Greens call for Tax Justice

The Greens plan to reshape the tax landscape in the UK to create greater equality.

Keith M Ross, Green Party Candidate for Swansea West, said, “With massive inequality in the UK today, the greens have policies to reform the tax system to make things truly fair for all.

“The UK currently loses out to the tune of approximately £15 Billion every year through tax evasion. To put this in perspective, this is 15 times the cost of benefit fraud. And that’s before you add tax avoidance, which is legal.”

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Green Party beats all other parties on global justice, says World Development Movement

The World Development Movement has analysed and scored the main parties’ policies on international development – and has rated the Green Party higher than any other party (http://www.wdm.org.uk/news).

The Greens, who score an impressive 8 out of 10, come out on top on issues such as trade justice, international aid and IMF reform, ahead of the Liberal Democrats (6 out of 10), Labour (5 out of 10) and the poorly scoring Conservatives, who lag behind on a score of just 3 out of 10.

To tackle world poverty, the Green Party has said the UK should: . Introduce a Robin Hood Tax (http://robinhoodtax.org.uk/) that would generate as much as £250bn by taxing bankers transactions by a tiny amount (maybe 0.05%). This money would be used to deal with global poverty, as well as tackling climate change and investing in public services. . Increase aid by exceeding the UN’s target and allocating at least 1 per cent of UK Gross National Produce for aid by 2011, adding an extra £4.5bn pa. This aid should be targeted for the poorest, not involve economic policy conditions, respect gender equality and not be diverted to equipping security forces.
. Keep an International Aid Department separate from the Foreign Office, so as to separate foreign policy interests from humanitarian assistance.

Greens plan to rejuvenate the high street

The Green Party claims its plans for small business will revitalise our high streets and break the stranglehold of chain stores and large supermarkets.

Keith M Ross, Green Party Candidate for Swansea West, said, “Small and local independent shops are closing at a rate of 2000 a year including pubs, newsagents, post offices, grocers and banks. This creates a desert where thriving local businesses once served a local community.

“Chain stores and large supermarkets are owned by remote shareholders and are less likely to see the profits stay within the community. They are also more likely to shut up shop and move elsewhere if economic conditions dont suit them. In these large, multi-national organisations there is no commitment to local communities; they are driven entirely by the profit motive.

Greens call for a fair housing deal to protect homeowners and eradicate homelessness

The Greens would bring back into use Britain’s 300,000 long-term empty private sector homes, and renovate Britain’s 37,000 empty council homes to help cut waiting lists.

Keith M Ross, Green Party Candidate for Swansea West, said, “Britain has a shortage of affordable and good quality housing to buy or rent. At the same time many homeowners are in danger of losing their properties in the recession and homelessness is still affecting thousands of people.

“The Green Party will fight for a fair housing deal for all. We want to make it easier for people to get on the property ladder, to protect homeowners and to eradicate homelessness for good.

“People facing severe difficulties with paying their mortgage and facing repossession because of the recession should have a right to rent their existing home as council housing the very opposite of the Tory ‘right to buy’, which we would scrap.”

Greens criticise Lib Dems £3 billion green jobs plan

The Lib Dem plan (£3bn) stands in sharp contrast to the £44bn promised by the Greens in their fully costed Manifesto.

Keith M Ross, Green Party Candidate for Swansea West, commenting on the Lib Dem £3 billion investment plan said today, “The numbers of jobs involved in the Lib Dem plan are far less than Britain needs; the resulting CO2 reductions are inadequate; and £3 billion is frankly a derisory amount when we’re talking about the future job prospects of so many people and the seriousness of climate change.”

“This is the latest attempt by the Lib Dems to portray themselves as green. There is only one Green Party, and it’s the party that last week launched a fully-costed job-creation plan showing how Britain could pay for a £44 billion investment package to create a million new jobs in the UK.”

Green Candidate Calls Time on Pub Closures

Keith M Ross, Green Party candidate for Swansea West today spoke out in support of the traditional local pub and regional breweries.

“I’m sure that politicians and activists from all parties finance their local, but we need a commitment to protect traditional pubs from the big business mentality that has seen so many small businesses loose out to supermarkets and out of town developments.

“With five pubs closing every day across the country, we must halt the decline of a great British institution that is often the heart and soul of rural and local areas. Each closure has a devastating effect on local economies, causing job losses and depriving communities of the £80,000 that each pub injects”

Voters still prefer Green Party policies, according to leading independent voter survey website

Last weeks historic televised debate may have focused the voters even more upon the popularity contest between the “big three” party leaders – but when it comes to actual policies, an independent website suggests the public prefers what the Green Party has to offer.

The Vote for Policies website at: http://www.voteforpolicies.org.uk surveys opinion according to which policies people support – without initially saying which parties’ policies they are.

As the website says: “Vote for Policies makes it easy to compare what the political parties are promising to do. It helps you make an informed, unbiased decision about who to vote for. Find out which party you really support…”

Greens call for an end to privatisation in the NHS

The Green Party Manifesto for the General Election promises to maintain a publicly funded, publicly provided health service, and opposes NHS privatisation.

The manifesto also contains commitments to:

. Decentralise healthcare responsibility to local government. . Ensure that minimum service levels and national guidelines are provided to prevent a postcode lottery, and oppose further health service centralisation.
. Reintroduce free eye tests and free NHS dental treatment for all. . Provide accessible, local community health centres that offer a wide range of services, including out-of-hours care, and are an additional tier of healthcare rather than a replacement for your GP.
. Use increased taxes on alcohol and tobacco to fund overall real growth in the medium term of at least 1.2% per annum in the NHS budget

Green Party Election Broadcast now available online

You can see our PEB, you can even personalise it and email it to your friends, and they can visit the site and not only look at our key policies but take a Policy Matchmaker test to see how close to the Green Party they are.

http://www.onlygreen.org.uk/