Dean Young, Liverpool South Socialist Party
Green Party leader Zack Polanski’s first speech on his economic programme, given on the 18 March, declared that “we live in rip-off Britain”. It tapped into the rightful anger millions of young and working-class people feel at an unfair system that enriches those at the top. While our lives have got harder, the number of billionaires in Britain has gone up from 15 in 1990 to 154 today.
He correctly attacked the austerity programmes of successive governments since the 2008 financial crash and the privatisation agenda which predates this. He pointed out that from 2010-20, 27.5% less funding in real terms had been given to local authorities across the country. The responsibility for decades of attacks on the working class lies on the heads of politicians from all the pro-capitalist parties, from Tories to New Labour.
In his speech he put forward policies that, in comparison, would be a shift of wealth towards working-class people. He proposed a wealth tax, rent controls, building council houses, insulating homes properly, nationalising the crumbling privately owned water companies, keeping and strengthening a windfall tax on energy companies, increasing capital gains tax to hit the rich and setting aside approximately £8.4 billion to prevent a rise of up to £300 per household for our energy bills.
There are over 800 Green councillors and 41 councils in which Greens take part in the leadership of. Many of these policies could be implemented now by a Green council. And after May’s local elections, there are likely to be more Green councillors. Imagine the impact that Green councillors could have by making a stand and refusing to implement more austerity, use borrowing powers and reserves and build a mass movement to win the resources needed for the services we deserve. This would include mass council house building programmes and repairs of existing housing to get rid of mould and damp. Green councils could use landlord registers and enforcement powers against exploitative landlords and private tenancies unsafe for their inhabitants.
This turn in direction now with Polanski as leader would be a welcome change from Green council administrations so far that have made cuts, leaving residents with worse services and higher council taxes. As in Brighton previously and now in Bristol, where last year the Green council enacted £50 million of service cuts and increased council tax just as previous Labour administrations did. (See ‘What is the Greens record in office?’ at socialistparty.org.uk)
Polanski could signal that he supports a bold, anti-austerity stance that aims to, as he said in his speech, “re-balance the scales” in favour of the working-class majority by instructing all Green councillors to vote against austerity. That’s why we are backing a petition, launched by leading trade unionists, calling on Polanski to do just this. Both trade unionists and Green Party members have been signing. In Liverpool, the deputy leader of the Green councillor group signed it at the Liverpool Trade Union Council’s ‘People’s Budget’ conference.
As the petition says: “We cannot expect Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, the Lib Dems, the Tories or Reform to join the struggle to defend local public services; but we should not expect anything less from those who have spoken against the establishment’s austerity agenda.”
