Green Party

The environmental section of Labour’s manifesto is more ambitious than previous policy announcements, but less so than sections of the policy passed at this year’s Labour conference. It has received much hype but less attention to detail. This article unpicks some of the finer points. The rhetoric, at least to start, seems refreshingly left-wing, it suggesting a direct working-class approach. “Just 100 companies globally are responsible for the majority of carbon emissions”, they recognise. They thus commit to “work in partnership with the workforce and their trade unions in every sector of...

An open letter to those on the left who support the Progressive Alliance. Okay, your pals in the SNP have just announced official support for a third runway at Heathrow. Yes, I know what you’re going to say: “It’s only been reported in the MainStream Media. ‘The Canary’ hasn’t confirmed it. And even if it is true, the third runway could be a Mossad-inspired false-flag operation.” But take my word for it: it’s true. And I think we can safely rule out any involvement by Mossad. The timing of the announcement simply couldn’t be better. Only five days ago the leaders of the SNP, the Greens and...

The post-mortem on the 2015 election ought to rage on the British left, though it is doubtful whether there will be much contrition from the main protagonists. Rightly, assessments will examine how the ruling classes’ first team did it, the limitations of Labour’s leadership and politics, why the Liberal Democrats collapsed, UKIP’s four million votes, the SNP’s tsunami and the Green ascendency. But one unavoidable question is the responsibility the left for this class-wide defeat. The left might appear marginal, but it is not irrelevant. The left is a political school for young people, an...

The Greens’ proposals on energy involve phasing out fossil fuel and nuclear power and promoting renewables through a number of changes to the subsidy and tax regime. There is no opposition to private ownership of energy production. It is odd given their opposition to privatisation of the NHS and railways. If they ever won political power, then the plan is for their government to act as green consumer par excellence, creating incentives to persuade private industry to go green while preaching frugality to the masses. Given the amount of air time the Green Party had during the election period...

Len Glover's response to my article 'Why I'm not voting Green' (Solidarity 356) seems to sidestep my argument. I wondered at the time of writing if I was too repetitive in places. Obviously I was not repetitive enough! Yes Len, I agree, Labour's programme is inadequate and lacks inspiration, that's why I explained that we are socialists fighting within Labour for a working class programme. Your letter appears to begin by arguing not against me, but against the Labour front bench, from whom I have already distanced myself when I argued that to socialists, Labour is an arena for our intervention...

It’s ironic that Andy Forse begins his article “Why I am not voting Green this May” (Solidarity 355) by saying that the world he wants to live in “would have things ... like rail...socialised”. He then goes on to advocate NOT voting for a party that DOES propose the socialisation of the railways and voting FOR a party that not only does not want to socialise the railways but actually ignored its conference policy when it voted for renationalisation! This party (Labour of course) also continued the selling off of industries started by Thatcher, even the RAF air and sea rescue service wasn’t...

What kind of a society would you like to live in? The world I want to live in would have things like rail, energy and other basic industries socialised, owned by and run in the interests of society. It would have an education system freed from the interests of business and profit, and funded entirely by progressive taxation. Public services would be run by the people who work in them and the community they serve, not by executives on six or seven figure salaries, drawn from an Oxbridge elite. I’d like constituents to be able to recall their MPs from parliament, and a much fuller democracy than...

The Green administration of Brighton council is proposing £10.5 million cuts for 2012, with an additional £17.7 million for 2013/14. Most departments are facing 5 to 15% cuts in services. The main cuts over the year 2012/13 will be to adult social care (£3.2m), children's services (£2.78m), housing (£2.09m), communities (£1.1m), city regulation and infrastructure (£4.85m) and resources and finance (£1.85m). Up to 120 council jobs will be lost, although this figure only includes permanent posts, as they are also stopping the usage of agency staff in many areas, which is not included in the...

As local councils begin setting their 2012-2013 budgets, working-class people face another round of attacks as councils across the country put jobs and services back on the chopping block. Proposed job losses at larger councils figure in the hundreds. Leeds City Council plans “savings” of £55 million, including axing 400 jobs. Swindon Borough Council’s draft budget seeks to shed over 100 jobs as part of a £12 million cuts programme, including cutting trade-union facility time. £24 million and 300 jobs could go at Labour-run Stoke-on-Trent City Council. Nearly 400 jobs are on the line as...

Over the weeks since the New South Wales election on 26 March, Rupert Murdoch's paper The Australian has run a big campaign against sections of Australia's Green Party over their policy of boycotting Israel. Several front-page stories have targeted Fiona Byrne, Green mayor of the Sydney suburb of Marrickville and narrowly-unsuccessful Green candidate for the Marrickville electorate in the NSW election, and Lee Rhiannon, elected as a NSW Senator to the federal Parliament in 2010 and due to take her seat in the Senate in July 2011. The Australian strongly supports Australia's conservative...