Reacting to yesterday's budget announcement from Alistair Darling:
Caroline Lucas, leader of the party, said: "This budget is a missed opportunity to put fairness and sustainability at the centre of Britain's recovery plans. After 13 years of a Labour government, this country is more unequal today than it was when Labour came to power. Bold measures are needed, like the higher rate of 50% on incomes above £100 000 per year, abolishing the upper limit on NI contributions, and reinstating the 10p tax band. While we welcome the introduction of a green investment bank, it lacks sufficient resources to create the huge number of jobs that should be at the heart of this approach."
Darren Johnson, PPC for Lewisham Deptford, writing in the Guardian, said: "Despite anticipated cuts across government spending and the expectation of a Conservative government, Boris Johnson is calling for a huge increase in environmental investment in the capital to achieve his climate change and air pollution goals ... Johnson will need to lobby very hard if London is to stand a chance of getting to the 60% target in the way he has mapped out. The reality is that the government may not come up with the money, which could be an embarrassing moment for the relationship between Johnson and David Cameron."
Ben Duncan, PPC for Brighton Kemptown and spokesperson for Home Affairs, said: "We need to remember that when markets fail, the government needs to step in and get the economy working again. The truth is, as we learnt in the 1930s - you just can't cut your way out of a recession."
Matt Sellwood, PPC for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, and spokesperson on Housing, said: "At the same time as [the stamp duty] giveaway, the government is refusing to protect social housing investment from the swingeing cuts which will hit unprotected government departments later in the year."
Tony Juniper, PPC for Cambridge, writing in the Independent, said: "The Chancellor could have acted unilaterally to introduce a Tobin-style tax on international currency transactions, instead of hiding behind the countries which don't want to do it. Reckless bankers have taken so much out of our economy, and it is the poorer people who will feel the most pain in putting it right."