Our congratulations to Jeremy Corbyn for his historic win in the Labour leadership elections. We are glad to see that Labour finally has an authentic person to carry them forward.
However, Corbyn isn’t Green, he may be ‘old’ Labour, but times have moved on, and the future is not well represented by the past.
In an era when the security that citizens need should come simply from being citizens, not from their jobs, the Green Party works for the fundamentally egalitarian measure of introducing an unconditional Citizens Income, which we would set at a level sufficient to ensure that the poorest benefitted. Greens stand for the security of every citizen, not a return to the old days of heavy labour, polluting coal mines, dirty energy and terrible health. No-one in Wales wants to see the return of dirty jobs and disability. What we do want to see is a return of strong communities, and only the Green party is working to protect and enhance our rural communities, and value them for the goods and services they provide for us all.
Unlike a Corbyn led Labour party, the Green Party does not see an environmentally costly building programme as the solution to our needs. We would ensure that people are removed from fuel poverty, and the existing housing stock better used, properly insulated and retro fitted so that as many houses as possible create more energy than they use. We would control rents and discourage the purchase of housing primarily as an investment; and provide affordable homes built to the highest low energy standards.
‘Corbynomics’ is an economics based on labour and capital. Greens underline that such outdated approaches have not come to terms with the fundamental planetary boundaries we are facing, and completely ignore the centrality of land and its fundamental importance as a provider of food and biodiversity. We are at a turning point in human history, and Corbyn’s lack of ecological joined-up thinking is not going to help us overcome the challenges of climate change and rising seas already being experienced in Wales
We acknowledge Jeremy Corbyn has many virtues, and we look forward to working together with him on issues of common ground such as the abolition of Trident, bringing essential services back into public ownership, and scrapping the bedroom tax. However, like Tony Blair and George Osborne and many more he is thoroughly in hock to the outdated fetish for economic growth based on debt.
Greens need to press forward with the debate on Monetary Reform, Land Value tax and Proportional Representation. Greens need to fight harder than ever to end polluting energy supplies and the depletion of our soils. To leave our society and our planet fit for future generations is our goal, and Corbyn, sadly, will bring us no nearer that goal.
The case for the Green Party is stronger than ever.