Adrian Ramsay explains what the Green Party would put forward in this year’s budget
Adrian Ramsay is co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales and the MP for Waveney Valley
Listen to Labour ministers answering questions about next week’s Budget and there’s one consistent soundbite – “the £40 billion black hole left by the Conservatives”. It leaves the impression that the only objective of the Budget is to fill that black hole.
But the Budget needs to do so much more. We need to start to re-build our broken economy, rescue our public services from years of under-funding and accelerate the transition to a greener, more sustainable future.
A Budget with zero ambition wouldn’t only be disastrous for our country, it would mean Labour turning its back on its key election promise that it would be the party of change. The caution coming out of the Treasury suggests this Budget will be austerity by another name.
Yet it is clear to anyone who’s tried to get a GP appointment, been on an NHS waiting list for years, struggled with social care or SEND provision or tried to find a home to live in that we cannot afford another 15 years of austerity. Investment is desperately needed across all our public services, from the NHS to prisons, schools to transport. And if we are to successfully build a carbon-free future and a more sustainable economy, investment in the green transition also needs to happen now.
It is deeply alarming that rather than speculating which areas might be favoured for investment, the talk instead is of ministers fighting the cuts being proposed for their departments by the Chancellor. The only area being “spared” is the NHS but even then the money coming down the track would allow it merely to stand still and do almost nothing to plug the £37 billion shortfall in capital spending identified by Lord Darzi.
This lack of ambition, even lack of vision, risks not only leaving people facing more years of poor health, poor housing and poor public services. It will drag us further away from the resilient and nature-rich future we could be creating. The roll-out of financial support for nature-friendly farming schemes has had a rocky ride since we left the EU and the Common Agricultural Policy. But reducing its budget, as has been rumoured, would be an act of economic and environmental vandalism and would undermine what little progress has been made towards improving the UK’s biodiversity and food security.
If the past 15 years have taught us anything, it should be that austerity and slashing spending on public services leads to static or even lower living standards, an unhealthier population and a weak economy. We won’t get out of the hole we’re in by following the same path.
The Government needs to drop its slavish commitment to the existing fiscal rules so it can borrow to invest, especially in the green transition, thereby creating jobs and reviving the economy.
If, as reported, the Chancellor borrows to invest, this will win the Green Party’s support because it is only by closing the yawning investment gap that we can build a flourishing economy. The list is a long one: crumbling hospital and schools, poorly-insulated homes, inadequate public transport not to mention decarbonising our economy.
So how to pay for this? There are options alongside borrowing to invest. We should close the unfairness gap in the tax system by equalising tax rates on income from wealth with those on income from work. It makes no sense that people who are paying 40 or 45 percent tax on their salaries are taxed at only 20 percent on capital gains.
We should go further by introducing a tax on the very wealthiest in society – a policy supported by Patriotic Millionaires who argue that the best way to delivering investment is through taxing the richest in our society. The wealthiest 10 percent of the population own around half of all wealth, much of which is taxed at a much lower rate than the income of ordinary working people. Yet all the talk is how to stop them leaving the country, rather than looking to them to pay their fair share of tax so everyone can benefit from improved public services.
A 2 percent tax on those with more than £10 million could raise £22 billion a year, going a long way to plugging that “black hole” identified by Rachel Reeves and start the process of turning around our ailing economy.
It is only right that those with the broadest shoulders should pay a bit more to fund the public services that our economy relies on: a better education system to teach people the skills they’ll need in the future; a strong health service so people can get the treatment they need so they can return to work; decent housing stock so people are less likely to fall ill in the first place; and decent social care for those who can’t look after themselves. That is the pathway to creating a thriving, resilient economy and a compassionate society.
There is more at stake next week than a thriving economy and healthy society. Voters need to believe that politicians can make a difference in their lives. They voted for change in July. If trust in democratic politics is to be restored, this Government needs to deliver it.
Image credit: Keir Starmer – Creative Commons
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