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A Green economy that works for everyone

1. A Green economy that works for everyone

The Green Party believes that our economy should be innovative, collaborative, forward facing and for the benefit of communities and the environment.

The economy is all of us: our work, our creativity, what we buy, how we spend our time. It should allow us to lead happy and fulfilled lives. A Green economy would replace the exploitation of people and resources with decent, meaningful work. It would create over 1 million jobs through our programme of green investment and restoring the public sector.

Our policies:

Take steps towards the introduction of a universal basic income, including a government sponsored pilot scheme, as a means to increase security and avoid the poverty trap.
Phase in a 4 day working week (a maximum of 35 hours) and abolish exploitative zero hours contracts.
Reduce the gap between the highest and lowest paid, and increase the minimum wage to reach a genuine living wage of £10 an hour by 2020.
End the gender pay gap, and require a minimum 40% of all members of public company and public sector boards to be women.
Use the government-owned Royal Bank of Scotland to create a network of local people’s banks for every city and region, obliged to lend locally and provide cheap basic banking services.
Ensure that everyone pays their fair share of tax and there is a crackdown on tax dodging.

Reform taxation to include a wealth tax on the top 1% of earners, investing in more staff at HMRC so they can work more effectively, and reinstate the higher level of corporation tax for large businesses.
A Robin Hood tax on high value transactions in the finance sector, and inheritance taxed according to the wealth of the recipient.
A phased in abolition of the cap on employees’ national insurance so that the wealthiest pay more.
Support and promote small businesses, co-operatives and mutuals, and the roll out of high speed broadband.
Support start-ups and creative enterprises through community credit and green investment, to provide opportunities for young people to be creative and innovative.

Protecting our environment

You can trust the Green Party to put the environment at the heart of everything we do.

Membership of the EU

The Green Party supported the Remain campaign and continue to believe that membership of the EU makes our future more hopeful and secure.

Our NHS and Public Services

We pay for public services, we use them, we own them. It’s time they belonged to all of us.

Education for all

Education transforms lives. The Green Party believes that education is a right, and should therefore be available to people of all ages.

Our Promise to Young People

We want to build a better, more positive future for everyone and in particular for young people. We want that future to be safer, happier, more equal and more secure.

A place to call home

We should all have a safe, affordable, secure and warm place to call home. The Green Party will tackle the causes of the housing crisis: giving renters a fair deal, making social housing widely available and bringing the housing market under control.

A safer world

The Green Party will work for a caring and confident Britain that uses its influence wisely, to build peace and protect the environment, and to offer sanctuary to those at risk.

A citizens' democracy

The Green Party believes that politics should be done by people – not to them.

A People’s Transport System

The Green Party will work to increase public investment in the railways, trams, ferries and buses, as well as to make our streets and roads safer for everyone.