Emily Cole
Naked Politics Blogger
Politics is more confusing than ever and it can be pretty hard to know what each political party is offering- especially as a young person. We know you don’t have time in between working or studying for exams, to be reading through shit tonnes of pages.
But as a young person, your opinion matters- massively. So to give you a hand, here’s Naked Politics’ election breakdown. The Green party are pretty clear what they’re all about: reversing climate change. Here’s a summary of their key policies.
Climate change
- The Greens want to invest £100bn a year to cut emissions which would create a net-zero carbon economy by 2030 which is obviously the most ambitious of all the British political parties.
- To achieve this they’d need to end the use of petrol and diesel cars, upgrade household heating systems and plant 700 million trees in the UK within a decade. It’s generally considered realistic and plausible to get a net-zero carbon economy by 2050, which is a pledge of the current government that the Labour Party is aiming to beat but hasn’t made any solid commitments as to how they’d do this.
Brexit
- In their manifesto they’re committed to a second referendum where they’ll campaign to remain, arguing that remaining in the EU is imperative to the fight against climate change.
Education
- Scrapping tuition fees and writing off the debt of those who had fees.
- Increase the funding going to schools by £4bn a year.
- Like Labour, they want to remove the charitable status of private schools have so they pay their taxes in full.
- Bring back bursaries for nurses.
Policing and crime
- Enhance the rehabilitation services on offer to long-term prisoners.
- Invest in youth services and centres, to help turn at-risk children away from crime.
- All drugs to be legalised and regulated, as they argue that the criminalisation of people who use drugs is an effective deterrent. Regulation and rehabilitation are better ways to curb drug use and ensure those who do still take drugs, can do so more safely.
Tax and spending
- They’d introduce a universal basic income, providing every UK citizen with £89 per week from the state.
- Increase the rate of Corporation Tax to 24%
- Give small businesses access to lending at affordable rates, by helping to establish a network of regional mutual banks.
- Increase funding for the NHS by at least £6 billion per year each year, until 2030.
Our Democracy
- They’re also in agreement with Labour and the Lib Dems and want to see votes at 16.
If you’d like to find out more about who Naked Politics is officially recommending young people vote for, check out our main Manifesto Breakdown.
Check out our more detailed breakdowns on our homepage!