Green Party manifesto

To address the social care crisis elected Greens will push for an investment of £20billion per year. (Pg. 5) 

Push for the introduction of free personal care along the lines successfully brought in by the Scottish Government. For those still living at home, access to free personal care will enable earlier intervention and access to help to maintain independence and wellbeing. For those living in residential settings, the personal care elements will be fully funded, alongside a tapered approach to other costs based on the level of their income. For those struggling to afford the accommodation element of residential care, local authorities need to be properly funded to provide the right level of financial support. (Pg. 5) 

Bring together local authorities, trade unions and private providers to establish a career structure for carers, ensuring there is a pathway to progression that includes training and qualifications. This would have national pay, terms and conditions for all care workers and a proper workforce plan. (Pg. 5) 

Change the working visa system to end the exploitation of overseas workers in the care sector. This would make it illegal for agents to charge commission and would ensure that carers are free to change employer in the UK. (Pg. 5) 

Campaign for ‘Gloria’s Law’, giving everybody the right to at least one essential Care Supporter (a person important to them such as a relative or friend) when they are using health or care services. (Pg. 5) 

A steady reduction in waiting lists. (Pg. 2) 

Guarantee rapid access to a GP and same day access in case of urgent need. (Pg. 2) 

Guaranteed access to an NHS dentist for everybody. (Pg. 2) 

Restoring local council budgets for public health. (Pg. 2) 

Invest £20billion in NHS budgets over the life of the parliament for hospital building and repair. (Pg. 2) 

Push for an immediate and additional increase to the budgets for NHS staff costs, to ensure salaries are fair and reflect the essential skills and dedication of the NHS workforce. (Pg. 3) 

Increase the allocation of funding to primary medical care, with additional annual spending reaching £1.5billion by 2030, targeted at areas of greatest need. (Pg. 3) 

Reduce the administrative burden on GPs, giving them more time face to face with patients. Steps could include allowing hospital doctors to make onward referrals without needing to go back to a patient’s GP. (Pg. 3) 

Provide a £2billion capital investment in primary care over the next five years. (Pg. 3) 

Seek to expand diagnostic capacity in communities. This would help to ensure people are diagnosed early and have more chance of a positive outcome.  

Push for a new contract for NHS dentists that ensures everybody who needs an NHS dentist has access to one. (Pg. 3) 

Additional investment in NHS dentistry, reaching £3billion a year by 2030. (Pg. 3) 

Campaign for funding to allow community hubs and primary care to provide a roll-out of free dental nursing for children and those on low incomes. (Pg. 3) 

Public health to be a cross-government priority. (Pg. 3) 

Restore public health budgets to 2015/16 levels with an immediate increase of £1.5billion. Smoking cessation, drug and alcohol treatment and sexual health services all need to be properly funded. (Pg. 3) 

A National Commission to agree an evidenced based approach to reform of the UK’s counterproductive drug laws. (Pg. 3) 

Commit to a National Cancer Control Plan to include:  

Ensure that tailored and specific provision is readily available for the particular needs of communities of colour, children and adolescents, older people and Lesbian, Gay Bisexual, Trans, Intersex, Queer and Asexual (LGBTIQA+) communities. (Pg. 4) 

Push for more accessible and prompt mental health needs assessments for children and adolescents. (Pg. 4) 

Provide a trained and paid counsellor in every primary and secondary school, and every sixth-form college. (Pg. 4) 

Make it mandatory for councils to provide free transport for 16–18-year-old pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disability. (Pg. 6) 

Push for an additional £3billion to be provided to local authorities to enable them to provide high-quality children’s social care. (Pg. 6) 

Push for children in foster care or who have been adopted to have consistent access to a trained counsellor until it is no longer required. We would fund councils to extend staying put arrangements, so fostered young people can choose to stay with foster parents until they are 21. (Pg. 6) 

All children to have a daily free school meal, made from nutritious ingredients and based on local and organic or sustainable produce and free breakfast clubs for children to Year 6. (Pg. 28) 

Green MPs would push for an education system that (Pg. 29):  

Advocate for £1.4billion per year to be invested by local authorities in Sure Start Centres. (Pg. 29) 

In negotiation with the sector, extend the outgoing government’s offer of childcare to 35 hours per week from nine months. (Pg. 29) 

Advocate for an increase in school funding, with an £8billion investment in schools that would include £2 billion for a pay uplift for teachers. (Pg. 29) 

Ensure that every school building is safe for children by investing £2.5 billion a year to tackle the RAAC concrete scandal and provide the funding needed for schools to be well maintained and fit for purpose. (Pg. 29) 

Review assessment targets in schools so that arts and vocational subjects are treated equally within the curriculum, children are supported to play and learn outdoors, and every child can learn about the climate and biodiversity crisis to equip them for the challenges ahead. (Pg. 29) 

Ensure effective delivery of the new Natural History GCSE. (Pg. 29) 

Move academies and free schools into local authority control, removing charitable status from private schools and charging full VAT on fees. Private school places for children with special education needs will not be subject to VAT. This will be an interim measure while public-sector capacity is built. (Pg. 30)  

Push for £5 billion to be invested in special needs (SEND) provision within mainstream schools. (Pg. 30)  

Fully restore the role of the school nurse, ensuring that all schools have access to an on-site medical professional. (Pg. 30)  

Give children and students at all state funded schools and colleges access to a qualified counsellor. (Pg. 30)  

Push for a £3 billion increase in funding for sixth-form education over the next parliamentary term, and a £12billion investment in skills and lifelong learning for further education. (Pg. 30)  

Restore the Education Maintenance Allowance to financially support young people to extend their studies after the age of 16. (Pg. 30) 

Schools to involve children in growing, preparing and cooking food, as part of the core curriculum, so that they recognise and understand how to use basic fresh produce. (Pg. 28) 

Provide 150,000 new social homes a year and end the so-called ‘right to buy’, so that these homes can belong to communities for ever. (Pg. 7) 

Empower local authorities to introduce rent controls. (Pg. 7) 

End no-fault evictions. (Pg. 7) 

Introduce a Fairer, Greener Homes Guarantee to ensure warm, safe homes that are well insulated. (Pg. 7) 

Transform the planning system so new developments come with access to public services and green spaces are protected. (Pg. 7) 

Right Homes, Right Place, Right Price Charter:  

Invest £29 billion over the next five years to insulate homes to EPC B standard or above, as part of a ten-year programme. £12billion of this will be to retrofit the social housing stock and £17billion as grants to retrofit privately owned homes to a similar standard. (Pg. 8) 

Invest £4billion over the next five years to insulate other public buildings to a high standard. This is primarily for schools and hospitals, as part of a ten-year programme. £1billion will be made available as grants to retrofit private sector buildings to a similarly high standard. (Pg. 8) 

Invest £9billion over the next five years for heating systems (e.g. heat pumps) for homes and other buildings. (Pg. 8) 

Invest £7billion over the next five years to adapt homes to avoid over-heating in the hotter summers. (Pg. 8) 

Introduce a local-authority-led, street-by-street or area-based retrofit programme to insulate our homes, to provide non-fossil-fuel heat and start to adapt our buildings to the more extreme weather. (Pg. 8) 

End competitive bidding for the social housing decarbonisation fund. (Pg. 8) 

Push for homeowners (freeholders and leaseholders) to more easily access property-linked finance to pay for the work needed on their property. (Pg. 8) 

Push for tenants to have the right to insist that their landlords access property-linked finance on their behalf. (Pg. 8) 

Increase Council and Housing Association provision of homes offered at low ‘social rents’ to 150,000 new homes a year, as soon as possible. 

End the ‘right to buy’. (Pg. 8) 

Empower local authorities to bring empty homes back into use. (Pg. 8) 

Push Ministers to ensure all social housing stock is brought up to and kept at a decent standard, with fair funding for Councils and Housing Associations to get this done. (Pg. 8) 

Give the power to local authorities to control rents if the local rental market is overheated. 

Introduce Private Residential Tenancy Boards. These would provide an informal, cheap and speedy forum for resolving disputes before they reach a tribunal. Local authorities will be funded to meet a new statutory duty of tenancy relations. (Pg. 9) 

Introduce legislation to give local authorities, registered social landlords and community housing groups the first option to buy certain properties at reasonable rates. (Pg. 9) 

Push for local decisions about planning to be informed by a land use planning policy framework that seeks to balance various needs. (Pg. 9) 

Demolition [of buildings] will require a full planning application or inclusion in a local development order. (Pg. 9) 

All new-built homes will be required to maximise the use of solar panels and heat pumps, or equivalent low carbon technologies. (Pg. 9) 

All planning applications will be required to include whole-life carbon and energy calculations, covering construction, maintenance and operational use. (Pg. 9) 

New developments need to ensure that residents are not car dependent. (Pg. 9) 

Elected Greens will push for (Pg. 35): 

Elected Greens will campaign for a system of asylum and humanitarian protection that treats the applicant fairly, humanely and without discrimination. (Pg.35) 

Elected Greens will push for (Pg. 35):  

Green MPs would campaign to abolish the No Recourse to Public Funds condition that exacerbates social, economic, and racial inequalities. (Pg. 35) 

We would also campaign to abolish the ten-year route to settlement which unfairly traps people in poverty and hardship. (Pg. 35) 

All visa-holding residents should have the right to vote in all elections and referendums. (Pg. 35) 

Repeal current anti-union legislation and replace this with a positive Charter of Workers’ Rights. (Pg. 17) 

Introduce a maximum 10:1 pay ratios for all private and public-sector organisations. (Pg. 17) 

Deliver equal rights for all workers currently excluded from protections, including ‘gig economy’ workers and those on ‘zero hours’ contracts. (Pg. 17) 

Push for significant investment in a green economic transformation, alongside the private sector. This programme will include: 

We estimate green investment will require an average investment of £40billion per year over the course of the parliament to be spent as follows: 

Set up regional mutual banks to drive investment in decarbonisation and local economic sustainability by supporting investment in SMEs and community-owned enterprises and cooperatives. These banks will be capitalised through a Co-operative Development Fund using some of the funds made available through the United Kingdom Infrastructure Bank (UKIB), along with an additional £10billion of public money. We will give local authorities £2billion per year to provide grants to help businesses decarbonise. (Pg. 15) 
 
Bring the Prompt Payment Code into law and bar late payers from public-procurement contracts. We would mandate the Small Business Commissioner to investigate potential instances of poor payment proactively, instead of only when a complaint has been made. (Pg. 15) 

Amend the Companies Act 2006 so that company directors must prioritise the well-being of all living entities (including all nations, all species and future generations, as well as all people alive today) and avoid negative environmental and social consequences. (Pg. 16) 

Communities to own their energy sources, ensuring they can use any profit from selling excess energy to reduce their bills or benefit their communities. (Pg. 10) 

Push forward the recommendations from the Climate Change Committee to reduce emissions of polluting fluorinated gases in all manufactured goods. We will also increase the scope of bans on the production of single-use plastics for use in packaging and disposable products such as baby wipes, as in many cases alternatives already exist. Green MPs will increase investment into research and development by over £30billion across five years. (Pg. 14) 

Any company holding a UK banking licence will be required to present an investment strategy outlining a clear pathway to divestment of its current fossil fuel assets as soon as possible, and at least by 2030. (Pg. 14)

The Bank of England’s mandate will be changed so that funding the sustainability transition becomes a central objective, alongside the maintenance of price stability. The Bank would also be required to mainstream the climate crisis into its strategic thinking and to produce a carbon-neutrality roadmap for the financial system, including forward planning scenarios consistent with a 1.5oC warming limit and the equity obligations of the Glasgow Accord. (Pg. 14) 

Non-bank financial institutions, such as UK pension funds, investment funds, mutual funds, brokers and insurance companies that sell policies in the UK, will need to remove fossil fuel assets from their investment portfolios, securities transactions and balance sheets by 2030. (Pg. 14) 

Increase investment into research and development by over £30billion in the lifetime of the five-year parliament. Additional spending will be primarily focused on tackling the climate and environmental crisis through funding research into sectors including: energy storage; agroecological agriculture and soil health; re-use, repair, recycling and designing out waste; carbon neutral construction; carbon-neutral production and carbon capture technology. (Pg. 15) 

Elected Greens will transform and reconnect us with nature by: 

Greens in parliament will make it a priority to pass a new Rights of Nature Act. For the first time, it would give Nature legal personhood, meaning that it could not be exploited for financial gain. (Pg. 23) 

The Act would also set standards for soil quality and phasing out the most harmful pesticides immediately (including glyphosate) and, as we move towards regenerative farming methods, introduce rigorous tests for all pesticides. (Pg. 23) 

Elected Greens will also push for a Clean Air Act, which will set new air quality standards for the UK. We would enshrine the right to breathe clean air in the law. Elected Greens would seek to strengthen and prevent any rollback of existing protections of the Green Belt, National Landscapes and Sites of Special Scientific Interest. (Pg.23) 

Elected Greens will conserve and improve the health of the soil and the wider environment, which in turn would lead to cleaner rivers. (Pg. 23) 

Elected Greens will advocate for:  

Elected Greens will push to restore rivers and take a nature-based solutions approach to the prevention of flooding and storm overflows. We would increase DEFRA’s budget by £1.5billion, allowing an increase in funding for the Environment Agency and Natural England, to support the vital work they do to protect our environment. (Pg. 24) 

Elected Greens will introduce a new Right to Roam Act for England, that would enable people to access green space close to where they live and be a first step to resetting our relationship with the natural world. (Pg. 24) 

Green MPs will also campaign to ensure that everybody lives within 15 minutes’ walking distance of a nature-rich greenspace. We will ensure car-free access to the National Parks with new cycling, walking, wheeling and bus links. (Pg. 24) 

We would plan to give 30 per cent of land and sea back to nature by 2030 ensuring that it is permanently protected. 

A priority would be the re-wetting of all peatland and increasing unharvested forest and woodland by over 50 per cent. We should allow natural regeneration to take place. Increasing areas for scrub, hedgerows, rough-grazing orchards and creating new protected spaces in urban settings will also help meet this target. 

Grants of an additional £3billion annually will be made available to landowners and farmers by the middle of the next parliament to support returning land to nature, with generous per hectare payments. (Pg. 24) 

Green MPs will champion reintroducing nature into our urban environments, with investment in schemes such as street planting of native trees, compulsory hedgehog holes in all new fencing, swift bricks and bee corridors. (Pg. 24) 

Elected Greens also commit to making at least 30 per cent of UK domestic waters into fully protected marine protected areas by 2030. We will seek to ban all destructive fishing practices from Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and other domestic waters. (Pg. 24) 

Restore the value of disability benefits with an immediate uplift of 5 per cent. (Pg. 6) 

End the unfair targeting of carers and disabled people on benefits. (Pg. 6) 

Oppose plans to replace Personal Independence Payments (PIP) cash payments with ‘vouchers’, and in the long-term reform intrusive eligibility tests like PIP. (Pg. 6) 

Ensure disabled workers have the in-job support they need, as well as proper pay and conditions. (Pg. 6) 

Champion the right to inclusive welfare support, and housing under the principles of universal design. (Pg. 6) 

Elected Greens will seek to create a new Commission on Animal Protection, responsible for overseeing all rules designed to protect animals from cruelty and upholding their rights as sentient beings not to be subjected to undue suffering. This Commission will ensure that the highest standards of animal protection are applied to companion animals, farm animals and wildlife - and that these standards underpin decision making by public bodies too. (Pg. 25) 

We will enhance regulation and controls on the breeding, sale and import of companion and all animals, including action to stop cruel practices such as ear cropping and pet smuggling. (Pg. 25) 

Green MPs will introduce a licensing scheme for the ownership of all kept animals and replace outdated breed-specific legislation for dogs with an updated dog control law. (Pg. 25) 

Focus on the prevention of crime through restoring the funding withdrawn from youth services since 2010 and through community-based policing. (Pg. 39) 

Focus on rehabilitation through investment in the probation and prison services. (Pg. 39) 

Restore trust and confidence in the police. (Pg. 39) 

End violence against women and girls. (Pg. 39) 

Repair and renew our court system with a £2.5billion investment. (Pg. 39) 

An end to the routine use of stop and search and to the use of facial recognition software. (Pg. 39) 

Police Services to deliver ongoing fitness to practice assessments on diversity for all police officers and relevant civilian staff. (Pg. 39) 

Police and Crime Commissioners, and local councillors on police and crime panels, to have open access to the data needed to enable effective scrutiny of operational policing. (Pg. 39) 

Elected Greens will seek to break the cycle of reoffending through legislating for a presumption against custodial sentences under two years. (Pg. 40) 

The Green Party welcomes the greater emphasis on diversion in the criminal justice system. Green MPs will ensure that diversion programmes are in place for (Pg. 40): 

Make misogyny a hate crime across the UK and increase the police’s capacity to deal with domestic violence. (Pg. 40) 

Develop and implement a new UK-wide strategy to tackle gender-based violence, including domestic violence, rape and sexual abuse, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), and trafficking. (PG. 40)  

Ensure that domestic abuse and gender-based violence is a key measurable priority for all police forces and that all police officers are trained to recognise and tackle domestic violence. (Pg. 40) 

Fund local authorities so that domestic violence, rape crisis and other provision can meet local needs. (Pg. 40) 

Decriminalise sex work. (Pg. 40) 

The Green Party will invest £11billion in restoring the Ministry of Justice budget over the course of the next parliament. (Pg. 40) 

Elected Greens will push to recruit more judges and to ensure that they are representative of wider society. (Pg. 40) 

The Green Party supports the use of violence reduction units and the need for them to be a focus on multi-agency working. (Pg. 40) 

Elected Greens will also campaign to ensure that (Pg. 41): 

Elected Greens will push for the establishment of a National Commission to agree an evidence-based approach to reform of the UK’s counterproductive drug laws. (Pg. 41) 

Elected Greens will therefore push to decriminalise personal possession of drugs, diverting people from the criminal justice system towards support with addiction, housing and employment, from health workers focused on drug harm reduction. (Pg. 41) 

Elected Greens will introduce a Fair Politics Act to strengthen our democracy now. This legislation would do the following: 

Elected Greens will also advocate for ways to make politics more accessible to under-represented groups including women and disabled people. These could include proposals such as job sharing for MPs and a permanent access to elected office fund to help with the costs of standing for election. (Pg. 34) 

Elected Greens would push for local authority control and proper funding for bus services, to increase these in urban areas, and in rural areas ensure that there is a bus service to every village. (Pg. 31) 

We will empower local authorities to run bus services themselves if they see fit and provide a service that meets their community’s needs. Cities and sparsely populated rural areas will need different solutions; we need to give them the flexibility and funding. (Pg. 31) 

Elected Greens will push for Investment in a modern, efficient, publicly owned railway, with affordable fares. (Pg. 31) 

Within a decade we want to see all petrol and diesel vehicles replaced by Electric Vehicles (EVs). We would push for an extensive vehicle scrappage scheme to support this rapid transition to EVs, with funding rising to £5billion per year by the end of the parliament, supported by the rapid rollout of EV charging points. (Pg. 32) 

Elected Greens would push for:  

Elected Greens will:  

Green MPs will take a positive approach to public investment by:  

Elected Greens will push for a wealth tax. This will tax the wealth of individual taxpayers with assets above £10 million at 1 per cent and assets above £1billion at 2 per cent annually. (Pg. 20) 

Elected Greens will push too for the reform Capital Gains Tax (CGT) by aligning the rates paid by taxpayers on income and taxable gains. (Pg. 20) 

Elected Greens will also call for the reform of tax rates on investment income, by aligning them with the tax and NIC rates on employment income. (Pg. 20) 

We would remove the Upper Earnings Limit that restricts the amount of National Insurance paid by high earners. (Pg. 20) 

We would equate the rate of pension tax relief with the basic rate of income tax to help fund the social care that will allow elderly and disabled people on low incomes to live in dignity. (Pg. 20) 

We would reform inheritance tax, ensuring that intergenerational transfers of wealth are taxed more fairly. (Pg. 20) 

In the next parliament, elected Greens will take steps towards this by pushing for:   

Green MPs will support an increase in the rate of the windfall tax on oil and gas production and the closing of existing loopholes and tax-relief mechanisms. We would introduce a windfall tax on banks when excessive profits are being made. (Pg. 21) 

Elected Greens will advocate for a carbon tax to incentivise businesses to decarbonise their supply chains and to help raise the money needed to shift to a zero-carbon economy.  (Pg. 21) 

We will clamp down on tax dodging. When companies and individuals fail to pay their fair share, it deprives our vital public services of much needed investment.  (Pg. 21) 

Elected Greens will push for effective regulation of both traditional and social media, safeguarding our democracy and the spaces for shared cultural expression. They will also protect local media to support local democracy. (Pg. 37) 

Invest £5 billion investment in community sports, arts and culture. (Pg. 37) 

Support local grassroots sports clubs, music and art venues. (Pg. 37) 

Introduce a Digital Bill of Rights that establishes the UK as a leading voice on standards for the rule of law and democracy in digital spaces. (Pg. 37) 

Invest an extra £5 billion over 5 years for local government spending on arts and culture to fund keeping local museums, theatres, libraries and art galleries open and thriving. (Pg. 37) 

Protect the night-time economy through a review of planning regulations and giving local authorities the powers to ensure there is space for cultural life. (Pg. 37) 

Exempt cultural events, including everything from theatre and museum tickets to gigs in local pubs, from paying VAT. (Pg. 37) 

Give local authorities discretionary powers to exempt socially and economically essential local enterprises from business rates. (Pg. 37) 

Protect school playing fields from development through rigorous planning controls. (Pg. 38) 

Allow access to school sports facilities by local clubs and teams outside teaching hours to ensure maximum use of a valuable resource. (Pg. 38) 

Enable local authorities to maintain key sporting infrastructure including pools and playing fields. These need to be used across all sections of the community to ensure sport is inclusive. (Pg. 38) 

Permit local authorities to invest in shares in professional sports clubs which operate in their area as a means of maintaining a connection between the club and its community. Any dividends paid to the authority must be reinvested into public sporting facilities or coaching programmes in the area. (Pg. 38) 

We will support local media through new grants to encourage the growth of a wider range of civic minded local news publishers. Local newspapers in the UK are an important part of our democracy and civic culture. (Pg. 38) 

Elected Greens would push to establish the UK as a leading voice on standards for the rule of law and democracy in digital spaces with a Digital Bill of Rights to ensure independent regulation of social media providers. (Pg. 38) 

Elected Greens will push for a precautionary regulatory approach to the harms and risk of AI. (Pg. 38) 

Elected Greens will support the right to religious expression and work with religious communities to defend the safety of places of worship. We will also scrap Prevent. (Pg. 34) 

The Green Party supports self-ID, so that trans and non-binary people could be legally recognised in their chosen gender through self-declaration. (Pg. 34)  

We support ending the spousal veto so that married trans people can acquire their gender recognition certification without having to obtain permission from their spouse, and to change the law so an X gender marker can be added to passports for non-binary and intersex people who wish to use it. (Pg. 34) 

A food partnership in every area, and for a Local Food Enterprise Fund to be set up. (Pg. 27) 

Green MPs would draw on examples of good practice elsewhere and campaign for: