A Manifesto for Public Services

You may already have noticed this, but there’s an election coming. On May 5th Scotland will choose its next group of 129 people to send to Holyrood, and we think it’s the most important election since devolution began.

Those 129 people will decide how Scotland responds to the UK Government’s cuts to public services. Should we do as George Osborne and Danny Alexander have done, slashing the services people most depend on and turning health and education over to the market? We don’t think so.

This week we launched a manifesto which shows how Scotland can stand up to the LibDem/Tory cuts, and take our economy in a new and better direction. The domination of right wing ideas is what has brought the country into the mess that we’re in today, and we cannot trust those same ideas to get us out of it. Instead, let’s invest together in the future we want to see. Let’s close the gap between rich and poor. Let’s make economic recovery really mean something.

When I voted ‘Yes Yes’ back in 1998 to create a Scottish Parliament with tax-varying powers, I wasn’t a member of a political party. I did so because I knew there could one day be another Tory government, determined to attack public services and the welfare state, with no mandate in Scotland. I wanted a political institution with the power and the will to protect Scotland from that agenda.

It’s not theoretical any more. It’s happening right now. If we’re not going to live up to those aspirations now, then what really was the point? It’s time to act creatively with the powers we have, and I’m very proud to offer a manifesto which does just that.

Face to Face interview

This week I took part in STV’s series of 30 minute election interviews, perhaps the most detailed grilling that Alex, Iain, Annabel, Tavish and I have undergone during the campaign so far.

Robin Hood comes to Glasgow

Campaigners have been out in force for all the political parties this weekend, doorknocking, leafleting, and generally trying to get noticed. But I stopped off in the city centre earlier to chat with another campaign group – the Robin Hood Tax is a hugely important idea for raising revenue to protect public services, moving the economy away from the buccaneer capitalist’s dream which the other parties love so much, and helping to make the phrase “we’re all in this together” actually mean something.

The RHT campaigners have been touring the country and getting a great response. Like the recent March for the Alternative, along with UK Uncut, the STUC’s Better Way campaign, and others who are drawing attention to the failings of the current deregulated free market system, they are putting positive and creative ideas on the table and challenging the politicians to act.

It’s dismal to see how little there is in the way of a coherent left of centre response to the economic crisis from the political parties which like to call themselves “mainstream”. They were all over the likes of Fred Goodwin like a rash, before he became a pariah. Now they seem to think that the same economic model can simply be refloated.

In the Scottish Parliament it’s only been the Greens who have seemed interested in developing new economic ideas as a response to the events of the last few years. Our proposal for a Land Value Tax is one way of starting to build an economy that’s based on something real instead of the obscure and abstract “products” of the finance fetishists.

But even though with existing devolved powers we can’t introduce a Robin Hood Tax of our own in Scotland, it would be interested to find our which of the other parties would do it if we could.

Tonight I’ll be taking part in the latest TV election debate, focusing on the economy. I’ll be aiming to move beyond the bland managerialism of the others (I’ll see your x thousand jobs in renewables and raise you a small business bonus…) and start talking about the ideas which could underpin a real economic recovery – and remember that recovery does not mean the reanimation of a corpse.

If we get this right, we could build a more equal society, a cleaner greener economy, and a better quality of life. If we fail it will be the low paid and the vulnerable, not the bankers and hedge fund managers, who pay the price for the financial irresponsibility of government after government.

NEWS RELEASE – Greens set out comprehensive challenge on climate

Patrick Harvie will take part in tonight’s Climate Day election debate, organised by Stop Climate Chaos Scotland. (1) In advance of the debate the Scottish Greens outlined a package of the five most important policy changes required if Scotland is to play its part in global efforts to tackle climate change, and also to see the benefits of a shift to a low carbon economy and society.

* Taking the Climate Challenge Fund to the next level: Greens in the last Parliament persuaded the SNP to deliver a £37m fund to support hundreds of community-led carbon reduction projects across Scotland. Greens will increase funding for this project to £125m over the next session, including simpler support for smaller projects and a partnering scheme to share community expertise.

* A shift away from road and air: blocking the unsustainable and ineffective Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, and repairing the existing Forth Road Bridge and other existing roads rather than building additional capacity. Greens would end all airport expansion in Scotland, and provide financial support to cut public transport fares and support new infrastructure, including park and ride facilities, more rail electrification and re-opening railway stations, as well as specific funding for walking and cycling.

* Getting to green-only energy: shifting Scotland’s entire electricity supply to a broad mix of renewables by 2020 and starting to export our surplus, both within the UK and beyond. All Scotland’s nuclear and large-scale fossil fuel capacity to be phased out entirely. Carbon capture and storage is unproven and we cannot rely upon it.

* Insulating all Scotland’s homes: as launched earlier this week, a £100 million per year scheme to insulate every home in Scotland, including free loft and cavity insulation for every home which can benefit from it, plus soft loans for more substantial energy efficiency measures. This policy alone would deliver a reduction in emissions of more than 6% once complete.

* Toughening the targets: taking annual targets to reduce emissions up to 4.5%. The 2007 SNP manifesto pledged 3% per annum, but in October 2010, with Lib Dem and Conservative support, SNP Ministers passed targets of 0% (2010), 0.5% (2011) and 0.3% (2012). Greens were the only party to oppose these inadequate annual targets.

Patrick Harvie, co-convenor of the Scottish Greens, speaking ahead of the Climate Day election debate, said:

“Tackling climate change and building a successful low-carbon Scotland are threads that run through the fabric of our whole approach to politics. Other parties may talk about climate change in their manifesto, but once the votes are counted they all revert to type. Only Greens will remain uncompromising in our approach to climate change, and only Greens are offering a serious shift away from the polluting and inefficient policies pursued at Holyrood since 1999.

“Greens will toughen Parliament’s laughable emissions targets, involve communities across Scotland by trebling support for our successful Climate Challenge Fund project, shift funding from roads to public transport and active travel, decarbonise our energy supply completely, and insulate every home. These are long-term changes, but the next Parliament must make a start. We cannot afford another twelve years where Ministers alternate between inaction and steps in the wrong direction.

“The climate contortions of the other parties are there for all to see. They talk about the renewables revolution, but in London and Edinburgh, all of them back either dirty new coal plants or risky nuclear. They spout hot air about sustainable transport, yet all the other parties voted for new climate-busting motorway and bridge projects. Only Greens opposed the virtually flatline carbon targets proposed last year. Labour, the SNP, the Lib Dems and even the Tories claim to be part of the solution on climate change. The reality is they’re still at the heart of the problem.

“There is an urgent need to tackle climate change, but the social costs of Scotland’s oil dependency are also becoming much more obvious. Fuel prices will continue to rise as global oil supplies reach their peak, and food and energy prices will follow. Economies which can break their dependence on oil and other fossil fuels will thrive, but continuing with business as usual politics on this issue would expose Scotland to poverty and stagnation. Only the Scottish Greens have a credible and coherent vision for a green Scotland, and only the Greens have the determination needed to see this vision delivered.”

Climate Day is an initiative by Stop Climate Chaos Scotland – a diverse coalition of over 60 organisations campaigning together on climate change. As part of ‘Climate Day’, this evening (Wednesday 13th April at 7:30pm) Stop Climate Chaos Scotland is organising Scotland’s first live online election debate on climate change between the main political parties.

NEWS RELEASE – Community campaigners star in Green broadcast

The Scottish Green Party have today launched their party election broadcast for the 2011 Holyrood poll on Facebook and Twitter, 24 hours before its first airing on Monday. The film, entitled ‘Because’, features party supporters and members who share the Greens’ vision for Scotland, as well local campaigners telling how Greens have supported their efforts to protect their homes, community hospitals, local schools and green spaces.

The film features 26 speakers from across the Scottish regions, including former BBC Scotland correspondent Louise Batchelor, land rights campaigner Andy Wightman, artist David Shrigley, and Michael Forbes, who was threatened with eviction by Donald Trump. The broadcast also features music by Edinburgh band White Heath from their forthcoming debut album “Take No Thought For Tomorrow”.

Patrick Harvie said:

“During the last Parliament we worked with community campaigns across Scotland, from the North Kelvin Meadow group in Glasgow to the Menie residents threatened with eviction by Donald Trump. Greens supported local hospital campaigners, fought to keep schools open, and worked to protect the green spaces communities rely on. We could not be more pleased to see so many people prepared to come out now and say why they in turn are giving their second vote to the Greens in May.”

The broadcast is available on Vimeo and on YouTube.

It will be aired first on April 11 at the following times: BBC 1 at 22.35, BBC 2 at 23.30 and STV at 22.40. The radio version is on BBC Radio Scotland at 15:55.

The film was directed, shot and edited by Simon Hipkins and James Alcock from Macmillan Media.

The 26 people featured in the Scottish Greens’ party election broadcast are, in order of appearance:

1. Merle Ferguson, from Ardentinny
2. Elanor Gordon, from Invergordon, filmed in Stirling
3. Rob Kay, from Kilsyth, Green list candidate for Central region
4. Marij van Helmond, Dunoon
5. Emily Freeman, Edinburgh
6. Idem Lewis, Glasgow
7. Anne Widdop, director of a small company in Edinburgh
8. Andy Wightman, land rights campaigner and land value tax expert
9. Douglas Peacock, North Kelvin Meadow campaign, Glasgow
10. Helen Houston, Moffat
11. Michael Forbes, threatened with eviction for Donald Trump’s development at Menie, Aberdeenshire
12. Dorothy Bothwell, Friends of Union Terrace Gardens, Aberdeen
13. Kim Suprajirawatananon, Glasgow
14. Dominic Hinde, Edinburgh
15. Gordon Cowtan, Fintry
16. Louise Batchelor, former BBC Scotland environment correspondent, Kinross
17. Uzma Tufail-Hanif, Edinburgh
18. Veronika Tudhope, postal worker and active in CWU, Green list candidate for Central region, Kilmarnock
19. Jim Evans-Ewing, Glasgow
20. David Shrigley, Glasgow artist
21. Callum Whiteford, Edinburgh
22. Simon Hackin, founder of Greenworks, an Edinburgh wood reuse and recycling enterprise
23. Sarah Holliday, from Tiree, filmed in Edinburgh
24. Graeme Holbrook, Moffat
25. Jack Hunter, Edinburgh
26. Emma Pattinson, Edinburgh
27. Dominic Hinde (again)
28. Kim Suprajirawatananon (again)
29. Jim Evans-Ewing (again)

The track featured is “Sunday In Fragments”. For more on White Heath, visit them on Myspace.

The Scottish Green Party’s three key election campaign pledges are as follows:

- No fees – keep tuition free
Education benefits us all, not just students, and must be based on the ability to learn, not to pay.

- Fairer taxes – invest in public services
Only Greens are offering an alternative to the cuts to public services: investment built on revenue from big business and the better off.

- Cut your bills – insulate every home
We would insulate every home for free, boost jobs and tackle climate change.

NEWS RELEASE – Greens launch plan for fairer, sustainable tax

The Scottish Greens today set out the detail of the party’s proposals to replace both Council Tax and Uniform Business Rates with a Land Value Taxfrom 2012 at an event at the Renfrew Ferry. At the rates proposed by the party, this move would bring in £1.04bn of additional revenue each year, as well as providing incentives for sustainable business development within local planning guidelines. Those living in residential properties currently banded A to E would pay less, and those in Scotland’s most valuable properties, banded F to H, would pay more. Overall, more than 85% of Scots households will see their tax bills fall.

Urban vacant land would be brought into the tax system for the first time, deterring “land banking” and encouraging business development, as would agriculture, forestry and shooting estates, although at a heavily discounted rate compared to other businesses. Land Value Tax is calculated by applying a poundage rate to the overall value of the land in question. Land values in Scotland vary significantly according to location and planning permission – an average hectare of industrial land is valued at £1m, while an average hectare of agricultural land is valued at just over £4,000. At the levels proposed by the Scottish Greens, the tax on the former would be £80,000 per annum while the tax on the latter would be just £100 per annum.

Patrick Harvie said:

“Local taxation is broken, budgets for public services are being squeezed, and vacant land and empty commercial properties are a blight on our towns and cities. Scotland is being held back by a Council Tax regime which was unfair and outdated even before the SNP started setting it nationally. Neither the Council Tax nor business rates provide any incentives to promote either the maintenance of property or the sensible and efficient development of land.

“A switch to Land Value Tax should have happened more than a century ago, when it was the centrepiece of Churchill and Lloyd George’s ‘People’s Budget’ proposals in 1909. Labour also sought to introduce it in 1931, but were again blocked by vested interests. Land values are affected by the local investments society makes, and this change would ensure society in turn benefits from these unearned windfalls, while also cracking down on tax avoidance.

“Scotland is facing the worst squeeze on our public finances in a generation, and all the other Holyrood parties can do is squabble about how to hand on the Tory cuts from Westminster. They all set entirely the wrong course for Scotland – we should be using Holyrood’s existing powers to invest in jobs, education, housing, and the low-carbon economy they all talk about. There is no other credible alternative on the table, and only a second vote for the Greens can protect our public services and our distinctive social settlement for the long term. In the next session of Parliament it’s either Land Value Tax or bust.”

Unlike the SNP’s unworkable and unfair income tax plans, Land Value Tax for domestic properties would also continue to be eligible for Council Tax Benefit under the terms of the 1992 Local Government Finance Act, which allows Scottish Ministers to define the land and properties to which both Council Tax and Council Tax Benefit apply. See 72 (4) in particular here (this is pre-devolution legislation so the role of the Scottish Secretary here is now filled by Scottish Ministers). For the land value figures see p.15 of Andy Wightman’s earlier report. The current proposals supercede the poundage levels set out in that report.