage, and have job security, sick leave, holiday pay and pension provision. > Closing the gender pay gap. We will require all large and medium size companies to carry out equal pay audits and redress any inequality uncovered both in terms of equal pay for equal work, and recruitment and retention practices which create a glass ceiling which needs to be shattered. We will change the law so it's easier to take action against employers in unequal pay cases. > Installing a 40% quota for women on major company boards. We recognise the many barriers faced by women and gender non-conforming people in male- dominated spaces, and know that tackling the 'boys' club' atmosphere in workspaces is crucial to tackling inequality in the workplace. > Provide 35 hours a week of free childcare for all, from the age of nine months. This free childcare will include in-work facilities, such as on-site crches and flexible working opportunities (e.g. jobshares) to help parents who choose to return to work. > Requiring all employers, no matter their size, to legally recognise any union chosen by their workforce to represent them. > Transform the lives of renters, by increasing housing security and bringing rent levels down, especially in places where they currently far outstrip incomes. We will introduce rent controls on private tenancies, which reflect average local income rates and the cost of maintenance. We will also end no-fault evictions and make it easier to set up community-led housing initiatives and for private renters in Houses of Multiple Occupancy to buy and run their home as a housing co-op. > Give communities the first chance to buy local land that comes up for sale by extending Scotland's Community Right to Buy policy to England and Wales. Communities will then be able to directly deliver new affordable homes on purchased land, supported by the Community Housing Fund (which the Government plans to end in 2020, but we will maintain for at least another three years). > Creating an environment where everyone feels fulfilled in worthwhile employment and pursuing policy which will lead to a shorter working week and better work life balance, freeing up people to spend more time with their loved ones and doing things they love - with no loss of pay. We will support employers to explore four day working weeks in their workplace, driving up productivity as well as boosting the wellbeing of staff. > Modernising and reforming copyright and intellectual property rights legislation to ensure a better balance between the rights of consumers and the rights of those working in the creative economy to be protected from commercial exploitation. 52 Extending the Living Wage In February 2019 the Green Group of councillors on Richmond Council proposed a motion to extend payment of the London Living Wage to all council staff, including contractors. The Green councillors built support for the motion and got it through council, securing a pay rise for hundreds of people and allowing vital workers to continue to afford to live in the borough in which they work. Winning Support for Rent Controls Green Party Co-Leader Sian Berry repeatedly demanding at Mayoral was elected to the London Assembly Question Time that action be taken. The in 2016. During that time she has pressure has paid off - in July 2019 campaigned relentlessly for the London Mayor Sadiq Khan formally introduction of rent controls to ease the asked the government for powers to pressure on the city's renters, introduce London rent controls. Restoring the NHS The NHS has an amazing history. We want it to have an even brighter future. We will build on the founding principles of the Health Service - universal, publicly provided healthcare free at the point of delivery - to widen and enhance the services provided. This will include fit-for-purpose mental and reproductive health services available to all. The increased funding that will enable this will be complemented by a devolution of healthcare, with communities given more control over health services and individuals supported to take steps to improve their own health. Our plan to restore the NHS will: > Increase funding for the NHS by at least £6 billion per year each year, until 2030 (a 4.5% increase on the 2018/2019 NHS Budget), and a further £1 billion a year in nursing higher education, allowing for nursing bursaries to be reinstated. This will constitute a programme of sustained investment, bringing spending of health services in the UK up to northern European averages. > Roll back privatisation of the NHS, through repealing the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and abolishing the internal market. This will hugely reduce private sector involvement in the NHS, which has proved to be a costly and dangerous distraction from universal healthcare provision. > Replace private sector involvement in the NHS with community leadership. We will allow local authorities to lead a 'bottom up' process, and services will be planned and provided without contracts through Health Boards, which could cover more than one local authority area if there were local support. > Provide stronger powers to Health and Wellbeing boards to represent the interest of the public in the NHS. > Reinstate the Health Secretary's duty to provide services throughout England and create a duty to ensure there are enough health and care staff - including nursing - to meet the needs of the population. > Focus funding to enable the construction of new community health centres, bringing health services closer to people's homes. These health centres will pioneer preventative healthcare, helping people live healthier lifestyles so that they are less likely to fall ill. > Focus funding to enable major improvements to mental health care to truly put it on an equal footing with physical health care, and ensure that everyone who needs it can access evidence-based mental health therapies within 28 days. We will ensure that tailored and specific provision is readily available for the particular needs of Lesbian, Gay Bisexual, Trans, Intersex, Queer and Asexual (LGBTIQA+) and Black Minority Ethnic (BME) communities, children and adolescents, and older people. > Focus funding to provide better reproductive health services. We will ensure that all forms of birth control are free, to give women a real choice of the birth control that works best for them. We will also ensure that PrEP - a daily pill which prevents HIV infection - is provided by NHS England without delay. Unlocking education Education should be about nurturing potential and inspiring a love of learning. Yet all too often it can feel like a production line, manufacturing children-shaped pieces to fit gaps in the workplace. The freedom to let children play, flourish and grow has been replaced with endless testing and measuring. It demoralises teachers and adds yet more pressure on young people. And we have turned further and higher education into a commodity, when it should be a basic right. It's time to build an education system on the principles that learning must be lifelong, liberating and accessible to all. Education can and should unlock creativity and enable self-expression across all ages. Our plan to unlock education will: > Relieve the financial squeeze on schools after years of education cuts, by increasing funding by at least £4 billion per year. > Focus funding to reduce class sizes down to under 20 in the long term, to help teachers focus on individual pupil needs and create a pleasant learning environment. > Free schools from centrally imposed testing regimes, OFSTED inspections, rigid national curriculum and league tables. Teachers will be trusted to plan their lessons and assess progress according the needs of their pupils, not to meet one-size-fits-all measurements that currently cause huge stress to pupils and teachers alike. Formal education will start at 6 years, to allow young children to develop at their own pace. Those under 6 will remain in early years education, with a focus on play-based learning and access to nature. Sweden has hugely benefited from using a similar system. > Strengthen the link between schools and the communities they serve, by ending academisation and bringing all schools back into the control of democratically elected local authorities, not private companies, and empowering local authorities with the responsibility and accountability for education within their communities. > Replace OFSTED with a collaborative system of assessing and supporting schools locally, to improve standards and be accountable to the communities in which they serve. > Create a fully inclusive education system, where children with special education needs are able to access their local school and are fully supported in that school. This means ensuring accessible buildings, an inclusive curriculum and the provision of specially trained teachers across the school system. Specialist schools will be retained, for when children and parents would prefer that option. > Introduce an English Climate Emergency Education Act to support schools to teach young people about the urgency, severity and scientific basis of the climate and environmental crises, and to ensure youth voices are heard on climate issues. We will also enable more outdoor lessons, where children will learn more about nature, animals and the environment, and a new Nature GCSE. > Restore arts and music education in all state schools, to enable children to develop their creative potential. > Make sure all children get at least a half-day equivalent of sports in school and encourage both the use of schools sports facilities by the community and participation in regional and national sporting events by our young people. > Remove charitable status from private schools and charge full VAT on fees. The private school sector will be subject to regular independent audits, to ensure private schools improve accessibility and pay their taxes in full. > Ensure that all children receive the basic elements of a good childhood: a decent place to live, safety and security in their community, time and space to play, as well as opportunities to learn and develop inside and outside of school. > Revive the further education sector to provide a wider choice of academic and vocational learning. We will also raise the funding rate for 16-17-year-olds, followed by an annual rise in line with inflation, at the same time as introducing a capital expansion fund for sixth form providers. > Fully fund every higher education student and scrap undergraduate tuition fees. University will be fully accessible, with courses being offered as learning experiences, not as pre-work training. Education will be for education's sake. > Write off existing debt for former students who studied under the £9k tuition fee regime. > Increase funding for adult education across England and Wales, creating a range of new adult education programmes for learners to access. These programmes will be integrated with Green New Deal training projects. Restoring our nature and countryside Our countryside is a precious resource - a home for people and wildlife, a source of employment, a place of enjoyment for those who visit its wealth of landscapes. It is vital for our common health, prosperity and wellbeing. Yet this national treasury is under threat. The amount of farmland, woodland and forest destroyed by development has grown by nearly 60% in recent years, whilst over 10,000 miles of footpaths have been blocked, built over or allowed to fall out of use. Nature is under attack from industrial farming, over fishing, hunting and shooting - with devastating impacts for wildlife species and their habitats, from farmland to the hills to the coast. It's time for an approach that recovers, rebuilds, restores, regenerates and reinstates nature and the health of our countryside. We have a plan to transform and reconnect with the countryside, which will: > Create a new 'ecocide' law to prevent crimes against the natural environment. > Amend the National Planning Policy Framework so it no longer imposes centrally set development targets on local councils. We will allow councils to develop their own planning policies, based on genuine local housing need and their requirement to contribute to the creation of at least 100,000 new council homes a year nationally. Councils will be required to deliver these new homes in a way that preserves local ecology and creates6 new green spaces. > Strengthen Green Belt, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Sites of Special Scientific Interest protections, with development in these areas only being permitted in exceptional circumstances. > Ban mineral extraction, road building and military training from all National Parks. We will give local communities a say in National Park governance, though creating new democratically elected positions on National Park boards. > Open up car-free access to the National Parks with new cycling, walking and bus links. > Encourage applications from communities for new Green Belt, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and National Park designations. > Create a new Environmental Protection Commission (EPC). This will be one integrated body to enforce environmental protections, from clean air to litter-free roads. The EPC will enforce the ecocide law, a new Clean Air Act, which will set new air quality standards for the UK, and a new Sustainable Economy Act, including targets for new soil quality and biodiversity standards. > Develop a soil health monitoring programme for England, to match those in Scotland and Wales, to assess and understand changes in the health of soil over time. > Increase funding for the Environment Agency and Natural England, to support the vital work they do to protect our environment. > Immediately ban the most harmful pesticides (including glyphosate) and introduce new rigorous tests for pesticides. Only pesticides that pass this test, and demonstrably don't harm bees, butterflies and other wildlife, will be approved for use in UK. > Invest in peatland restoration and end both the burning of peatlands and use of peat in compost in horticulture. We will advocate an emergency international agreement to conserve and enhance carbon sinks and reservoirs including forests, peat fields and coastal and estuarine areas. > Protect our precious water supplies by enforcing stricter penalties for polluters and for water companies found to be extracting too much water. We will require water companies to invest in water conservation and in capturing water surpluses, to enable transportation across the country. > Restore access to the countryside by re-opening lost public rights of way and creating new ones. We will grant to people in England and Wales the same right to roam over all landscapes as people in Scotland currently enjoy. We will protect and enhance access to inland waterways. > Invest in ecotourism and associated schemes such as rewilding, habitat recovery and species reintroduction, creating new job opportunities. > Introduce new support for small- scale family farms and for new entrants to farming. This support, including increased security of tenure for farmers, will help develop sustainable farming methods. Farmers will be supported to adopt diverse uses for agricultural land and buildings, such as fitting solar panels on farm buildings and planting orchards and other woodland. The incorporation of trees into farming will provide new crops such as fruits and nuts, as well as timber, linking forestry and farming industries. A more densely wooded and hedged farming landscape will provide new habitats for wildlife, and sanctuaries for threatened species. > As a member of the EU we will press for a review of the Common Agricultural Policy, so that it is focussed on supporting UK and other EU farmers as they make the transition to sustainable farming. > Commit to making at least 30% of UK domestic waters into fully protected marine protected areas by 2030. We will also work with British Overseas Territories (BOTs) to increase the 'blue belt' protecting BOTs' waters from commercial extraction, from the current 32% of coverage to 50%. > Reintroduce nature into our urban environments, by investing in schemes such as street planting of native trees, compulsory hedgehog holes in all new fencing and bee corridors. > Recognise access to diverse nature as a human right and uphold it across society. > Create a Nature GCSE to encourage children to value nature, and to grow a whole new generation of naturalists. We will also introduce an English Climate Emergency Education Act to support schools to teach young people about the urgency, severity and scientific basis of the climate and environmental crises, and to ensure youth voices are heard on climate issues. These policies will integrate closely with those set out in the 'Green New Deal for food, farming & forestry' section of this Manifesto on page 21, reducing the carbon emitted from the use of the UK's land. Tackling discrimination Despite huge social progress over the past century, we still live in a society where factors like our gender, ethnicity and sexuality play a part in how we are treated. The Green Party wants to actively challenge discrimination and exclusion, at the same time as creating opportunities for everyone to flourish. In doing so we recognise that rights for one group should not take away rights from others - that none of us are equal until we all are. Our Green plan to transform society and end discrimination will: > Establish a cross-government strategy tasked with tackling ethnic inequalities, ranging from school exclusions through to biased treatment in the criminal justice system, and covering housing, employment and health. > Replace 'Prevent' with community cohesive policing which engages rather than antagonises Black Minority Ethnic (BME) communities and addresses concerns about the use of stop and search powers. > End the hostile environment which puts migrants, from the EU and further afield, at risk and increases racism and anti-immigrant sentiment. This will include ending indefinite detention, closing the immigration detention centres and ending the culture of abuse and violence that has prevailed in them. We will immediately suspend all deportation flights and allow refugees to live freely, with a right to work, whilst their applications are considered. > Bring forward a new humane immigration system with no minimum income rules for visas, full workplace rights for migrants, the right to work for asylum seekers and recourse to public support for migrants and asylum seekers who need it. > Guarantee safe and discreet access to public services such as the police, health and education, so that migrants can access these without fear of being subject to immigration enforcement. We will also abolish the draconian powers brought in under the 2014 and 2016 Immigration Acts and scrap health charging for migrants. > Create a new Ministry for the Interior that will be fully committed to upholding human rights. This Ministry will have responsibility for protecting the fundamental rights of Travellers, a group that are often overlooked in efforts to end discrimination. > Make a 'Windrush Day' bank holiday, to celebrate the contribution that migration has made to our society. > Confront racism, antisemitism and prejudice, including from an early age through a broader and decolonialised curriculum in school, focussing on histories and role models from a diverse range of ethnicities and religions. > Defend the right of people of all faiths - to express their faith, be that in religious clothing, food or reasonable accommodation of religious observance. We will also work with religious communities to defend the safety of places of worship. > Retain the Human Rights Act and reaffirm the UK's commitment to the European Convention on Human Rights. > Make misogyny a hate crime across the UK and increase the police's capacity to deal with domestic violence and misogynistic hate crimes. Funding to support the prevention and prosecution of all hate crimes will be increased, and police officers will be given further training in this area. We need an intersectional approach to hate crime, which recognises the groups of women who are most at risk. > Develop and implement a UK-wide strategy to tackle gender-based violence, including domestic violence, rape and sexual abuse, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), and trafficking. This will include working with perpetrators to prevent them from continuing to abuse. We will also reverse cuts to legal aid to prevent survivors being forced to represent themselves against their abusers in court and introduce a new Domestic Abuse Bill, which enables prosecution of economic abuse. > Roll back the cuts to domestic violence support centres and women's refuges, and increase funding to provide more safe and secure accommodation for women and their children. > Put funding for Rape Crisis Centre services on a sustainable footing so that every survivor of sexual assault or violence receives proper support. We will increase and ring fence the Rape Support Fund and ensure funds are provided via the Victim Surcharge. > Establish a new press regulatory regime which will allow women to make formal complaints about media coverage that will encourage misogyny against women. This regime will allow for third party complaints to be made, on behalf of women negatively affected by media coverage. Media-led misogyny affects women of all backgrounds, all ethnicities, all religions, cis and trans, lesbian, bisexual and straight - it's time to end it once and for all. > Introduce a regulatory framework for online harms to ensure social media companies take responsibility for how their platforms are being used and invest in technological solutions to address misogyny and online harassment. > Extend the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights to give women in all EU countries access to legal, safe and affordable abortion services. > Support employers to explore the benefits of offering menstruation and menopausal leave to workers. > Improve access to high quality care during pregnancy and ensure that all women are entitled to the care of a single midwife through prenatal care, birth and the first month of post-natal care. Baby clinics will be expanded, so that women can get access to health visitors and take their babies for regular checkups at a location and time that is convenient for them. > Increase funding for areas of the NHS heavily relied on by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Intersex, Queer and Asexual (LGBTIQA+) people, including trans healthcare, gender identity clinics, HIV treatment and mental health provision. > Properly fund training to support the delivery of comprehensive, age- appropriate Personal Health and Sexual Education (PHSE) lessons in schools covering all aspects of sex and relationships, with a focus on consent. > End the opt-out of LGBTIQA+ inclusive PHSE classes at school to ensure that every child learns about different types of couples and families that make up UK society. > Train school staff in spotting and stopping sexual harassment and bullying, to ensure that schools are safe places for all to learn in. > Fund schools to provide free ecofriendly sanitary products to pupils. > Remove the spousal veto so that married trans people can acquire their gender recognition certificate without having to obtain permission from their spouse. We will also change the law so an X gender marker can be added to passports for non-binary and intersex people who wish to use it, and update the Gender Recognition Act to allow trans youth and non-binary people to get legal recognition through self-declaration. > Introduce a legal right to independent living for disabled people, overseen by a National Independent Living Support Service. This service will support and empower disabled people who do choose to live independently. > Fully embed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) into UK law. This will mean that the unacceptable practices of compulsory treatment, chemical and physical restraint, isolation, and seclusion are made illegal in the UK. Combatting Hate Crimes Against Women In 2017 Green Party Deputy Leader Amelia Womack called for violence against women motivated by their gender to be considered a hate crime, saying: 'From domestic abuse to rape, groping to stalking and harassment, we know that women suffer abuse because of their gender. The Home Office does not record hate crimes according to gender and to me that's a powerful symbol of the way misogyny is treated in this country: sidelined, ignored, brushed under the carpet.' Amelia and the Green Party joined forces with cross-party campaigners on this issue, to keep up the pressure on government to take action. In September 2018 the Ministry of Justice announced that they had asked the Law Commission to undertake a review of the coverage and approach of hate crime legislation, including consideration of how gender characteristics should be considered by hate crime law. Preventing crime Everyone has the right to feel safe - on the street, in their home or online. Simple things like more police on the beat and enforceable laws against malicious trolling can make a huge difference. However, not all crime can be tackled by being tough. Punishment for its own sake is ineffective. It might make us feel better, but it doesn't change very much. The Green Party thinks it's time to transform our justice system. We want to tackle the underlying causes of crime more effectively than CCTV cameras, stop and search or draconian sentencing can ever do. So we will focus on the prevention of crime with community-based policing, alongside investment in education and employment. Overall, we aim to halve the prison population, as has successfully been achieved in the Netherlands, breaking the vicious cycle of reoffending. 60% of newly released short-term prisoners reoffend in the year after their release, often graduating to more serious crimes than the one for which they were originally imprisoned. We will expand restorative justice when crimes do take place, both to give victims a voice and to help offenders see the effects of what they have done and take responsibility. The Green Party's plan to make everyone safer will: > Significantly reduce the number of short-term prison sentences handed out, replacing them with restorative justice projects that have a better record of preventing reoffending. > Enhance the rehabilitation services on offer to long-term prisoners, commissioning rehabilitation services that have a track record of success. > Follow the evidence that shows that prison is particularly counterproductive for women, trapping them in lives of crime. We will therefore support and develop a network of specialist women's centres in order to reduce the female prison population. These small-scale custodial centres will offer pastoral support to women to address the issues that led to them offending. > Invest in youth services and centres, to help turn at-risk children away from crime. All the evidence shows the cuts in youth services have increased crime, especially knife crime. To end knife crime once and for all we need to invest in specialist programmes provided through youth centres. > End the war on drugs, which has Ending the war on drugstrapped hundreds of thousands of people into lives of crime and treat drug addiction as a health condition, not a crime, building on the successful approaches pioneered in Portugal and other countries (see below page on ending the war on drugs for further information). > Integrate police forces more closely with the communities they serve by creating new community liaison and equality officers to work on positive relations and by putting more police on the beat. Taking drugs can be dangerous but prohibition of drug use has created many more problems than it has solved. Over the last 50 years, the international war on drugs has been a resounding failure. Harmful drug consumption has markedly increased and has given rise to a multi-billion pound illegal industry that has fuelled organised violent crime and caused untold social and ecological destruction. There is little evidence for the two core assumptions that form the basis of current UK drug policy: 1. That supply-side enforcement can reduce drug availability and use. 2. That the criminalisation of people who use drugs is an effective deterrent. The Green Party recognises that people have always and will always use drugs, including alcohol. Drugs perform many purposes in society, including recreational use and as part of medical treatment. Seeking to prevent drug use is demonstrably futile; we need a radically new system grounded in harm reduction. Government needs to strike the right balance between responsible adult drug use and the potential harms of problematic use. The taxes and licence fees that will apply to drugs under our proposed system will raise significant revenues. Some of these revenues will pay for the harm that drug use can cause, including NHS time. Our Green plan to reduce harm and adopt an evidence-based approach will: > Repeal the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016. > Pardon and expunge the criminal records of all individuals previously convicted for possession and small-scale supply of drugs. > Enable medical scientists to conduct research on psychoactive drugs to develop new treatments for mental and physical illnesses. > Invest in education and treat problematic drug use as a health issue, not a crime, building on the successful approaches pioneered in numerous other countries. > Replace the current system of prohibition with an evidence-based, legalised, regulated system of drug control. The production, import and supply of all drugs will be regulated according to the specific risks that they pose to the individual, to society and to the environment. > Make heroin available on prescription after a medical assessment by a doctor and provide safe facilities for users who inject drugs, building on the success of drug consumption rooms in other countries which have encouraged more problematic drug users into treatment. > Regulate access for adults to stimulant and psychedelic drugs based on the evidence around harm reduction through pharmacies, after a safety consultation with a qualified pharmacist, at fixed doses and fixed prices. > Make cannabis, labelled according to laboratory-tested strength, available to adults from licensed small businesses. Cannabis will be sold subject to minimum unit pricing and plain packaging. > Allow for licensed Cannabis Social Clubs where adults can collectively cultivate and consume cannabis and allow adults to grow a limited number of cannabis plants at home. > Prohibit commercial advertising of alcohol (and all other drugs) and introduce minimum unit pricing, which has been shown to reduce harmful drinking in Scotland. > Set up an independent statutory body, the Advisory Council for Drug Safety, comprised of experts, who will be responsible for monitoring patterns of drug use, advising the government on changes to regulation and sourcing socially and ecologically sustainable supplies of opium and coca from the Global South. Transforming our relationship with animals We share this planet with, and are dependent on, a wealth of other animal species. Yet wildlife destruction, factory farming, live export, companion and domestic animal abuse, and the use of animals for experiments, sport and entertainment are all contributing to the systematic mistreatment of animals. We think it's time for a better future, where animals are actively protected from cruelty and our own quality of life is improved too. The Green plan to transform understanding of the relationship between humans and animals will: > Guarantee the principle of animal sentience. This will mean that that regard for the welfare needs of animals as sentient beings is uppermost in formulating and implementing relevant government policy. > Ban all hunting. This includes trail hunting, where dogs are used to track foxes who are then shot, and the commercial shooting of deer and game birds. Government subsidies, used to maintain artificial landscapes designed only for hunting (such as grouse moors) will be ended and the land rewilded where possible. Where necessary for ecological reasons, humane culling will be licensed by Natural England and carried out by trained professionals. We will also ban the use of lead ammunition and outlaw all forms of snaring. > End the badger cull, which has no evidence basis and has failed to effectively reduce Bovine TB. We will fund research into a sensitive test to enable cattle vaccination, as an essential, as well as humane, part of a meaningful strategy to control the spread of the disease. We will also invest in better farm bio-security and badger vaccination. > Stop the use of primates, cats and dogs in research and the importation of monkeys for use in labs, and work towards an outright ban on all animal testing. We will also end the use of live animals in military training. > Enforce tougher regulations on animal transportation, including a maximum limit of eight hours travel for animals in transit and an end to all live exports from our shores. We will work to minimise all stress- causing practices during production of animal-based food products. 69 > Advocate for European legalisation to end factory farming, prohibit the routine use of antibiotics for farm animals, and ban the killing of animals for sport across the EU. > Call on all nations to declare the waters under their control as havens from whaling, to provide sanctuary throughout those waters for cetaceans (whales and dolphins), and to co-operate in achieving global sanctuary for cetaceans in the longer term. > Implement a complete ban on cages and close confinement and deliberate mutilation of farm animals. > Help shoppers choose cruelty free food, with mandatory method of production labelling for meat, milk and dairy products. > Protect animals that give companionship or support. We will enhance regulation and controls on breeding, sale and import, with compulsory licensing applying to everyone working with animals. Those convicted of cruelty will be placed on an animal cruelty register and prevented from working with animals again. > Encourage the use of companion animals in therapy and other treatments, drawing on evidence showing the beneficial impact of contact with animals on human psychology. > Create a new Commission on Animal Protection, responsible for overseeing all rules designed to protect animals from cruelty. This Commission will ensure that the highest standards of animal welfare are applied to companion animals, farm animals and wildlife. This will ensure that the right of all sentient beings not to be subject to undue suffering is always respected. Unleashing a Revolution in the Redistribution on Wealth We're the fifth largest economy in the world and yet today there are 4 million children living in poverty. The streets of our cities are home to 4,000 rough sleepers. Nurses are going to foodbanks to put dinner on the table. We can do so much better than this. It's a question of political choices. The rich are getting richer whilst everyone else struggles to make ends meet. Talking about the problem isn't enough - it's time to act. We will redistribute wealth and lift everyone up. We want to enable people to build secure lives and livelihoods. Alongside giving everyone a minimum level of security with a Universal Basic Income, we will make our tax system fit for purpose - fairer and more effective at bringing in revenue for public services and funding the Green New Deal. We see tax as the primary way most of us contribute towards our own and the common good - a fair and valuable payment towards a well-functioning, just society that protects citizens and the planet which sustains us. We will simplify taxes, close tax loopholes and make sure everyone pays their fair share. We will redesign the way property and land are taxed, shifting responsibility away from renters and business tenants and instead towards wealthy landowners who benefit the most. We will redirect government spending away from wasteful vanity projects, and towards enabling people to build the lives they want to lead. Above all, we will transform our tax system, so it is able to generate the funds needed to deliver good public services and the Green New Deal, and deliver ongoing economic, climate and social justice. Simplifying income taxes Our current system of income taxes is hugely complex. Those seeking to avoid tax are able to use this complexity to their advantage. Tax avoiders can shift their money in and out of different income and asset categories, switching category just before the tax official catches up with them. A whole tax avoidance industry exists to guide those prepared to pay to wriggle out of tax through the cracks in the system. This charade keeps billions of pounds out of the public purse every year, money that could be spent on new homes, schools and hospitals. It's time to straighten out the tax system, so that tax avoiders can no longer evade their responsibilities, and so that income from wealth is taxed the same as income from work. This will ensure that the wealthiest pay their fair share. Our Green plan to simplify tax will shine a light on the corners of the economy where the richest stash their wealth. We will: > Merge Employees National Insurance, Capital Gains Tax, Inheritance Tax, Dividend Tax and Income Tax into a single Consolidated Income Tax. This closing of loopholes will bring in an estimated £20 billion extra per year into the public purse. It will mean that all income is treated the same way for tax purposes. > Tax income from investments/ assets at the same level as the taxation of income from work, through the Consolidated Income Tax. This will end the injustice whereby people who work for their incomes are taxed more highly than those whose income is derived from wealth. > Replace the Income Tax threshold with Universal Basic Income. > End the double taxation of pension funds, which are currently subject to Corporation Tax and then Income Tax when paid out to individual pensioners. Reforming property taxes The Green Party wants to transform land and property taxes. Half of England is owned by less than 1% of its population. Our tax system allows landlords to sit on land and do nothing whilst public money for enhancements sees land value increase. Council Tax is failing too. It is one of the main ways of taxing wealth, yet bands are still based on valuations from 1991. This means someone in a multi-million pound property pays a far lower proportion of tax than someone in a one-bedroom flat. All the while, small and independent businesses are crying out for reform of the unfair business rates system, and young people face a lifetime of housing insecurity and high prices. It's time for change. Over the long term we will take steps to replace the current unjust, out-ofdate system with a Land Value Tax (LVT), designed to redistribute wealth and help fix our broken housing market. LVT will be a single tax (replacing the multiple taxes that currently exist) which will capture the real value of land, and the increased value arising from improvements to it. Winston Churchill backed an LVT, arguing that the value added to a property because of improvements, like transport infrastructure, paid for by the public purse, should be returned to the community. The many other benefits include bringing more brownfield sites into use; discouraging speculative land banking; and more efficient, sustainable use of land. LVT will help stabilise the property market and shift the burden of taxation from land users, including renters and business tenants, to wealthy landowners. It's a critical part of how to tackle the housing crisis. Our Green plan to transform land and property taxes will: > Abolish Council Tax and Business Rates, replacing them with an LVT. The LVT will also absorb National Non-domestic Rates, Stamp Duty on Land, Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings, Capital Gains Tax on land sales, Inheritance Tax on land and Income Tax on land for owner- occupiers. The new LVT will charge the landowner a proportion of the capital value of the land each year (estimated to be around 1.4% of current values). > Ensure LVT is paid by landowners regardless of whether or not they live on the land. This will incentivise those who own empty properties to release them back into the housing market. > Lift millions of renters and business tenants out of property taxes altogether, by shifting the burden of land taxation from land users to landowners. We will legislate to prevent landowners passing these tax costs back to renters and tenants. > Phase in the changes over ten years, with reliefs on offer. This will ensure that the vast majority of homeowners will face similar or lower levels of tax to that which they pay now. > Protect those who have low incomes but who are 'land rich' with a right to defer the tax until the property is sold or transferred. Likewise, pensioners who are homeowners will be enabled to 'roll over' LVT payments until their property is sold, so they don't feel undue pressure to move. In the long term, the new LVT will bring in more money for the public purse. However due to the phased introduction of the policy, and the reliefs we will offer to help homeowners transition to the new system, we estimate that the LVT will be revenue neutral for the first ten years (bringing in the same amount of revenue as the taxes it replaces). Making big business pay its fair share In a transformed green economy we will need to harness the power and influence of businesses to do good. At the moment, huge corporations tend to use their power to generate profit for a small number of people and to reduce the amount of tax they pay. We think it's time to straighten things out, so nobody can abuse the tax system and dodge their responsibilities. When Corporation Tax was first introduced to the UK in 1965, it stood at 40%. Now it's at 19%, one of the lowest in Europe. And overseas giants like Amazon and Google exploit tax loopholes to pay even less. Businesses can be the bedrock of an economy that enables us all to thrive, if they pay what they owe and invest in the public services and infrastructure from which they benefit. Our plan for tax justice will: > Increase the rate of Corporation Tax to 24%, in line with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average. We will advocate public country-by-country reporting and consolidated Corporate Tax across the EU to prevent profit shifting. > Increase the Bank Asset Tax. This will counteract the huge levels of support previous governments have given the banking sector, through public protections, licenses and subsidies. We will also close a loophole in the Stamp Duty on Shares, by including share purchases of all values and new share issues within the Duty. > Establish HM Revenue & Customs as an independent agency of government, answerable to Parliament. This will remove the power of politicians to strike secret deals with powerful corporations and individuals. > Entrench the anti-avoidance principle in UK tax law and oblige banks to provide information about companies automatically to HMRC. Combatting Tax Avoidance In 2014, Molly Scott Cato, Green MEP for the South West, was chosen to represent the Green Group on the European Parliament's tax working group. The LuxLeaks scandal broke shortly afterwards and the Greens lobbied the parliamentary authorities to establish a special tax inquiry committee. Molly was a member of that and the three subsequent inquiries into the outrageous way that large companies and wealthy individuals have avoided paying the taxes they owe to society. This process has led to powerful new tax avoidance polices, including a blacklist of tax havens, a unified minimum tax rate for the whole EU, and the end of the buying of golden visas by wealthy non-EU citizens. Molly is the Green Party candidate for Stroud in this General Election. > Close down Corporation Tax loopholes by widening the definition of 'profit' to cover dividends, share buybacks, additions to cash holdings, payments to parent or subsidiary companies (both onshore and offshore), and other distributed income. > Clamp down on tax havens internationally and, domestically, require offshore companies to reveal their beneficial ownership before being accepted as competitors for publicly funded contracts. In instances where beneficial ownership is not clear and/or payments are made to secretive tax havens, all money and assets transferred will be treated as income distribution and taxed at the full Corporate or Income Tax level. We will explore how to best to tackle tax avoidance channelled through British Overseas Territories. We will campaign for the EU to clamp down on member state tax havens, including Ireland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. > Abolish the rule that allows non- domiciled residents not to pay tax on foreign income. Supporting small business We will transform our economy to make it work for the wellbeing of people and our environment - and we want business to play a leading role. We want enterprise in the 21st century to be about more than what pays. We want to support enterprise to create a bigger, more diverse future, through stakeholder finance, ownership rooted in communities and business done for the common good. We recognise the many challenges facing businesses today, especially small, local businesses, run by families or individuals - and the enormous value they bring to the communities they serve. We understand how hard it is to start and run a business - and how rewarding it can be when that business grows. We want to transform the business environment in the UK, so enterprise that benefits us all is rewarded and helped to thrive. The Green plan for a small business revolution will: > Give small businesses access to lending at affordable rates, by helping to establish a network of regional mutual banks. These new banks will be created specifically to provide funding for locally led economic initiatives and opportunities, including cooperatives, community interest companies and other non-profit businesses. > Further free up funding by introducing credit guidance for traditional banks, requiring them to increase their lending to small businesses and businesses focussed on the sustainability transition. > Grant 15% of government contracts to small and micro businesses. We will revise the government contract application process, to remove the current barriers for entry to small business. We will encourage local authorities to adopt this model with their own contracts. > Require businesses to publish and report the difference between agreed payment days and actual payment days. We will introduce fines for large companies that fail to pay small businesses on time. > Support small business to work with employees to adopt full workplace rights. > Create new support for entrepreneurs and small business owners from BME backgrounds. > Reduce VAT on food and drink served in pubs, bars and restaurants, on hotel bookings and on theatre, music concert and museum and gallery tickets, This will boost the leisure and cultural sectors, helping 125,000 businesses at the heart of their local communities. > Increase the Employment Allowance to £10,000 (currently just £3,000) per year, allowing small businesses which employ people to claim back the equivalent National Insurance of four full-time workers earning the average salary. This tax cut will benefit hundreds of thousands of small businesses, allowing them to hire more people, increase wages or reduce prices. > Promote and support an increase in co-operatives and community interest companies. Education about these forms of communal enterprise would start in school. > Roll out high speed broadband. Ending wasteful spending Successive governments have committed large sums of public money to projects that contribute nothing to the potential for a safer, fairer future for all. Beliefs that big is always best, that growth is good for growths sake and that communities and environments can be sacrificed have left a dreadful legacy of public harm and financial waste. It's time to pull the plug on what hasn't worked so we can invest instead in the Green New Deal and other ways to sustainably transform the state of the nation. As we transition to a net zero economy the Green Party will tackle wasteful spending, starting by: > Cancelling the Trident nuclear weapons system and nuclear powered submarines. We will join the United Nation's Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and work within that multilateral framework work for the total elimination of all nuclear weapons, including the implementation, enforcement and verification of all disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation agreements. We need a security system that can keep us safe from 21st-century challenges, not one that could realise cold war nightmares. The funds saved from cancelling Trident will be diverted towards the development of non-carbonemitting technologies and finance to help countries deal with the Climate Emergency. > Scrapping the government's new road building programme, including the proposed road tunnel at Stonehenge that threatens to desecrate an iconic World Heritage Site. The funding for this road building programme, the £6.5 billion in revenue received from Vehicle Exercise Duty each year, will be switched to supporting sustainable public transport and new cycleways and footpaths as part of the Green New Deal. £1.5 billion of Vehicle Exercise Duty revenue will be retained to maintain existing roads. > Scrapping plans for airport expansion across the country. > Scrapping the doomed HS2 rail line. The funds freed up will be spent on more effective sustainable public transport options, as part of the Green New Deal. This will enable an increase in rail capacity in regions that desperately need more investment, including the creation of three electrified rail lines running from Liverpool and Manchester to Sheffield, Hull and the Tees Valley. These three newly electrified lines will run through Bradford and Leeds, creating new rail hubs in the heart of Yorkshire. > Ending the NHS internal market, which has driven up administrative costs in the health service without improving clinical practice, patient care or staff wellbeing. > Ending the Help to Buy Programme, which mainly served to drive developer profits. The funds will be redirected to the Green Party's council home creation programme that will deliver attractive, affordable homes for all. > Abolishing the heavily subsidised current Right to Buy Programme. We will instead allow councils to set discounts locally and retain 100% of receipts to reinvest in new and existing homes. These are the worst offending projects - our review of government spending is likely to consider further vanity projects that need a rethink. The Green Party's plans will also deliver savings in the long term. By tackling some of society's major problems head-on, Green policies will free up funds currently allocated to managing the harmful effects of poverty, pollution and illegal drug use. Poverty alone costs the UK taxpayer an incredible £85 billion per year. Using effective anti-poverty measures such as the Universal Basic Income, new job opportunities created by the Green New Deal and increased support for the disabled, pensioners and carers, the Green Party's programme will slash poverty rates and ultimately save billions per year in government spending. We accept that these savings will take place over a long period of time. When they are delivered we will seek to allocate these funds to other areas of public service provision that are currently being underfunded, such as education, healthcare and local services. In this age of Brexit, our politics resounds with references to the Second World War. In all this looking back, there is one pointer to the future. At the height of the War, amidst the chaos and confusion, a social activist named William Beveridge presented a report to the political parties of the day on how the country could be reshaped when peace came. The Beveridge Report set out five aspirations which, if met, could build a better future for all: > Adequate household income > Access to healthcare > Access to educational opportunity > Adequate housing > Gainful employment These five aspirations became the building blocks of the NHS and other social services built after the war. In the chaos of the present, we have a similar opportunity to look ahead and make big choices that will unleash a bigger future. This Green Manifesto sets out five aspirations for our times: > A Green New Deal to tackle the Climate Emergency and deliver social justice > A UK that remains in the EU, to transform it for the better > A democratic renewal, that gives everyone a voice > An economy for tomorrow that has improved quality of life and wellbeing at its heart > A revolution in tax & spend to spread wealth fairly and fund the Green New Deal Every Green vote in this election is a vote for this bigger future. It's a vote to transform the UK and build something good together. It's a vote for making sure that our best days are still to come. If not now, then when? 82 83 The section below sets out how we will pay for the policies proposed in this Manifesto. We have set out our spending over ten years, in line with our proposed ten- year Green New Deal to put us on track to reducing our carbon emissions to zero by 2030. This extended time period reflects the scale of the change needed to fix our climate and fund our future. For ease of comprehension, we have put investment and spending amounts as per billion per year. Although exact rates of investment and spending may vary year from year (especially as policies are phased in), the average for each year after ten years will be the yearly figure given. This is the manifesto of the Green Party of England and Wales. Separate sister Green parties cover Scotland and Northern Ireland. Many public services are devolved, with the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales or the Northern Ireland Assembly taking responsibility. However, most decisions on government investment, expenditure and taxation are ultimately taken on a UK basis, this is a UK general election and, despite the fact that this Green Party covers only England and Wales, and to maintain consistency and comparability, all the figures in this chapter are UK figures. A Green New Deal > Operational Expenditure related to Universal Basic Income Cost of proposed UBI regime (including supplements and free childcare): £86.2 billion To be met from tax changes and savings revenue > Operational Expenditure not related to Universal Basic Income Investment in skills and training: £2 billion Support to private sector to kick- start investment: £1 billion Reduction in public transport fares: £3.5 billion Upgrading cycleways and footpaths: £0.5 billion (admin costs) 84 Research and development for farming & forestry: £1 billion Research into carbon capture technologies: £0.8 billion Tree and forest planting: £0.7 billion Total: £9.5 billion To be met from tax changes and savings revenue > Capital Expenditure Upgrades to electricity grid: £10.4 billion Improvements to energy storage system: £4.5 billion Renewable electricity generation: £12 billion Funding local authorities to better insulate all homes and deep retrofit of 1 million homes a year: £24.6 billion Funding local authorities to better insulate non-domestic buildings: £7 billion Funding local authorities to create at least 100,000 new social homes a year: £10.2 billion Research and development for industry: £6 billion Industrial processes: £3 billion Upgrading rail capacity, including electrification: £12.2 billion Upgrading cycleways and footpaths infrastructure: £2.0 billion Electric vehicles and infrastructure: £2.5 billion Total: £94.4 billion To be met from public borrowing > Growing Democracy > Operational Expenditure Increasing direct funding to local authorities: £10 billion Providing a climate adaption fund for local authorities: £3 billion Funding local authorities to provide free social care at home for over 65s: £4.5 billion Funding political parties and other smaller policies: £1 billion Increasing international aid: £6.5 billion Total: £25 billion To be met from tax changes and savings revenue The Green Quality of Life Guarantee > Operational Expenditure Increased funding for NHS, including increased nursing training: £7 billion Increased funding for schools: £4 billion Scrapping tuition fees and funding every student: £7.8 billion Increasing adult education: £1 billion Smaller policies: £1 billion Total: £20.8 billion To be met from tax changes and savings revenue Additional revenue generated from savings (per year) The below figures come from calculations made by Green Party Tax and Fiscal Working Group: Savings from cancelling wasteful projects: Scrapping Trident: £2.2 billion (an additional £0.2 billion of savings from this measure will be spent on costs of cancellation) Scrapping the government's road building programme: £5 billion Scrapping HS2: £3.5 billion (an additional £0.5 billion of savings from this measure will be spent on costs of cancellation) Scrapping Help to Buy: £1 billion Ending the NHS internal market: £2.3 billion Savings from tackling social problems (we have assumed we will only be able to realise 30% of longterms savings in these areas in the first ten years): Tackling poverty: £12.6 billion Ending the war on drugs: £1 billion Ending air pollution: £1.8 billion Total extra revenue generated by savings: £29.4 Additional revenue generated from tax changes (per year) The below figures come from calculations made by Green Party Tax and Fiscal Working Group: Carbon Tax: £76.7 billion (excluding Carbon Tax revenue from farming sector, which is restricted for spending on the farming sector only) Simplifying income taxes: £21.7 billion Increasing Corporation Tax to 24%: £12 billion New taxes on banking: £5 billion Tax avoidance and evasion crackdown: £3 billion Reduction of tax relief on pension contributions (all relief at 20%/basic tax rate): £6 billion Reduction of tax-free drawdown on pensions to £40k: £2 billion Legalised drug taxes: £8 billion Increased alcohol duties: £3 billion Minus VAT reduction for leisure, eating & drinking out, sports, recreation, creative arts & entertainment and household repairs sector (£9.5 billion) Minus increase in Employment Allowance from £3k to £10k (£3.5 billion) We have not added any increase in revenue from our reforms to land taxes to our revenue predications. This is because, whilst the new Land Value Tax will bring in increased revenue, we are committed to using the initial extra revenue generated to mitigate the impact of the new tax on homeowners. This transition period, and the associated reliefs to help homeowners move to the new system, will last for ten years. Total extra revenue generated by new tax regime: £124.4 billion Green New Deal - additional private sector investment We envision that Green New Deal public sector investment will be a catalyst for private sector investment, as private investors seek to share in the financial rewards of a transition to a low carbon future. We have budgeted (see Green New Deal Operational Costs) for the administration of a fund to encourage and help direct this private sector investment. This private investment will form a second, non-publicly funded stream of finance for a Green New Deal. We expect the amount of private investment to reach £50 billion per year, including around £25 billion of private sector finance matching public sector spending on deep retrofitting homes. Private investment will also benefit the Green New Deal for energy and the Green New Deal for industry, accelerating progress in these sectors. Public borrowing We propose to borrow an extra £94.4 billion a year, to pay for capital expenditure. Our commitment to write off student debt from fee loans accumulated under the £9,000 tuition fee regime will add an additional sum onto the national debt. The costs of servicing the extra borrowing and paying down the debt over time will be met by the additional revenue from the new jobs created and the surplus left over from our tax changes and savings revenue. The cost of government borrowing is at its lowest for decades, creating an unparalleled opportunity for public investment. We feel that this borrowing to invest is justified, in the face of the looming Climate Emergency, and prudent, given how Green New Deal investment will kick-start an economic and social regeneration. The proceeds of this investment will in time mean that the Green New Deal pays for itself. The rate of the Carbon Tax will rise through the Green New Deal period, with the reducing amounts of carbon in the economy taxed at an accelerating rate to encourage further phasing out. At the end of the Green New Deal period the extra revenue from the jobs, rented homes and transport assets created by New Deal investment will make themselves felt - replacing Carbon Tax revenue in the long term and providing a healthy surplus. This will form a stable Our programme of investment should be foundation for future finances. seen as a starting push on our national bicycle - giving us the momentum to set off and pedal with growing strength towards a better future. Drawing it all together This Manifesto proposes extra operational expenditure of £141.5 billion a year, paid for by a mix of tax reforms and savings measures. We propose £94.4 billion of capital expenditure, raised through government borrowing. Surplus from our tax reforms and savings measures, alongside increased revenues from the new jobs created, will pay for servicing and paying down this extra borrowing. We appreciate these are large numbers. We are, however, confident in them. We have been deliberately cautious in our estimates. We have not included in full the increased revenues the government is likely to receive from an economy boosted by significant investment, or the reduced spending requirements arising from a happier, healthier society. These benefits are likely to accrue at an accelerated rate as our policies begin take effect, paving the way in the long term for an economy and that is far more stable than ours currently is. Our investment will kick-start the great transition to a net zero carbon economy and a better quality of life. If not now, then when? Promoted by Judy Maciejowska on behalf of the Green Party, both at The Biscuit Factory, Unit 215 J Block, 100 Clements Road, London, SE16 4DG.