I have already done one commentary on the Green Party's manifesto. But, having looked at the costings of other parties, I feel duty-bound to do so with regard to the Greens.
As I noted in the video yesterday, the Greens are doing something that no other party seems willing to do at this election, and that is to be bold.
They know, of course, that they are not going to be in government. However, that is precisely why they should be bold, and that is also why other parties also sharing that certainty should have risen to the challenge in a way that they have not.
That said, like all other parties, so far, the sums presented by the Greens do lack detail. I think that is a shame. The opportunity to present much more fully costed plans was available to them, and would, if they had grabbed the chance, have suggested that they are willing to tackle the issues facing this country in a way that others appear unwilling to do.
The Green spending commitments are, in many ways, more relevant than their revenue-raising proposals. This is what they say they plan:
Spending at this level going to be optimistic. I do not know that the resources to deliver this scale of transformation in the economy exist. In fairness, the footnotes to the plan indicate that they are aware of that risk, making reference to supply side constraints.
The priorities are, however, right. My question is, do we have the people to deliver on these promises? And is the training budget big enough in that case? Aspire by all means, but these questions need answering.
The revenue-raising commitments are summarised by the Greens like this:
As is well-known, I have reservations about a wealth tax, on which the Greens are relying, and I will not be changing my mind about that because the Greens are proposing one. Not only are they politically difficult, they are also practically difficult when there are so many easier ways of raising revenue from those with wealth. I have hesitation about their suggested revenues from this source, in that case. However, are total additional taxes from personal income and wealth of the scale that they suggest deliverable? As the Taxing Wealth Report 2024 suggests, they might be, but the suggestions are at the decidedly optimistic end of the ranges that I have suggested for the taxes that they propose.
Can, in addition, a £90 billion carbon tax be laid over that? I am really not sure. My fear with all carbon taxes is that they are regressive. If this is the plan then the planned increases in income support in this proposal look to be seriously understated to me if those most vulnerable are to be protected. I hope they are to be protected, but I really cannot be sure about it, and an additional tax on this scale looks to be decidedly optimistic to me in the timescale planned.
Finally, can the noted borrowing be secured? Yes, in my opinion. That's the easy bit in here. Use my scheme for ISA and pension reform and that borrowing can be delivered without any difficulty at all. That part of the plan is where I am most comfortable, by far.
Comparisons are always a little unfair in politics. Political parties choose, quite deliberately, to compete on different playing fields. That said, and given the points that I have already made about my desire that the Greens should have presented more data, they have shown up both the Liberal Democrats and the Tories, not so much with the quality of their presentation, but with the boldness of their thinking that underpins it. I want more detail, by far, and doubt there are the resources in our current economy to deliver spending at the level the Greens plan, but this is better than what I'm getting elsewhere, so far. In particular, I prefer their optimism to the overwise prevailing air of gloom.
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They’ve got my vote. We have to make a start somewhere.
The Greens really have take the place of Labour, according to The Political Compass website, in which their take on Left/Right and Libertarianism/Authoritian is shown on the chart here: https://www.politicalcompass.org/uk2024
Labour are now a right-wing party in the place of the Tories, and the latter could not be more right-wing.
You can also see where you lie politically by answering several political questions.
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Now on the blog
Some means of redistributing wealth from its current obscene concentration is needed above and beyond taxing the revenues of the extremely wealthy persons and corporations, which may well be fine at one level, but is not for the 4 billion people left holding a tiny % of global wealth.
Wealth is power and autonomy and agency define both poverty and freedom.
Equity does not mean absolute equality but a balance between empowerment for all and wealth rewards for effort, though wellbeing and wealth-being are far from synonymous.
A wealth tax of some sort needs to be contrived that can achieve that, or the current wealth distribution is fixed, with our plutocrat class then embedded as the permanent power elite.
Nothing wrong with proportionate rewards, but the current perspective is utterly distorted, and is getting more oligopolistic by the day.
I suspect effort has little to do with wealth acquisition. The biggest influence is pure luck. So I have considerable difficulty to with the concept of Earned wealth.
For most in SE of England particularly their wealth is entirely related to their date of birth and house prices inflation.
Certainly not earned. I’d like capital gains tax at income tax rate once CPI is accounted for, charged on all property including principal residence.
Effort can incude grifting
My voting decions will be informed by your response to the Plaid Cymru manifesto that is due out today. For those of us in Wales there is a choice between the idiots currently running Westminster, the odd group running Wales, the extreme private company, Plaid and the Greens. Only the last two believe in self determination, so one of them will get my vote. That the Greens are addressing the fact that most of the population have insufficient resources to be self determining makes me inclined to support them. (Not mentioning their obvious support for a habitable planet for my grandchildren!)
I will try to do it – by tomorrow – but today is bound to be dominated by Labour and I have a lot of other wrok on now