Do the Green Party’s policies stack up? Although its membership and prominence have rocketed in recent weeks, little focus has been put on what the party campaigns for. Green leader Natalie Bennett was subjected to a dissection of her party’s principles on the Sunday Politics today (watch above) and demonstrated why most of its proposals are pipe dreams.
Bennett said her party wants to ensure ‘nobody is living in fear’ but exactly how they would pay for that remains unanswered. One of its policies would be a ‘Citizens’ Income’, ensuring everyone has a minimum weekly income of £72. This would cost up to £280 billion and Bennett said it would be funded in part by abolishing Jobseeker’s Allowance (cost: £3 billion) and scrapping the personal tax free allowance. Yet neither of these would come anywhere near paying for the Citizens’ Income.
Another Green policy is to introduce a wealth tax, which Bennett said would produce £32 billion and £45 billion — funding a quarter to half of the NHS.
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