Green Party co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsey
have marked their first one hundred days in office by setting out plans to
tackle the cost-of- living crisis [1].
Figures produced by the Office for National Statistics
(ONS) show that 66% of adults in the UK reported their cost of living had risen
over the past month, driven by sharply rising fuel prices [2]
This will hit hardest those households living on lower
incomes making them more likely to experience fuel poverty, in 2019 an
estimated 3.18 million people in the UK who were struggling to pay for
household energy [3]. The ONS statistics show 72% of respondents citing higher
gas and electricity charges as making it harder to make ends meet.
Following decisions made at their autumn conference
the Green Party will be backing councillors in all the local authorities where
they have representation to call for a ‘retrofit revolution,’ which will
provide insulation for thousands of homes, reducing harm to the environment and
helping families who are struggling to pay their heating bills this winter.
Carla Denyer said, “Once again, this
government is doing nothing while millions of people in England and Wales are
left facing the prospect of having to choose between eating and heating, and
things look like they are only going to get worse.”
Adding
that, “Greens are not sitting around waiting for the Government to make a move.
We are taking the lead from the ground up. Green Party councillors will ask
their local authorities to trial a scheme which should ensure that families
across the country have warmer homes and cheaper bills”.
Green
Party councillors in Lewes are working with six other local authorities to
mobilise £1billion to retrofit 40,000 homes. This approach if multiplied by the
six hundred councillors the Green Party has at all levels of local government
in England and Wales could bring about significant and beneficial changes.
Zoe
Nicholson, Green leader of Lewes District Council said, “Working with other
councils means that we can move faster on retrofitting, solve the skills crisis
in the workforce by developing a guaranteed pipeline of work for the renewable
industry, and form local retrofit taskforces that will help those in private
rented accommodation and homeowners.”
Speaking
about the work in Lewes Adrian Ramsay said, “If councils pool resources and
look to work collaboratively, it will not only create a huge demand for jobs,
it will also help the millions of people who are forced to live with the
incredible stress of not knowing how they are going to pay their bills”.
Adding
that “On top of that, this is a serious boost to tackling climate change.
Energy is the biggest carbon emitter in the UK. As Greens we are determined to
do everything we can to create warm homes, cheaper bills and a safer
environment."
Green
councillors will also push local authorities to do more to work with colleges
and universities to develop the workforce of the future by providing training
in skills useful to the green economy.
The
co-leaders also marked their first milestone in office by calling for the
government to reverse the removal of the £20 uplift to Universal Credit, this
would provide support worth £1000 a year to struggling households.
This
is part of plans to deal with the problem of climate change whilst providing
warm homes and manageable bill for struggling households set out by the party
at the start of January.
In a five-point
plan they call for an emergency grant to fund insulation and other home
improvements for those at risk of fuel poverty, an extension to winter fuel
payments, a windfall tax on the profits of polluting oil and gas companies, increased
investment in renewable energy, and scrapping the proposed increase to National
Insurance payments.
Launching
the policy in January Carla Denyer said, “This is the sort of positive and radical action we need to protect the
most vulnerable in society and ensure that we can all live a more comfortable
life, at the same time as taking real action on climate change to provide
longer-term security” [4].
Speaking about the plans to launch a ‘retrofit
revolution’ and to continue the party’s calls for action to be taken on the
cost-of-living crisis Adrian Ramsey said the Greens were ‘leading the way’.
Co-leader Carla Denyer added that, “Work like
this shows why it is so important to elect Green representatives at every level
of government. A Green in the room makes a difference.”
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