Proposals won't secure economy in the long term.
Chancellor must listen to unions and act on profits.
Green Leader Caroline Lucas has labelled Chancellor Alistair Darling’s package of measures on the economy ‘meek’ and ‘a bare minimum’ after his speech to the Labour conference today.
His failure to impose a windfall tax on excess energy profits is also criticised.
Caroline said:
“The financial measures outlined in Darling’s speech were the bare minimum needed to salvage the banking sector, not the policies needed to secure a long-term future for UK jobs and industry.”
“The Chancellor said today ‘We must look at the culture of bonuses’ in the City. But looking at a problem won’t make it go away. We need action to bring in real solutions.
“What Britain needs isn’t a meek Chancellor who is afraid to stand up to the city or profiteering energy giants, but a Chancellor with the vision to bring in radical, effective policies like the Green New Deal.”
Caroline is part of the Green New Deal group, which this month published a set of proposals to stablise the economy and tackle the ‘triple crunch’ of financial crisis, climate change and soaring energy prices.
Today, Caroline also reiterated her call for a windfall tax, which she first made several months ago on BBC’s Question Time.
At the conference, union leaders and MPs, including former environment minister Michael Meacher, lined up to support the measure as they debated a motion on the conference floor.
Caroline said:
“A windfall tax is essential – not just to provide immediate relief to families facing a winter of soaring bills, but also to kickstart a radical new programme to provide universal free insulation.
“The chance to have a warmer home need to be made available to all householders, not just those able to fulfil complex means-testing procedures. Experience shows that these hurdles often lead to the most needy being excluded.”
Greens are already implementing non-means-tested, universal free insulation in Kirklees, Yorkshire, and aim to roll it out to more areas.
Criticising the government’s energy plan announced last week, which included means testing for free insulation and only partial subsidies for other families, Caroline said:
"As with Tory school vouchers and patient passports, the government’s 50% discount is only a subsidy to those already able to pay for insulation. Over one in six British households are already in fuel poverty, and if you can't afford to heat your home, you can't afford to insulate it.”
Under the Kirklees scheme, 11,000 households have benefited in the first year with 30,000 more to follow. £10 million of investment has been leveraged from energy companies, saving the average family around £150 per year off their heating bills.