Call for a Green New Deal

Stroud Green Party Parliamentary Candidate Cllr Martin Whiteside argues in a call for a "Green New Deal" that people should not just accept that a recession is inevitable (i).

Martin Whiteside explains: “We must not give in to recession. In the 1980s, high unemployment, poverty and increased crime made life tough in many parts of Gloucestershire. When the world faced economic depression back in the early 1930s, it was President Roosevelt's New Deal that got people back to work with a massive investment in infrastructure. Today we stand on the brink of a triple crisis – a combination of a credit-fuelled financial meltdown, accelerating climate change, and soaring energy prices. We need a Green New Deal in response."

Martin Whiteside continued: "In the UK, jobs are vanishing and oil is running out. It's a perfect opportunity to reskill thousands in green energy industries. The core would be a 21st century project to make the nation's buildings truly energy efficient, with local authority bonds being issued to raise the necessary funds for a major investment in insulation, efficiency and renewables, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process. A windfall tax on energy profits would kick start the New Green Deal. Let us not forget that just three companies – BP, Centrica, and Shell – together made £1000 profit every second over the first 6 months of this year. These corporations are robbing from the poor to give to the rich and they know it. And it's about time they learned that in a progressive democracy, there is no place for this."

Some of the other measures called for by the Green party:

1. Flexible working: rather than making people redundant. Glos employers should keep skills and experience in their labour force by permitting shorter working hours and allowing more flexible working (ii). Night working and unsocial hours can be cut back which will help families with children. Since Britain has the longest working hours in Europe, and long commuting times, flexible working can restore family life. There is evidence that long working hours undermine productivity and create ill-health(ii)(iii);

2. Changing lifestyles: what can be bought second-hand should be; expenditure which can be avoided should be. It is good for the environment and the economy if people take more of their holidays in Gloucestershire;

3. Flexible retirement age: people are living longer, so a flexible retirement age would help to keep their skills in the labour force;

4. Energy efficiency: the quickest and cheapest way to cut greenhouse gas emissions is by insulating homes properly. This will help save on energy bills and maintain health, maintaining jobs in Gloucestershire’s construction sector which is suffering from the downturn in house building (iv); Greens have called for a programme of free insulation like they have initiated in Kirklees to every home in Britian to create jobs, cut fuel poverty and reduce carbon emissions.

5. Education and training: education and training expenditure throughout the county should rise to ensure people have educational alternatives to unemployment (v). Germany has 250,000 people employed in renewable energy and the UK only about 26,000: this is a skills gap which needs to be closed (vi).”

Notes:

(i) The "Green New Deal" report, co-authored with a panel including Green party Leader and MEP Dr Caroline Lucas, SolarCentury boss Jeremy Leggett, Guardian Economic Editor Larry Elliot, and former Friends of the Earth chief Tony Juniper, calls for public investment in green-collar jobs in areas including renewable energy. See more here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/apr/09/wantedagreennewdeal
and here for more specific details:
http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/greennewdealneededforuk210708.aspx
(ii) Jean Lambert Flexible working: a work-life balance or a balancing act? (The Greens-European Free Alliance in the European Parliament, London, 2004 www.jeanlambertmep.org.uk )
(iii) Jean Lambert I must work harder: Britain and the working time directive (The Greens-European Free Alliance in the European Parliament, London, 2006 www.jeanlambertmep.org.uk )
(iv) Jean Lambert Green Work: employment and skills the climate change challenge (The Greens-European Free Alliance in the European Parliament, London, 2008 www.jeanlambertmep.org.uk ). see also Jean's Comment is Free article on her Green Work report at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/22/oil.climatechange
(v) Transfers from other areas of spending are possible: cancelling ID cards (c£12 bn); cancelling Trident nuclear weapons renewal (c£60 bn over the life of the technology); reducing defence spending especially overseas (£10 bn has been spent in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003);
(vi) Adrian Ramsay, Deputy Leader of the Green Party - News from the Green Party 18 September 2008 - Green deputy dismisses Hutton over jobs: green energy is the answer not nuclear.

[ Back ]