The battle to tackle climate change will be won or lost in the next UK Government term, the Scottish Greens said at the launch of their General Election manifesto.
Reflecting on severe warnings from the UN Secretary General that the battle to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees will be determined by what happens in the 2020s, co-leaders Lorna Slater and Patrick Harvie have insisted a Green vote “could not be more important or urgent”.
The 54-page manifesto sets out the vision the party’s 44 candidates across Scotland will be promoting and includes a variety of policies the party hopes to be able to push at Westminster including devolving powers to the Scottish Parliament so the timing of a referendum can be determined by Scots.
The climate emergency
The climate emergency is set out as the most urgent issue in the manifesto, taking up the first 11 pages.
If the Scottish Greens were to get an MP, they have pledged to call on the UK Government to drop the “anti-climate” Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill, revoke recently issued licences for new oil and gas extraction in the North Sea, and prohibit licences for new offshore oil, gas and coal exploration and extraction.
The Greens have been particularly vocal of late on the SNP’s “shameless retreat” on oil and gas after Kate Forbes claimed her party was not against new licences.
Slater said at the launch: “New oil and gas licences and new fossil fuel investments are a fast-track to climate breakdown. They are incompatible with our climate commitments. Any party or politician that tells you otherwise is, I’m afraid, simply denying basic climate science.”
Other climate proposals in the manifesto include a £28 billion per year Green New Deal investment programme, ending subsidies and handouts to the fossil fuel industry and returning the National Grid to public ownership with net zero as its “foundational mission”.
The economy
The manifesto focuses on “taxing wealth, not workers”, suggesting the UK tax system unfairly places a higher tax burden on low-income workers.
The Greens have pledged to introduce a progressive annual wealth tax on the top 1% of households in the UK, those with £3.4 million and above. This would start at a marginal tax rate of 1%, rising to 5% for those with £5.7m and above, and 10% for those with £18.2m.
It is claimed this wealth tax would raise at least £70 billion for public services.
The manifesto also pledges to tackle tax avoidance and evasion, merge national insurance into general income tax, the banning of zero-hour contracts and reform of inheritance tax to calculate it based on the circumstances of the recipient.
The party also argues that with independence, Scotland would have full control over taxation and financial policy and the Greens are calling for full devolution of remaining taxation powers prior to independence.
Wellbeing
The Greens say they want a total ban on benefit sanctions which cause “extreme hardship” and will oppose any further increases to the state pension age, pressing for earlier access to the state pension for people with disabilities.
Other proposals include an end to the benefit cap, bedroom tax and the two-child limit which has pushed 85,000 children in Scotland into poverty.
A whole page of the document is also dedicated to introducing a Universal Basic Income which would ensure everyone has enough to live a “basic but dignified life”.
There is a proposal that a right to paid leave for people who need time off due to the effects of menstruation of the menopause should be created as well as a new legal entitlement to compasionate leave in the event of the death of a close relative or friend.
Upholding democracy
The Greens’ manifesto puts forward an argument for a written constitution in an independent Scottish republic.
The power for Scotland to hold constitutional referendums should be devolved, the party says, but it is noted in the manifesto that “more works needs to be done to persuade the people of Scotland of the benefits of independence”.
There are also arguments for removing Section 35 from the Scotland Act and repealing the Internal Market Act.
