Thursday 5 December 2013

Greens: Autumn statement based on short-term politics not the long-term challenge

CHANCELLOR of the Exchequer George Osborne’s Autumn Statement was dominated by short-term political considerations and a failure yet again to either address the underlying, structural problems which weaken the health of the British economy or move us to a low-carbon, affordable energy future, says the Green Party. Nothing has been done to prepare for the economic storm on the horizon.

In the Autumn Statement, Osborne insisted that “Britain’s economic plan is working” and that the Coalition Government is overseeing a “responsible recovery.”

In response to the Autumn Statement, Natalie Bennett, Green Party Leader for England and Wales, said:
"Mr Osborne was so keen to claim that this was an Autumn Statement for the long term, yet on this issue, as others, he is clearly a man who protests too much.

"Our current economic position is based on high and growing consumer indebtedness, as households are forced to borrow to cover basic costs, and a government-supported housing bubble. The Chancellor says that the sun is shining. Well that proves he hasn't looked out the window today, or looked into the lives of millions of Britons who are struggling to pay the bills, in far too many cases forced to resort to extortionate payday lenders or foodbanks to get by.”

"Instead of working to restructure our economy, to rein-in our reckless, fraud-ridden financial sector, to boost manufacturers and the real economy, to create stable, decent-paying jobs that workers can build a life on, Mr Osborne's focus is instead clearly short-term - to inflate the economy for the mere 18 months to the next General Election."

Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, said:

“The Autumn statement was yet another missed opportunity to take the action that we need that will genuinely move us to a low-carbon, affordable energy future.

“The Chancellor has done nothing to tackle the root causes of fuel poverty or soaring fuel bills. Instead of watering down energy companies’ obligations, he should have announced a major programme to make all homes super-energy efficient. If funded through recycled carbon taxes, this could bring an estimated nine out of ten homes out of fuel poverty, quadruple carbon savings, and create up to 200,000 jobs across the UK.” [1]

“The Chancellor has delivered a lavish Christmas gift to fracking companies – giving them tax breaks to support an irresponsible and dangerous dash for gas that will undermine the urgent action we need to reduce our carbon emissions.

“It’s ironic that a Chancellor who talks about going green is quite happy for the UK to continue to fund massive subsidies for both nuclear and fossil fuels. Taking real action to tackle climate change would create jobs, transform the economy, and help us meet our duty to secure a safe and habitable climate for future generations."

[1] http://www.energybillrevolution.org/whats-the-campaign/

1 comment:

trevor said...

I Think that it is Too late in the day to expect people to trust political parties when the reality is we Live in a system that is built on manipulation and exploitation as well as greed aka capitalism.
a system like that built with the approval of government is bound to hurt the general public and it has big time.
even if you win the general Election in 2015, to a great extent you will be forced to keep the capitalist system going
and you all know that is true.
the general public are wasting their precious Time Looking to political parties to deliver them out of this wicked greed driven system.
if you Don't believe me Take a Look @ History and you'll see How humans have really dominated man to his injury.
and the joke is we are in Christmas mode now
about to eat and drink in honour of god and Jesus.
yet nowhere in the bible does it say Jesus was born on Christmas Day
neither Does it approve of the Celebration Of Christmas.
the first century Christians Did not Celebrate it
but the Churches Have introduced it because it fits in nicely with the capitalist system.
yes!
eat drink and buy presents so that the capitalists rake in huge profits and the government gets it share by means of tax revenue
and then in the mean time we are Lied to about the true purpose of Christianity.
it really is amazing.
we reject fake money but embrace false religion.
but that's because we don't like truth because it reveals things that we don't want to face up to.
so it is in the best interest of the capitalists to cling to false religion so that it can continue embracing it's god aka money and tax revenue for the government.
Britain a Christian nation?
Look in the Mirror...We Will be very very very surprised.