---
election_year: 2001
party_id: green
party_name: Green Party of England and Wales
party_leader: Darren Johnson and Margaret Wright
political_spectrum: left-green
victory: false
government_outcome: opposition
sections:
  - economy
  - taxation
  - health
  - education
  - housing
  - immigration
  - defence
  - foreign-policy
  - environment
  - transport
  - law-and-order
  - welfare
  - democracy-and-constitution
  - agriculture
  - energy
  - science-and-technology
  - local-government
---

# Green Party Manifesto 2001

### *Reach for the future*

© Green Party 2001

ISBN: 1-873557-02-7

---

### Contents

- **A just economics** — 2
  - Benefits of taxes — 2
  - Spending to save — 3
  - Localisation – taming the tiger — 3
- **The just society** — 5
  - The right to a home — 5
  - Learning for life — 6
  - Healing the NHS — 6
  - Getting around — 7
- **Ecological justice** — 8
  - Safe food — 8
  - A future for farming — 9
  - A future for fishing — 9
  - Energy and climate change — 9
  - Pollution, waste and resources — 10
  - Living wild – justice for the natural world — 11
- **Securing justice globally** — 12
  - Defending the peace — 12
  - Developing self-reliance — 13
  - Asylum and migration — 13
- **Democratic justice** — 14
  - Rehabilitation not retribution — 14
  - Dealing with drugs — 14
  - A voice for all — 15
  - Constituting Britain — 16
  - Rescuing Europe — 16
- **Conclusion** — Inside back cover

---

## Reach for the future

**The Green Party** is reaching for the future. We are working to create a caring and secure society in Britain, at peace with itself and the world; a multicultural society, in harmony with nature, where justice underpins every aspect of national life.

We are already having an effect. Green Party policies that were once marginal are becoming mainstream. Our rejection of road building is widely shared. The Government has begun to write off 'third world' debt. Nuclear power is seen as a threat, not an asset, and the reality of climate change is accepted. But there is still much to be done.

Successive governments have realised the necessity of our Green solutions. They have made speeches, issued white papers, and signed international treaties. Yet almost always, they have failed to act. Why? Because to put people and the planet before profits would have been considered 'unrealistic' when so many powerful vested interests are at stake.

It's not as if they failed to act because they were too busy delivering benefits elsewhere. There might be more material wealth in our society than ever before, but it is bought at a heavy price. It is spread increasingly unfairly between rich and poor. It is not used, as it should be, to provide decent public services and quality of life for all. As a result, our health service is failing and our railways are crumbling. Stress, depression and juvenile delinquency stand at record levels.

This manifesto presents the policies to cure these ills and make our vision real – policies that will provide for our needs without denying those of future generations; share wealth fairly at home and abroad; gain control of the spiralling global economy; and give everyone a stake in how our society is run.

More and more people are trusting the Green Party to provide not just the ideas, but also the political leadership to make them happen. At the last European elections British Green MEPs were elected for the first time. We hold seats in the London Assembly and Scottish Parliament. We have more councillors now than ever before.

We are reaching for a future that is sustainable and just. Join us. Vote Green.

---

## A just economics

**We need a just economy. The socially corrupting divide between rich and poor is growing at home and abroad. Future generations will suffer as we plunder the earth, leaving them an inheritance of deserts and climate change.**

**Consumption and growth dominate conventional politics, but when we measure the things that determine quality of life, it is clear that Britain is getting poorer. The costs of our increasingly stressful and over-industrialised way of life outweigh the material advances of the last thirty years.**

**The Green Party seeks a fundamental shift in economic policy. We need a new economics that produces for need not greed, distributes wealth equitably, operates within the ecological limits of the planet, and involves everyone in providing for their family and community.**

> **THE CITIZEN'S INCOME**
>
> The Citizen's Income (CI) is a non means-tested payment to every citizen, working or not. It will cover basic needs without removing all motivation to take paid employment. It will replace state pensions, tax-free allowances and most benefits (initially not including housing benefit). Pensioners and people with disabilities will receive supplements.
>
> CI will abolish the poverty trap and free people to choose the type of work and hours they want. It will build a cohesive society by providing a basic wage for carers and community volunteers.
>
> Can we afford it? Here is an example.
>
> **Child (0-18 years):** Current 16-17 Income Support level (significantly more than Child Benefit)
>
> **Adult (18-60 years):** Current level of Job-seeker's Allowance
>
> **Pensioner (60+ years):** Adult rate supplemented without means test to Minimum Income Guarantee level
>
> **Person with special needs:** Supplements to at least the level of current benefits
>
> Raising basic income tax just 7% would fund this. CI paid to those in work would offset most of this increase (in effect, more than doubling the tax-free allowance). Only the top 20-30% of earners would be less well off.
>
> *Source: Citizen's Income Trust*

### Benefits of taxes

Under the current regime of direct taxes and benefits the gap between rich and poor is increasing and many people are ensnared by the poverty trap. Indirect taxes such as VAT provide a major part of tax revenues yet, with few exceptions, they have no regard for the environment or public health. For example, a locally made ceramic plate carries as much VAT as a disposable one, transported across the world and sold in an out-of-town supermarket. The Green Party would right these wrongs.

#### Direct taxes and benefits

We would introduce a Citizen's Income scheme, with extra payments for people with disabilities and pensioners (see right). Income tax should become more progressive with higher bands for top earners. In the short term, students should become eligible to claim benefits again and the under 25s should receive full housing benefit.

#### Eco-tax not VAT

'Eco-taxes' should replace VAT. These would be levied on all products according to the health and environmental impacts of their full life-cycle. Eco-taxes on fossil fuels would be directly proportional to their carbon content. Import duties should be introduced to prevent imports from countries without Eco-taxes unfairly undercutting domestic prices. EU and world trade rules that prevent this must be reformed.

#### Taxing motoring

Vehicle excise duty should be abolished and incorporated into higher levels of fuel duty. This would link motoring costs more closely to mileage. Research shows that higher levels of fuel duty would create jobs, be more equitable and better for the environment.

#### Protecting the poor

Indirect taxation hits the poor hardest. We would adjust the level of benefits and Citizen's Income to ensure all households can afford basic necessities, such as heating, which will attract relatively high Eco-taxes.

#### Local taxation

National Non-domestic Rates and the Council Tax should be replaced by a local Land Value Tax (LVT). The rate of LVT would be related to a plot's rental value and varied locally according to the social and environmental desirability of the land use. Empty properties and vacant sites would attract high rates to discourage speculative land ownership.

### Spending to save

Over the last twenty years a rigid orthodoxy has taken hold of monetary policy. Too much emphasis has been placed on controlling inflation. Public infrastructure and services are being starved of investment and privatised. We have failed to get new job-rich sustainable industries off the ground. The Green Party would spend where necessary to rebuild public services and fund the transition to a sustainable economy. This would yield massive savings, not just financial ones, in the future.

#### Public finance

Local authorities and health trusts are being forced into costly and undemocratic Private Finance Initiatives and Public Private Partnerships. These should be scrapped and replaced by proper government funding and local bonds.

#### Investing in the future

The Government should invest in sustainable industries such as recycling, energy conservation and public transport, starting with the hundreds of millions currently spent to lure foreign investors to Britain.

> **MIND THE GAP**
>
> The UK poverty gap has widened since Labour took office. The top 20% of earners receive 45% of national income – up 2%. The lowest-earning 20% receive 6% – down 1%.
>
> *Guardian 13 April 2000*

> **QUALITY OF LIFE**
>
> The Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW) is a measure of quality of life. It adjusts the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)* by adding the value of 'free' goods such as housework and subtracting the costs of 'defensive' spending on things like crime and pollution. It also accounts for the long-term costs and benefits of current production and the social effects of the distribution of work and income. Even though Britain's GDP continues to rise, ISEW has been falling since the early 1980s.
>
> *GDP is a measure of the total flow of goods and services produced by the economy.*
>
> *(See diagram 3 on inside front)*

> **PRIVATE FINANCE INITIATIVE**
>
> "perfidious financial idiocy that could destroy the NHS"
>
> *Editorial, British Medical Journal, July 1999*

### Localisation – taming the tiger

**The global economy has outgrown the planet's ability to support it. This is largely because the main players are removed in time and space from the so-called 'external' costs they inflict on the rest of us. Board members of the big companies and international financial institutions would be less keen on deforestation, industrial pollution, and the commercial exploitation of animals if these things were happening in their back yards. They would care more about poverty, redundancies, and the sweat shop conditions suffered by the remaining workers if the victims were people they knew.**

**Apart from 'internalising' these external costs by reforming the taxation system, the best way to reduce them is to make the impact of economic decisions as direct and localised as possible. We must decentralise economic policy, localise production as much as possible and give everyone affected by companies' activities a say in how they are run.**

**Globalisation directly undermines Green economics. The multinationals are desperate to expand into new markets and use their patronage to deregulate international trade and investment. This erodes the power of elected governments as hard-won social and environmental safeguards are overturned as 'barriers to trade'.**

**Local companies are being swallowed up and local markets swamped by cheap imports. Countries are forced to compete for foreign direct investment by dismantling their welfare systems. For what? Global unemployment is now at its highest since the 1930s, poverty and the gap between rich and poor nations are growing, and the global environment is deteriorating rapidly.**

**We must reverse the effects of globalisation and reform the institutions that are driving it. The growing global dependence on fickle and unaccountable markets must be replaced with the dignity and security of self-reliance.**

#### No Euro

The Euro is centralising the economy of western Europe. Interest rates are imposed by an undemocratic central bank, regardless of local economic and environmental conditions. The tight monetarist framework of EMU is destroying jobs and public services. Britain should not join the Euro.

#### Community wealth

Credit unions and community banks invest savers' money in local schemes on favourable terms. They should be supported so that wealth can re-circulate within local communities.

#### Controlling companies

Large companies should publish annual reports on the social and environmental impact of their activities, including an inventory of resource use and emissions. The reports will be as rigorous as traditional financial accounts. Company law should give all stakeholders – workers, consumers, local residents, suppliers as well as shareholders – a say in how the company is run. Corporation tax should become more progressive with higher rates for larger companies.

#### Building self-reliance

Import and export controls should be negotiated to reduce international trade to a fairly traded exchange of goods that cannot be produced locally. Developing nations should meet local needs by setting up import substitution schemes, with OECD assistance, based on appropriate technology and sustainable agriculture.

#### Taming the multinationals

'Site here to sell here' policies should make local production a condition of market access. Controls should be imposed on international transfers of capital, and action taken to close tax havens. UK companies should be banned from operating lower environmental or labour standards abroad than are required in Britain.

#### Time for Tobin

The proposed Tobin Tax on currency speculation should be introduced. A tax of just 0.25% would raise US $250 billion a year. This would help stabilise international financial markets and should be paid into an international fund to promote sustainable development.

#### No to the WTO

These policies require the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to be fundamentally reformed. There should be no new trade round or attempts to expand the WTO remit in issues such as investment, competition, government procurement, public services or biotechnology. A UN body dedicated to the promotion of sustainable trade, economic justice and localisation should replace the WTO.

In the interim, WTO Agreements must not undermine the environment, sustainable development or human and animal welfare. The WTO must become democratic, transparent and inclusive. It should consult with civil society and actively encourage parliamentary scrutiny of trade policy.

> **GOING GREEN**
>
> - A £1.25 billion annual investment in insulation and energy efficiency for the homes of the fuel-poor could create up to 138,000 jobs.
> - Generating just 10% of UK energy from offshore wind could create 30,000 jobs.
> - Replacing conventional energy sources with wind power could treble employment in the energy sector.
> - Unsustainable farming practices have cut UK farming jobs by two-thirds in 50 years. Organic farming employs 10-30% more people per hectare than intensive farming. Converting one-quarter of UK farms to organic could create 30-45,000 new jobs.
> - Recycling supports ten times more jobs than landfill and four times more than incineration.
> - Rail projects yield approximately twice as many jobs as road building, per pound invested.
>
> *Source: Jenkins and McLaren (1994) Working Future?*

> **THE RESULTS OF GLOBALISATION**
>
> Throughout the late 1990s, one-third of the world's willing-to-work population was unemployed or underemployed – the worst situation since the 1930s.
> *International Labour Organisation*
>
> In 1961 the income of the richest fifth of the world's population was 30 times greater than the poorest fifth, by 1991 it was 60 times greater and by 1998, 78 times greater.
> *Source: UN*
>
> The wealth of the world's three richest people equals the combined GDP of the poorest countries with a total population of 600 million.
> *Source: UN*
>
> The Earth's natural ecosystems declined by 33 per cent between 1970 and 1999.
> *WWF's Living Planet Index*

---

## The just society

The just society will meet everyone's basic needs. Decent housing, effective health care, imaginative education, efficient public transport – access to these vital services will help everyone make the most of their own life so they can contribute fully to the life of the community.

Local communities must be involved in planning and providing these services, avoiding both the centralised bureaucracy of the old-style public sector and the wrong-headed imposition of market forces.

### The right to a home

**Access to adequate housing is a fundamental right, yet little has been done since 1997 to tackle Britain's housing crisis. In 1999, local authorities in England registered 166,760 households as homeless. In the same year more than 770,000 houses sat empty. More than 100,000 new affordable homes will be needed each year between 2000 and 2011. The cost of providing these homes, as well as tackling the backlog of repairs across all housing sectors, has been estimated at an additional £1.4bn per year, substantially less than the NHS spends treating illnesses caused by inadequate housing. We cannot afford such absurdities any longer.**

#### Affordable housing

At least 100,000 affordable homes should be made available each year by increasing Housing Corporation funding and requiring private developers to set aside more units as affordable housing.

#### Defending council housing

Lack of funds is forcing councils to transfer their housing stock to housing associations and the private sector. This should be stopped by increasing the rate of spending of Right to Buy capital receipts and spreading the cost of new council homes over thirty years in PSBR accounts, not just one as at present. Councils should be able to opt out of the Right to Buy scheme.

#### Using empty property

Councils should maintain registers of empty houses and be able to issue Empty Property Use Orders to bring them into use. Renovation and brownfield development should be taxed less than greenfield development. Higher levels of Council Tax or Land Value Tax (LVT) should be charged on unoccupied houses.

#### Community involvement

Democratic tenant participation schemes, housing co-ops, self-build schemes and co-housing projects should be supported to increase community involvement in housing management.

#### Improving the stock

Building regulations should be tightened to ensure the highest standards of accessibility and energy efficiency in the housing stock.

### Learning for life

**Formal education should help children and students fulfil their full creative potential. Too often it is seen as mere 'training for a job'. Everyone needs the basic skills of literacy and numeracy, but we also need to develop our practical, creative and social abilities.**

**There is too much emphasis on testing, form filling and league tables. Teachers have to work longer hours than ever before – more than 50 hours a week on average. School class sizes have risen since the last election; the backlog of repairs to school buildings is running at about £20 billion, and rising levels of student debt deter older people and those from poorer backgrounds from going to university. People should be encouraged to learn throughout their lives, both formally and informally. Increased funding for the Arts is an essential part of this.**

#### Trust the teachers

Teachers are trained professionals. They should be given more discretion to shape the curriculum to pupils' needs and assess their progress. Burdensome centralised controls should be dismantled. SATs and league tables should be phased out and the National Curriculum should become non-statutory guidance. Ofsted inspections should be replaced by regular self-evaluations, facilitated and supervised by Local Education Authorities.

#### Fair funding

Schools should be given greater flexibility to allocate their budget between staff, buildings and resources. Standard Spending Assessments should be reviewed to remove current anomalies.

#### Open to all

Selective admission to schools should be discontinued. All educational establishments must provide access for people with physical or sensory impairments. They should be given incentives to make their facilities available to the local community for educational, leisure and artistic pursuits. The whole school community, including parents, teachers, students, support staff and the local community should have a say in running the school.

#### Higher education

University tuition fees should be abolished. Maintenance grants should be restored, based on the student's income, and incorporated into the Citizen's Income when it is introduced. All university research projects should be screened against publicly agreed ethical criteria. Ethics panels would include a mixture of scientists and non-scientists.

### Healing the NHS

**The health service should do more than help the sick; it should tackle the causes of illness. Much of the health budget is spent treating the cancer, mental illness and heart disease that are symptoms of our increasingly stressed and polluted way of life.**

**Over time, all of our policies would improve health. For example, ten people die every day in traffic accidents. Our transport policies would reduce this toll. Meanwhile we would spend more on preventive measures and public health.**

#### Free health care

Public health care should be free at the point of use. Free eye tests and dental treatment should be re-introduced and prescription charges abolished. An NHS Tax, earmarked to increase health spending towards the European average, should be introduced as part of general taxation.

#### Prevent and cure

Community Health Centres should be set up with multidisciplinary staff teams, including occupational, complementary and physio-therapists. They should improve primary health care, health promotion and family planning, and build close relationships between hospital and community-based care.

#### Democracy in health

NHS Trust and Health Authority Boards should be democratised by including elected representatives of users, staff and local government. The free market cannot be left to determine health provision. Rationing already occurs and is inevitable – the form it takes should be subject to public debate. Health policy decisions should be taken only after non-medical preventive options have been costed and analysed.

### Getting around

**No one can escape the transport crisis. Drivers are stuck in traffic jams; children breathe noxious fumes; pedestrians and cyclists are endangered by speeding traffic; buses are caught in congestion; and our railways are in chaos. Years of Tory neglect and privatisation caused this, but Labour have also failed dramatically. The situation is now far worse than it was in 1997** *(see diagram 1 on inside front).*

**We must change transport and planning policies so everyone can have confidence in the alternatives to car use. We must invest much more in accessible public transport and set binding targets for traffic reduction.**

**Our transport policies can be funded by re-arranging the priorities of the £180 billion ten-year transport spending plan announced in the summer of 2000.**

#### Rescue the railways

The £60 billion for rail in the ten-year spending plan should be used to re-nationalise Railtrack and to increase capacity, safety and reliability. Rural branch lines should be reopened, especially to provide for commuters, school children and the elderly. Urban underground, metro and rail systems should be safe, punctual, and cheap. The London Underground must be kept in public ownership. The number of heavy lorries on the roads should be reduced by investing in rail freight systems.

#### Better buses

Bus services must be radically improved and bus priority provided on all sections of road that cause delays.

#### Taming the traffic

The £59 billion allocated for roads in the ten-year spending plan should be redirected to improving conditions for pedestrians and cyclists. Safe walking and cycling routes to every school in the country will reduce term-time congestion by 30%. Green transport plans for businesses, universities and hospitals could reduce car commuter trips by 25% – spending the money on roads would simply increase traffic. Pedestrianisation, home zones, low-emission zones and 20mph limits in built up areas should be encouraged.

Road pricing and charges for parking at workplaces and out-of-town shops should be used in all cities to recover some of the huge costs cars impose on society. Revenues raised will be used to improve the alternatives to car use and to gear streets to people rather than fast-moving traffic.

#### Rural transport

Rural public transport should be improved dramatically. This would help break the vicious cycle of car-dependency that undermines village shops and public transport, and leaves many elderly and poorer people stranded.

#### Reducing the need

The planning system must be overhauled to reduce the need for travel. New developments that would otherwise generate a lot of traffic should be located at public transport interchanges.

#### Aviation

Air travel is the fastest growing contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Airports should not be expanded and aviation fuel should be taxed to reduce demand.

> *"I will have failed if in five years time there are not many more people using public transport and far fewer journeys by car. It's a tall order but I urge you to hold me to it."*
>
> **John Prescott, July 1997**

> **JUST 25% OF THE MONEY TO BE SPENT ON ROADS BETWEEN 2001 AND 2010 WOULD PAY FOR:**
>
> - 10,000 Home Zones (twice as many as in the Netherlands).
> - Eight-fold increase in bus lanes.
> - Safe Routes to School for every school and college in the UK.
> - Light rail systems for eight cities, which would replace millions of car journeys and create 28,000-60,000 extra jobs.
> - An extra £4bn to reduce bus and rail fares, to be spent over a 10-year period.
> - £1bn for improving rural public transport.
> - £1bn towards transport improvements for disabled people.
>
> *Source: Green Party research department*

> **HEALTH OF THE NATION?**
>
> The number of drug prescriptions issued in England is rising by around 15 million every year.
> *Office for National Statistics, 2000*
>
> The incidence of obesity is increasing. More than 17% of UK adults aged 16-64 are obese.
> *Source: UN*

---

## Ecological justice

Industrialised countries are dramatically out of balance with nature. It would take a land area more than twice the size of Britain to produce all our food and raw materials, and to absorb our waste and pollution. Because there is only one Britain, we use other people's land and expect the environment to soak up our pollution and waste.

The results are all around us: climate change, deforestation, toxic chemicals in the environment, the spread of deserts and the loss of species and habitats.

This must stop. We must find a new way of living that delivers justice to the future.

### Safe food

**Public confidence in food safety is at an all time low. The market is dominated by a few large manufacturers. Suppliers' and consumers' interests are represented by the same ministry. This has delivered repeated public health scandals – notably BSE and salmonella. Added to this, the US biotech giants force unwanted products such as hormone treated beef and GM food onto European markets, often with British government support, and farm animals are treated with appalling cruelty.**

**The Green Party demands food justice: the right to eat wholesome food and an end to the exploitation of farm animals.**

#### Trading food

Trade in food should be removed from the scope of WTO rules, freeing individual states to set their own health and environmental standards and achieve self-sufficiency by barring unnecessary imports. The UK market should be localised through farmers' markets, subscription farming and regional marketing.

#### Food safety

A Ministry of Food should be established to protect food safety by representing consumers' interests separately from producers'.

#### Going organic

An Organic Targets Bill should be introduced to achieve 30% organic production by 2010, and 50% reduction in the use of pesticides by 2005. Agricultural subsidies should be redirected to boost organic research and help farmers convert their land.

#### No GMOs

The import and production of GM food and animal feed should be banned and strict laws introduced to make biotech companies liable for any harm their products cause. The genetic engineering of farm animals and patenting of life forms should be stopped.

#### Justice for farm animals

Factory farming should be ended and subsidies provided to shift farmers from intensive to humane husbandry. Slaughter methods should be improved and live exports replaced by trade in meat.

### A future for farming

**The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) dominates Britain's agriculture. It has more than achieved its original goal of eliminating food shortages. It has caused wasteful over-production and widespread habitat loss, soil erosion and pollution. Monoculture has replaced thriving and diverse rural economies. Meanwhile food prices are inflated, small farmers are driven off the land, and millions of people in poorer countries are forced to export animal feed, rather than feed themselves.**

**The CAP should be phased out and control returned to the national level. We must produce good food whilst promoting bio-diversity and regional self-reliance. This will naturally favour mixed, sustainable and job-rich forms of agriculture.**

#### Sane subsidies

National control of CAP spending should be increased to reflect local social and environmental conditions. Subsidies should guarantee farmers' incomes, not prices. They should only be paid up to a ceiling level and only if strong environmental and animal welfare criteria are met.

#### Rescuing the rural economy

Agri-environment schemes in the UK must receive £500 million by 2005. At least 20% of Structural and Cohesion Fund budgets should support sustainable rural development.

#### Feed the world

To free developing countries to produce food for themselves, not export, we must end the dumping of EU surpluses on their markets, reduce meat consumption and stop promoting factory farming abroad.

> **FARMING FOLLIES**
>
> - In 50 years of intensive pesticide use the US has doubled the crops lost to pests.
> - 80% of UK farm subsidy goes to the biggest and wealthiest 20% of farms.
> - Daffodils from Cornwall go to Lincoln in refrigerated lorries. They are then flown to Holland for packaging, flown back to the North of England, put on another plane, and flown to New York for sale.
> - Cereal produced by industrial agriculture requires 6 or 7 times as much energy input as traditional mixed farming.
> - In 1996 Britain exported 49 million kg of butter – and imported 47 million kg.
>
> *Source: James Bruges, The Little Earth Book, ASP, 2000*

### A future for fishing

**Britain's fisheries are in crisis. Populations of commercial fish species are driven to collapse by over-fishing. Fishing communities and the eco-systems they exploit are under threat.**

**The EU's 'total allowable catch' must be reduced by around 40% if fish stocks are to recover. Yet technological 'advances' in fish detection have increased the British fleet's capacity by 3% a year over the last thirty years.**

#### Controlling the fisheries

Britain must work for fundamental reform of the EU Common Fisheries Policy. Fisheries should be controlled at local and national levels, subject to international agreements to protect transnational marine eco-systems and migratory fish stocks. Fishing activity should be controlled according to its impact on the marine environment, not just the target species.

#### Fish for the future

To protect fish populations, quotas should be based on scientific advice, not political expediency. Increased support should be provided to help fishing communities adjust. Net mesh sizes should be enlarged to protect young fish, and spawning grounds closed to fishing during the breeding season.

### Energy and climate change

**Approximately 90% of our energy comes from burning fossil fuels** *(see diagram 5 on inside back)*. **This creates acid rain, air pollution and climate change. Government figures show that air pollution causes up to 24,000 early deaths every year. Extreme weather is becoming ever more frequent.**

**There is no shortage of solutions, just a chronic lack of political will. Energy conservation and renewables must replace fossil fuel dependency. Global greenhouse gas emissions must be cut dramatically by international agreement, based on 'carbon justice' – equity between rich and poor.**

#### Carbon cuts

Global greenhouse gas emissions must reduce by at least 80% from 1990 levels by 2050 to avert catastrophic climate change. The UK should reduce emissions by 20% from 1990 levels by 2005, and by 20% per decade after that, achieving net zero emissions by 2045.

#### Save it!

Energy demand should be cut to a level that can be met from renewable sources. Schemes that avoid wasteful transmission should be encouraged, including combined heat and power plants, distribution networks for surplus heat from industrial and sewage plants, and community-owned wind power schemes.

Planning regulations should require new buildings to include solar energy and grey-water recycling systems and be energy efficient. Vendors of houses should have to supply certified energy ratings to purchasers.

The Green Party-authored Home Energy Conservation Act 1995 requires local authorities to reduce domestic energy demand by 30%. The government should provide more resources to help them achieve this.

#### Getting the price right

Taxes on energy should reflect the environmental impact of the generation method, making renewable energy more price-competitive *(see Benefits of taxes on page 2)*.

#### Renewing the supply

A target of supplying 25% of energy from renewable sources by 2010 should be set. To meet it, incentives should be provided to wind, solar, biomass, small-scale hydro and biogas generation schemes. All support for the nuclear industry, other than research into decommissioning and safe storage of nuclear waste, should be switched into renewables research. Nuclear power stations and reprocessing facilities must be decommissioned as soon as possible. Any privatised facilities should be renationalised without compensation.

All proposed energy generation schemes should be subject to an environmental impact assessment and existing plants required to fit best available technology to reduce emissions.

### Pollution, waste and resources

**Looked at simply, industry involves digging natural resources out of the ground (or harvesting them) and turning them into products – a simple process, but one that can be very dangerous. Many resources, perfectly harmless in their natural state, are processed into highly toxic substances and released into the environment.**

**We are using natural resources too rapidly and with scant regard for the consequences. The results include climate change; ozone depletion; acidification; increasing levels of waste and background radioactivity; dioxins accumulating in human and animal tissue; pollution of air, soil and water; and rising incidences of cancer and allergies.**

**Britain lags way behind most other European countries in the recycling league** *(see diagram 2 on inside front cover)*. **The government's response is to build more incinerators, which spread dioxins and undermine attempts to reduce waste.**

**Pollution, waste and the consumption of non-renewable resources will be reduced by many of our policies, but their regulation must be tightened radically.**

#### Three 'R's of waste

A Waste Reduction, Re-use and Recycling Bill should be introduced to reduce packaging, set standards for the recycled contents of suitable products, establish deposit schemes for re-usable materials and stabilise the markets for recyclable materials.

At least 60% of domestic waste should be recycled by 2007 and Landfill Tax revenues diverted to expand council recycling schemes. Landfill and waste incineration must be phased out and digestion plants introduced to produce biogas from sewage, agricultural, organic and non-recycled waste.

#### Cutting pollution

Strict limits must be set for pollutants, using the critical load approach for air pollution, and reducing hazardous substances in water to natural levels by 2020. Industry should be required to re-use, recycle or process hazardous waste on site and fit best available technology to reduce emissions. All toxic and hormone-disrupting chemicals must be phased out and the chemical industry converted to biodegradable substances by 2020. Eco-taxes must be levied on non-renewable and polluting resources, in particular aggregates, pesticides, organochlorines, plastics and fossil fuels.

#### Precautionary laws

New legislation should be introduced to make producers liable for environmental damage. Permitted development rights should be removed from mobile phone masts. International agreements must be reached to ban trade in waste, protect the genetic diversity of crop seeds, safeguard wilderness areas such as Antarctica and minimise the disruption to indigenous peoples and environmental damage caused by resource extraction.

> **CLIMATE CHANGE**
>
> Global climate change is likely to be much more severe than previously feared. Temperatures may rise by almost 6 degrees between 1990 and 2100.
>
> *UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, January 2001.*
>
> *"The disaster in Mozambique is consistent with IPCC predictions and is consistent with what we now must expect with climate change".*
>
> **Sir John Houghton, Director-General of the UK Met Office.**

> **CONTRACTION AND CONVERGENCE TO COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE**
>
> Contraction and Convergence (C&C) blends rigorous science with equity. It could break the Kyoto deadlock.
>
> 'Contraction' identifies how much CO₂ could be emitted globally each year up to a safe atmospheric concentration. 'Convergence' sets each country's CO₂ emission limit fairly by dividing global annual emissions on a strict per capita basis. Time is allowed for Convergence and trading up to a limit of 50% emissions, is permitted. This allows industrialised countries to buy surplus emissions quotas from developing countries and so find the most cost-effective path to Contraction.
>
> It is too late to avoid climate change altogether, but limiting CO₂ concentration to 400ppmv and setting a convergence date of 2030 would limit the damage. See graph 4 on the inside back cover showing how C&C with these targets would alter global CO₂ emissions.

### Living wild – justice for the natural world

**We are waging an undeclared war on the natural world. In just over forty years, 140,000 miles of wildlife-rich hedgerow and more than 95% of unimproved meadows have been lost. Original-growth woodland has all but disappeared and an area the size of Bristol is concreted over every year. 17% of Britain's insects and 5/9ths of our bird species are in decline.**

**Our antipathy to the natural world infects our farms, laboratories and trade practices, where animals are treated as commodities. They are even hunted for fun.**

**Green politics aim to satisfy human needs, in harmony with the natural world. Our economic and agricultural policies will help achieve this, but more must be done to prevent cruelty to animals and protect their habitats.**

#### Protecting animals

Hunting with hounds and badger culling should be banned immediately, and legislative protection from unnecessary suffering extended to all wildlife.

Experiments on animals are cruel and intrinsically unreliable as a guide to human biology. Toxicity, warfare and behavioural testing should be ended immediately. Non-animal methods should be developed for medical research within five years.

> *'The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.'*
>
> **Mahatma Gandhi.**

#### Protecting habitats

The government must implement and enforce the EU's Birds and Habitats Directives and incorporate specific targets for each threatened species and habitat into a mandatory Bio-diversity Action Plan. The practice of artificially excluding areas with development potential from protected Natura 2000 sites must cease.

Government planning guidance must give greater protection to Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, wetland areas, flood plains and green belts. Local planning authorities should be required to produce bio-diversity action plans and protect sites of local importance for bio-diversity.

#### Growing forests

CAP payments for rural development, agri-environment schemes and set-aside should in part be redirected to increase the UK's mixed native woodland cover to the European average of 25%.

---

## Securing justice globally

We must secure a peaceful and just world future through common security, not mutual threat. We must end exploitation between nations and agree a fair distribution of resources.

As a colonial power, Britain sowed the seeds of many of today's conflicts. We must use our wealth and influence to help resolve them. We must also reform the institutions that make them worse. We should lead by example, not force, to a fairer global future, free of debt, poverty and weapons of mass destruction.

### Defending the peace

**Britain's defence policy undermines global security. By decommissioning our weapons of mass destruction, ending the arms trade and adopting a genuinely defensive policy we would boost global security, and free in excess of £10bn annually. This could be used to kick-start job-rich ecological industries to replace the defence industry.**

#### Beating the arms race

Britain should immediately decommission her nuclear weapons and rule out future use of chemical, biological or environmental weapons, including depleted uranium shells. We should use our ex-nuclear status to promote nuclear disarmament. Britain should oppose the US National Missile Defence System, which threatens a new arms race.

#### Reducing conflict

We should offer aid, diplomacy and appropriate technology to address the environmental problems and internal conflicts that increasingly threaten global security. In exceptional circumstances, if internationally agreed criteria are met, military intervention should be undertaken by a UN peace-keeping force, to which Britain should contribute.

#### Building alliances

The UN Security Council should be reformed to reflect global interests. There should be no vetoes or permanent members. NATO is a destabilising relic of the cold war and should be disbanded. Meanwhile Britain should withdraw and become neutral. US bases should be closed or used to train UN peace-keeping forces.

European security should be addressed by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which works by consensus and constructive intervention. The EU should not adopt a military role, such as the Common Foreign and Security Policy or the Rapid Reaction Force.

#### Defensive defence

Britain's forces should be defensive, using coastal and anti-aircraft defences, interceptor aircraft, land forces sufficient to meet any risk of invasion, and short range coastal defence vessels. An ability to mount offensive counter attacks would be retained.

#### Ending the arms trade

Subsidies of arms exports (around £500 million a year) should be stopped. The Defence Export Services Organisation should be closed and export credits for military goods ended. Exports of military equipment should not be licensed if they might abuse human rights, increase conflict or undermine sustainable development. The end use of any exported military equipment must be monitored and the defence industry helped to convert to useful production.

### Developing self-reliance

**For too long, British foreign policy has promoted narrow self-interest. Instead we should build global security by helping people around the world achieve self-determination within sustainable societies.**

**We must play our part in building a better world based on peaceful coexistence and mutual respect. There are many barriers to overcome – debt, poverty, and conflict – but Britain should take a strong lead and encourage other nations to join us.**

#### Drop the debt

Britain must write off the bilateral debts of the 40 poorest nations and encourage banks and other countries to do likewise. Debtor states should restrict debt servicing to 10% of their annual export earnings and spread payments over longer periods at fixed interest rates. UN-classified 'middle income' states should make payments in their own currency.

Creative reimbursement schemes should be established to fund conservation and development projects from debt repayments.

#### Aiding self-reliance

The Aid budget should be increased to 0.7% of GDP within 5 years and 1.0% within a decade. It should be used to eradicate poverty and establish greater self-reliance. Projects should be planned and led by the local community and should promote basic health care, education, family planning and self-sufficiency in food and energy. Tied aid and damaging large-scale projects, such as dams and nuclear power stations, should be stopped.

#### Financing development

The IMF and World Bank should prioritise conflict prevention, the eradication of poverty and disease, environmental sustainability and the transfer of appropriate technologies to the least developed countries. They should run on the principle of one-member-one-vote and be accountable to people in developing countries.

#### Containing conflict

Support should be increased for landmine victims and de-mining. The government must abide by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, and encourage others to do likewise. The daily bombing of Iraq should be halted immediately and the sanctions lifted.

### Asylum and migration

**Britain benefits greatly from the diversity that immigration brings and we strongly support the right to asylum for those who fear persecution. Many who migrate are forced to do so by deteriorating economic, political or environmental conditions. Our policies aim to tackle these problems and ensure that the UK's immigration system operates without racism, fairly and efficiently.**

#### Asylum

The UK must meet its international obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention. The voucher scheme for asylum seekers should be abolished and replaced with cash payments. Asylum seekers should not be detained. Asylum applications must be speeded up and the dispersal system abolished. Councils should receive greater government assistance to help settle refugees and asylum seekers.

#### Immigration

Immigration controls should be progressively reduced as common security increases. Because EU member states have different obligations to their former colonies, a common EU asylum and migration policy is inappropriate. The Schengen agreement must not be used to construct a racist 'fortress Europe'.

> **WHO OWES WHOM?**
>
> The World Disasters Report 2000 calculates that the rich nations have amassed a climate debt of $13,000 billion which is growing at an increasing rate. This is more than five times the total 'third world' debt.
>
> Industrialised countries generate over 62 times more carbon dioxide per person than the least developed countries. Yet 96% of deaths from natural disasters occur in developing countries.
>
> For every £1 developing countries receive in grants, they pay £9 in debt service. Even the poorest countries pay back £1 in debt service for every £1 in grant aid.
>
> *Source: Jubilee 2000*
>
> *"Debt is tearing down schools, clinics and hospitals and the effects are no less devastating than war."*
>
> **Dr Adabayo Adedeji, former Under Secretary General, UN**

> **ASYLUM SEEKERS**
>
> There are 22 million displaced people in the world. Only 3 million are living in EU countries.
> *Source: UNHCR*
>
> Britain has only the tenth highest proportion of asylum seekers per head of population in Europe, behind Slovenia, Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
> *Source: UNHCR*
>
> Asylum seekers in the UK are condemned to extreme poverty. They receive vouchers with a face value of only 70% of the level of Income Support.
>
> There are an estimated 13,000,000 refugees in the world. Great Britain provided a home for just 0.05% of them in 1997.
> *Source: Refugee Council*

---

## Democratic justice

Labour's actions speak louder than their speeches about 'modernisation'. Their half-hearted constitutional reforms have not restored public faith in our political institutions. Their reactionary stance on criminal justice and civil liberties is soft on the inequality and loss of community that cause crime.

We need a new commitment to justice in our national life that addresses the real causes of crime and gives offenders a route back to society.

Creating a Green society will be an immense challenge. We will meet it only if everyone is treated equally, has faith in society, and knows that their views count.

### Rehabilitation not retribution

**Labour and Conservative politicians compete to play the 'prison card'. The more people they lock up the more secure we are supposed to feel. The prison population has increased from 44,000 to 66,000 in the last five years and is still rising – as is the level of crime.**

**By reinvigorating local communities, reducing inequality and establishing a shared sense of purpose, Green policies will reduce crime. The criminal justice system should help offenders repair the harm they have caused and find a useful role in the community. Not only will this reduce crime; it will release resources to be used more sensibly. Forcing people to languish in overcrowded prisons, where they become students of crime, costs ten times as much as rehabilitation in the community.**

#### Restoring justice

We support Restorative Justice. This requires offenders to make practical or financial reparation to victims and the community. Where appropriate, offenders are required to attend supervised meetings with their victims to discuss the impact of their crimes.

#### Prisons

Prison should be used only when the community needs protection from the offender. Otherwise community service and probation orders involving training and rehabilitation will be used. Prisons' immunity from Health and Safety legislation, the Factories Act 1990 and the unfitness provisions of the Housing Act 1985 should be ended, and their Crown immunity lifted.

#### Policing the community

Police forces should increase their involvement with local people by employing more community officers and operating recruitment policies that ensure they reflect the racial composition of the local area. The Police Complaints Authority must become fully independent.

> **HOW TO DEAL WITH YOUNG OFFENDERS?**
>
> Restorative justice programmes (involving a range of agencies, police, probation, youth services etc. and often the victims meeting the perpetrators) cost £720 per offender and have re-offending rates of 35% or less.
>
> Taking young offenders to court costs £2,500. Around 67% of them re-offend.
>
> Secure Training Centres ('child jails') cost £125,000 per child per year (eg Medway centre in Kent). Some have re-offending rates of 100% (eg Lisnevin, Northern Ireland).
>
> *"If we had a proper system of community punishments and community sanctions which were credible, then one third [of prisoners] need not go to prison."*
>
> **Sir David Ramsbotham, Chief Inspector of Prisons, Observer, 31 December 2000**

### Dealing with drugs

**Much crime is associated with drugs. In 1998 128,000 arrests were made for drugs offences, of which 98,000 involved cannabis only. Many drugs offences, like possession of cannabis for personal use, have no victims. Prohibition has failed and crime associated with addictive drug use could be reduced if addicts were given the right help.**

#### Possession and supply

The possession, use and supply of cannabis through home-cultivation and licensed 'coffee shops' should be legalised. This would cut out drug dealers who are keen to move customers on to addictive drugs. It would also stop the police misusing cannabis laws. The possession of other drugs for personal use should be decriminalised. Their supply should remain illegal until a specially convened Drugs Commission considers whether to legalise each drug, and if so, how best to regulate its supply.

#### Cutting drug addiction

GPs should be allowed to prescribe maintenance doses of heroin to stabilise addicts' habits and move them onto rehabilitation programmes. The commercial promotion of drugs, including tobacco and alcohol, should be banned.

> **DRUGS – THE FACTS**
>
> - UK deaths per annum from drugs (1996): Methadone 387, Heroin 187, Ecstasy 7, Cannabis 0, Alcohol and Tobacco 160,000.
> - Since 1987 the numbers of UK drug arrests has increased by 400%. In 1998 it was 128,000, of which 97,000 were for cannabis.
> - Recent Home Office reports suggest 28% of thefts, burglaries and muggings are related to addictive drug use.
> - In 1997/98 the Government spent £1.4bn on drugs, with more than two thirds going to law and order and only one third on treatment.
> - Nacro estimate that for every £1 spent on treatment £3 is saved on the crime bill.
> - Maintenance doses of heroin for addicts in Zurich have caused a 60% drop in crime amongst people on the scheme.
> - Holland has a more liberal drugs policy than the UK and fewer people taking drugs. Cannabis exposure amongst 15-year-olds (1995 figures): 29% in the Netherlands; 34% in the US; 41% in the UK (Dutch Embassy report).
>
> *Source: Green Party research department*
>
> *"Attempts to restrict the availability of drugs have failed ... the most obvious alternative approach [to prohibition] is the legalisation and subsequent regulation of some or all drugs."*
>
> **Cleveland Police, December 1999**

### A voice for all

**The Westminster electoral system is grossly unfair. A minority of voters can elect a government with a massive majority. Elections can be won or lost in a few dozen marginal seats. The two biggest parties chase the same sterile centre ground, afraid to upset the big business donors who dominate the political system. No wonder turnout is plummeting.**

**We need a political system that brings power back to the people and gives a voice to all.**

#### Proportional representation

Proportional representation should be introduced at all levels of government. The Additional Member System (AMS) is best for Westminster because it retains a constituency system. Local Authorities should consult their electorates on whether to adopt AMS or the Single Transferable Vote system.

#### A just basis for politics

The voting age should be reduced to 16. Parliaments should last for a fixed term of four years so the ruling party can no longer fix election dates to suit itself. The House of Lords should be replaced by a chamber fully elected by proportional representation.

Institutional and large private political donations should be banned and replaced by state funding of parties in proportion to the votes they received at the previous election. The national limits for General Election campaign expenditure should be radically reduced.

#### Extending devolution

The Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and Greater London Authority should assume greater powers, leading to full independence for Scotland and Wales should they approve it by referendum.

Regional assemblies in England, elected by proportional representation, should take over the powers currently exercised by the regional quangos and government offices. Initially they should be funded by direct grant. Tax-raising powers may replace this in time.

#### A new mandate for local government

Local authorities should be free to retain the committee system. Local cabinets, established by the Local Government Act 2000, should be prevented from conducting routine business in secret. Local authorities should be given the freedom to set their own levels of spending and taxation and to borrow money for capital projects.

### Constituting Britain

**Britain is a rich man's club, with one set of rules for those on the inside and another for the rest. Millions of people face routine discrimination in their daily lives while a powerful elite manipulate the system. We need a rigorous programme of reform. People's rights and responsibilities should be clearly defined in a written constitution.**

#### Legislating for freedom

We need a Bill which collates and strengthens existing legislation banning discrimination against individuals on the grounds of gender, race, ethnic origin, nationality, age, sexuality, religion or disability. It would incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, extend the right of civil marriage to same-sex couples and amend the provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act to establish an adequate compliance mechanism.

The Government's Freedom of Information Act is weak. It allows ministers to withhold information without explanation. The Act must be amended to define in advance what categories of information may be withheld.

#### Constitutional reform

A Constitutional Commission should be set up to draft a written constitution. The Church of England should be disestablished. This would end the privileges it enjoys and the interference of government in its affairs. The Monarchy should no longer have a formal legislative, executive or judicial role, though the royal family could continue in a ceremonial capacity.

### Rescuing Europe

**British Greens want a peaceful and sustainable Europe. The European Union frustrates this desire. It helped to prevent conflict after the Second World War and has pioneered some impressive social and environmental legislation. Yet today it is dominated by vested economic interests, and its institutions are remote and unaccountable. Moreover, the Common Agricultural Policy has done great harm. We seek radical reform of the EU.**

#### A multi-track EU

We reject the superstate model of the EU as too centralised and remote from the people. The EU should address transnational ecological issues; safeguard basic standards of human, civil and animal rights; regulate multinational companies; regionalise the European economy; redistribute resources within Europe and with the rest of the world; resolve disputes between member states and promote understanding between their peoples. Other issues, including trade and economic policy, should be left to the member states to deal with. They should co-operate on matters of shared concern with groups of member states free to reach agreements on particular issues – a multi-track Europe. This will be more important as the EU expands to the east.

#### Democratising the EU

Decisions within the EU's areas of responsibility should take the form of agreed minimum standards that member states are free to exceed. They should be made by qualified majority voting at the Council of Ministers in co-decision with the European Parliament. Outside these areas, decisions should be subject to national veto.

The Commission should change from an executive to a civil service. The right to initiate legislation should be extended to the European Parliament, member states, the Committee of the Regions and citizens' initiatives. The European Parliament should be given greater powers to scrutinise EU affairs.

> *"We can sign up to a EU of ever more open markets, dominated by corporate interests. Or we can work towards a more inspiring vision, where the EU takes the lead on key issues of peace, democracy, social justice and human rights; and where its environmental policy-making sets an example for the world."*
>
> **Caroline Lucas MEP and Dr Mike Woodin, New Europe, 2000**

---

## Conclusion

This Manifesto throws down a challenge to the business-as-usual politics at Westminster. Unless this challenge is accepted, our current complacency, a generation hence, will look strange indeed.

The Cold War ended? In Russia alone, there are over 8,000 nuclear warheads. The economic boom? Nearly a third of UK children live in poverty and two thirds of the workforce are no longer in secure, holidays-and-benefits jobs. The natural environment? Last winter's floods, early symptoms of global warming, tell their own, deeply ominous story.

No other party seriously addresses these issues. The Green Party not only addresses them, we see how they link up. Wealth distribution as we know it – the 'jobs' system – is coming to an end. Industry must be transformed for environmental survival.

These are two sides of the same coin. The economy of the future, where people come before production, will need rounded, feeling individuals, not trained robots, which means education, too, must be radically reformed.

Greens are reaching for a just society, able to meet these challenges. This is a mighty task, and we have much to learn. But we must never retreat into the cynicism that currently engulfs Westminster politics. One hundred and sixty years ago life expectancy for a Manchester labourer was just seventeen. Today a Mancunian can expect to live till seventy plus. Politics can change lives, and today's politics must change the world.

Separately, we can do little. Together, everything is possible.

### Reach for the future. Join us. Vote Green.

---

*The Green Party, 1a Waterlow Road, London. N19 5NJ*
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*Email: office@greenparty.org.uk · Website: www.greenparty.org.uk*