John is in the centre of town, where there’s quite a bit of industrial-type noise from the dismantling of scaffolding.
‘We all want a vibrant economy, Britain used to have the 5th biggest GDP in the world until Brexit, when we slipped down to 6th position. In Britain the problem is that most of the money from that economy doesn’t get to the people who need it, that’s you and me.
GDP is far too blunt an instrument to measure happiness, and that’s why people are not really happy with the way things are going, and don’t have so much hope for the future.
We think there should be more measurement of people’s happiness, their well-being, their health, and the cleanliness of the environment – our rivers and so on – and that would give a much better indicator of how healthy our economy is, and therefore also how healthy people are.
The Green Party does things differently, so for Real Hope, and for Real Change, on the 4th July – Vote Green!’
Creating a fairer, greener economy – from our 2024 Manifesto
Our country is one of the richest in the world, yet millions of people are struggling to put food on the table and pay their bills.
The government has failed to invest in rapidly transitioning to a zero-carbon society, to create decent, secure jobs or to make our economy resilient to future climate shocks. It has put lifeline services for our communities at risk by more than a decade of savage funding cuts. It has let a small number of people hoard obscene wealth whilst our nurses are using food banks. And shareholders have got ever richer while our privatised public services are run into the ground, sewage is dumped into our rivers and seas, and our trains don’t run on time.
We know that we can do better than this. With the right political choices, the UK can have a fairer and greener economy. An economy that delivers security, well-being and a better quality of life for everyone, as well protecting our environment and enabling us to tackle the climate crisis with the ambition and speed it demands.
Elected Greens would push for significant investment in a green economic transformation, alongside the private sector. This programme to include:
• An average of £40bn per year over the course of the next parliament, including £7bn annually on climate adaptation.
• A carbon tax to make polluters pay and provide money to invest in the green transition.
• Bringing privatised utilities back into public hands.
• Taxing multi-millionaires and billionaires to fund our public services.