Green party manifesto aims to 'break through'
Updated on 15 April 2010
The Green party launches its election manifesto, promising a "greener and fairer society" and counting on disillusioned voters to help secure its first seat in Westminster.
Speaking from the Green's target seat of Brighton, party leader Caroline Lucas said the economy and environment were at the heart of the manifesto. "Both are important, and can be tackled together," she said.
Lucas added: "We believe we are on the edge of breaking through. We're able to capitalise on people wanting an alternative and being able to see that the alternative is electable."
Under the slogan "fair is worth fighting for", Lucas announced a £44bn plan to invest in renewable energy, transport, insulation, housing and waste management in support of one million new jobs.
Lucas pledged to set the minimum wage at 60 per cent of net nation average earnings - or £8.10 an hour, compared with the current minimum wage of £5.80.
The Green party also proposed a new "citizen's pension" of £170 per week, or £300 per week for couples. The £110bn cost of the plan would be paid for by the abolition of pension credits and of tax relief on pension contributions.
Reaching out to the grey vote, Lucas said pensioner poverty – with one in every four living in poverty – was "a scandal".
Lucas vowed to slap a new income tax rate of 50 per cent for those earning more than £100,000 and axe the upper limit for National Insurance contributions.
On education, the Green party proposes to abolish student tuition fees, Sats tests and scale back class sizes by splurging £500m on additional teaching staff.
It also pledged to crank up spending in the public health sector, scrap prescription charges, reintroduce free eye tests and grant the English and Welsh access to free social care in Scotland.
Lucas said: "In our manifesto we've put the economy and the environment foremost at the very heart and our overall aim is to set out how to make Britain a greener and much fairer society."
She said the Green party was proposing a "costed manifesto based on real redistribution".
The party would claw back £80bn by cancelling the Trident nuclear programme, alongside road building projects.
It would raise funds by hiking tax on alcohol and tobacco by 50 per cent, raising fuel duty by 8 per cent annually, and introducing VAT and fuel duty on aviation. The latter could raise £10bn by 2013, the party says.
The manifesto also champions eco-taxes on non-renewables or pollutants, and a tax on plastic bags and other superfluous packaging.
Lucas said: "It is an ambitious set of proposals but the Green Party has never been afraid of being ambitious.
"Now is the time to do things in a very different way. These are practical policies in this manifesto. The kind of policies we believe that Britain needs."
The Green party has 320 candidates across the country, a record in its 30-year history.
