Green
Party co-leader Adrian Ramsey has joined leading figures in criticising the
programme of legislation outlined by the government in the Queen’s Speech.
He
said the programme contained “a lot of Bills; a lot of hot air. Nothing to
create the fairer greener communities that so many are crying out for, and so
many people voted for when they elected Green councillors in record numbers
last week” [1].
The
speech contained 38 bills to be put before parliament, these include
controversial plans to sell off Channel 4 and to replace the Human Rights Act
with a British Bill of Rights. Notable by their absence were any fresh measures
to help people struggling to make ends meet as energy costs and the price of
food both rocket.
Adrian
Ramsey said the government appeared “to be putting its energy into creating a
bonfire of environmental standards and protections we enjoyed as part of the EU
rather than tackling the root causes of growing climate instability. It refuses
to impose a dirty profits tax on the fossil fuel giants or introduce the hugely
popular idea of a carbon tax that could help fund the transition to a cleaner,
greener economy with greater energy security and lower bills.”
Responding
to the speech Labour leader Kier Starmer said the government had failed to
respond to a “looming stagflation crisis”, adding that it was “bereft of ideas
or purpose, without a guiding principle or a roadmap for delivery”.
Liberal
Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said the government were doing “nothing to help
the millions of families and pensioners facing soaring bills and eye watering
inflation”, adding that it showed “a prime minister refusing to listen to the
clear message sent by voters at last week’s local elections who are fed up of
being taken for granted by this Conservative government.”
Criticism
also came from the right with Tory MPs including David Davis and John Redwood
calling for tax cuts, former policy adviser to Theresa May Gavin Barwell
criticised the government for showing a “lack of action”, saying that “morally
and politically” it needs to do more [2].
In response
the government claim that two thirds of the bills contained in the speech,
citing as an example the energy security bill, are aimed at boosting economic
growth.
However,
prime minister Boris Johnson said, no country was “immune” to the “economic
shocks” caused by the pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and other
issues. Adding that “no government can realistically shield everyone from the
impact”.
The
severity of the squeeze on household incomes was highlighted by data published
by the National Institute for Social and Economic Research (NIESR) showing that
1.5 million households are set to see the cost of living outstrip their
disposable income, forcing them to borrow money or rely on savings. As a result
another 250,000 households will be ‘tipped over’ into destitution, taking the
number of households in extreme poverty to 1.2 million.
Speaking
to the Guardian NIESR boss Jagjit Chadha said the policies pursued by the
government could be directly blamed for harming the incomes of UK households.
He called on the government to use its £20billion borrowing capacity to help
those who are struggling [3].
Prior
to the Queen’s Speech the Green Party had called on the government to help
people cope with the rising cost of living. Co leader Carla Denyer said their
strong results in the local elections showed the public are increasingly
supportive of plans to use initiatives such as insulating millions of homes to
cut energy bills and combat climate change.
She
said “The
recent local election results, where the Greens gained more seats than Labour
in England, shows that the public are crying out for the ambitious plan to
address the cost of living crisis that Greens have put forward”, something that
contrasted sharply with the response of a government that “Distracted by
scandal after scandal” was “utterly failing to get a grip on the twin crises of
the rising cost of living and the climate emergency” [4].
Among
the measures called for by the NIESR to help households cope with the
spiralling cost of living are a £25 weekly uplift to Universal Credit to be
paid between May and October this year and a one-off cash payment to low-income
households.
NIESR
deputy director for public policy Professor Adrian Pabst told the Guardian
these measures were needed because rising prices will “push up bills, drag down
demand and increase income inequalities. The big squeeze on budgets will hit
the lower-income households hardest who live in some of the most economically
and socially deprived parts of the country”.
The
NISER recommendations are close to policies the Green Party has been advocating
since the beginning of the cost-of-living crisis. The Greens would go further
though, using a Universal Basic Income to reduce poverty and creating jobs
through insulating draughty homes and switching to renewable energy.
Its
failure to offer even this limited amount of support, Adrian Ramsey said,
showed that the government had “again demonstrated its failure to get to grips
with the cost-of-living crisis and the climate emergency. Greens have a plan to
tackle both in parallel through a multi-billion-pound programme of home
insulation to cut energy bills and carbon emissions”.
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