Election watch (8) – the Green Party manifesto

Here are my first thoughts on the Green Party manifesto – it’s a large document but fairly easy to read. What follows is a series of quotes from the manifesto (in order and with a reference to the section in which they appear) and then I make some remarks about it at the foot of this blog post. I’m only looking at environmental issues – obviously there is a lot more to the manifesto than the environment.

 Introduce new support and incentives to directly accelerate wind energy development, paving the way for wind to provide around 70% of the UK’s electricity by 2030.   

Introduce new support for solar, geothermal, tidal, hydro and other renewable energies to provide much of the remainder of the UK’s energy supply by 2030.   

Transform the planning system so that it works to support a massive increase in wind power and other renewable generation   

Apply a Carbon Tax on all fossil fuel imports and domestic extraction, based on greenhouse gas emissions produced when fuel is burnt. We will also apply a Carbon Tax on imported energy, based on its embedded emissions. We will raise the Carbon Tax rate progressively over a decade, rendering coal, oil and gas financially unviable as cheaper renewable energies rise up to take their place.   

Prohibit the construction of nuclear power stations. We know that nuclear is a distraction from developing renewable energy, carries an unacceptable risk for the communities living close to nuclear energy facilities, creates unmanageable quantities of radioactive waste and is inextricably linked with the production of world-destroying nuclear weapons.   

Encourage greater energy efficiency across the economy, including by providing energy efficiency training for businesses and public bodies, emphasising the need for behavioural change – we all need to value energy as we value money. Small businesses and co-ops will receive this training for free.   

Ban fracking, and other unconventional forms of fossil fuel extraction, now and forever.

https://campaigns.greenparty.org.uk/manifesto/#gnd

Empower local authorities to bring empty homes back into use and create a total of 100,000 new homes for social rent (council homes) a year, built to the Passivhaus or equivalent This standard will see these new homes use 90% less energy for space heating than the average home, significantly reducing household bills.

Improve the insulation of every UK home that needs more insulation by 2030. The material used for these insulation improvements will be sustainable.

Significantly reduce heating bills by improving 1 million existing homes and other buildings a year, so that they reach the highest standard of energy efficiency (over and above the Energy Performance Certificate A rating). Homes lived in by people on low incomes will be the first to receive these major improvements and benefit from reduced heating bills. This will be a deep retrofitting of 10 million homes by 2030, on top of the insulation improvements every home that needs it will receive.

Insulate non domestic buildings, addressing the large amounts of energy lost from offices and public buildings.

Transform the planning system and building regulations, so that all new buildings built by private developers are built to the Passivhaus standard (or to a standard that delivers energy efficiency at an equivalent or better level). We will enable self-build development that meets the same standards.

Change the planning system to incentivise renovation, extension and improvement of existing buildings, rather than relying on new build, to reduce the use of steel, concrete, cladding and finishes, which produce massive amounts of carbon in their manufacture. Similarly we will incentivise the use of sustainable materials.   

https://campaigns.greenparty.org.uk/manifesto/#gnd

Spending £2.5 billion a year on new cycleways and footpaths, built using sustainable materials., such as woodchips and sawdust.

Making travelling by public transport cheaper than travelling by car, by reducing the cost of travelling by train and bus. Coach travel will also be encouraged, with new routes for electric coaches provided across the country.

Creating a new golden age of train by opening new rail connections that remove bottlenecks, increase rail freight capacity, improve journey times and frequencies, enhance capacity in the South West, Midlands and North, and connect currently unconnected urban areas. We would also look, where possible, to re-open closed stations. These rail improvements will benefit from funding switched from the damaging HS2 scheme, which we will cancel (see ‘Ending wasteful spending’ section below for more details).

Electrifying all railway lines that connect cities, improving punctuality.

Creating a government-owned rolling stock company which would invest in a fleet of new electric trains to run on newly electrified lines.

Apply a Carbon Tax on all fossil fuels, as outlined above in the ‘Green New Deal for energy’ section, which will increase the cost of petrol, diesel and shipping fuel, as well as on aviation fuel for domestic flights. Domestic flights will also lose their VAT exemption and there will be an additional surcharge on domestic aviation fuel to account for the increased warming effect of emissions release at altitude. We will lobby against the international rules that prevent action being taken to tax international aviation fuel

Ban advertising for flights, and introduce a Frequent Flyer Levy to reduce the impact of the 15% of people who take 70% of flights. This Frequent Flyer Tax Levy will only apply to people who take more than one (return) flight a year, discouraging excessive flying.

Stop the building of new runways and all increased road capacity, saving thousands of acres of countryside every year and protecting people from the harm of increased air pollution and traffic danger.

https://campaigns.greenparty.org.uk/manifesto/#gnd

Ban the production of single-use plastics for use in packaging and invest in research and development into alternatives to plastic. We will also extend the successful tax on plastic bags to cover plastic bottles, single-use plastics and microplastics, and extend plastic bottle deposit schemes.

Develop and implement a reformed waste strategy where manufacturers and retailers are required to pay the full cost of recycling and disposing of the packaging they produce.

https://campaigns.greenparty.org.uk/manifesto/#gnd

Work with farmers to refocus farm subsidies to help farmers transition to more sustainable, diverse and environmentally friendly forms of land use, including organic farming, agroforestry and mixed farming, and away from intensive livestock farming.

Encourage the expansion and replanting of majority of hedgerows lost in the last 50 years through new subsidies, creating new environments for wildlife.

Legislate to give farmers greater security of tenure, so that they can invest in sustainable improvements to their land, whilst ending the use of land as a tax shelter and encouraging new entrants into farming

Create thousands of new jobs in rural areas, through the shift away from intensive farming towards smaller-scale, more people-focussed food production and land management that respects nature. We will invest in training and skills to help people develop and apply the skills needed in these new jobs.

Plant 700 million new trees and aim for 50% of all farms to be engaged in agroforestry by 2030. We will encourage the planting of more trees in more towns and cities, including apple, nut and other crop trees than can produce food.. The new woodland, when fully grown, will store carbon, provide home-grown timber and create new wildlife-rich environments. We will support farmers to diversify their incomes through new forest management.

Encourage urban food growing, including new community farms and allotments, through the planning system, as well as matching those with gardens and who want to grow food with those with the skills to undertake the work for communal benefit. Similarly we will encourage the creation of new green spaces wherever they can take root – from pocket parks on vacant land, to living green roofs and walls. We will also encourage urban gardeners to plan for wildlife – opting for grass and shrubs over paving in a garden can create vital new habitats for wildlife.

https://campaigns.greenparty.org.uk/manifesto/#gnd

Strengthen Green Belt, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Sites of Special Scientific Interest protections, with development in these areas only being permitted in exceptional circumstances.

Immediately ban the most harmful pesticides (including glyphosate) and introduce new rigorous tests for pesticides. Only pesticides that pass this test, and demonstrably don’t harm bees, butterflies and other wildlife, will be approved for use in UK.

Restore access to the countryside by re-opening lost public rights of way and creating new ones. We will grant to people in England and Wales the same right to roam over all landscapes as people in Scotland currently enjoy. We will protect and enhance access to inland waterways.

Commit to making at least 30% of UK domestic waters into fully protected marine protected areas by 2030. We will also work with British Overseas Territories (BOTs) to increase the ‘blue belt’ protecting BOTs’ waters from commercial extraction, from the current 32% of coverage to 50%.

Create a Nature GCSE to encourage children to value nature, and to grow a whole new generation of naturalists. We will also introduce an English Climate Emergency Education Act to support schools to teach young people about the urgency, severity and scientific basis of the climate and environmental crises, and to ensure youth voices are heard on climate issues.

https://campaigns.greenparty.org.uk/manifesto/#qol

Guarantee the principle of animal sentience. This will mean that that regard for the welfare needs of animals as sentient beings is uppermost in formulating and implementing relevant government policy.

Ban all hunting. This includes trail hunting, where dogs are used to track foxes who are then shot, and the commercial shooting of deer and game birds. Government subsidies, used to maintain artificial landscapes designed only for hunting (such as grouse moors) will be ended and the land rewilded where possible. Where necessary for ecological reasons, humane culling will be licensed by Natural England and carried out by trained professionals. We will also ban the use of lead ammunition and outlaw all forms of snaring.

End the badger cull, which has no evidence basis and has failed to effectively reduce Bovine TB. We will fund research into a sensitive test to enable cattle vaccination, as an essential, as well as humane, part of a meaningful strategy to control the spread of the disease. We will also invest in better farm bio-security and badger vaccination.

https://campaigns.greenparty.org.uk/manifesto/#qol

There is some great stuff in here. It is strong in the areas where one would expect and covers climate, waste, energy and wildlife pretty well. If there were half a dozen or more Green MPs in a hung parliament then some of this might actually gain traction and influence over the next few years.

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