The Green Party Presents: A Youth Manifesto for 2014

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1 The Green Party Presents: A Youth Manifesto for 2014

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3 A GREEN EUROPE Introducing democracy Referendum! Reducing youth unemployment WHAT EUROPEAN GREENS HAVE DONE A guarantee of work for young people Curbing pay at the top Opposing the EU/US trade deal ECONOMY & SOCIETY Protect public services Invest in a green future Crack down on tax avoidance YOUTH & EDUCATION Double spending on youth services Free education for all Stop the spread of academies and free schools JOBS No to workfare, yes to workplace democracy More training for young unemployed people Make the Minimum Wage a Living Wage HOUSING End the Right to Buy and introduce a Right to Rent Expand social and council housing More rights for people suffering from homelessness ENVIRONMENT Create a massive shift to renewable enegy Localise the food chain Bring back the fuel duty escalator GOVERNMENT & COMMUNITY Campaign for PR and votes at 16 Support LGBTQI movements Reject anti-immigration discourse Read on to find out more... THE YOUNG GREENS Young Greens are the youth and student branch of the Green Party. We organise within and beyond the Green Party to empower young people to work for genuine, lasting political change. Young Greens seek to combine principled actions and campaigning within our communities with electoral politics. We want to harness the energy and ideas of young people, moving society towards a sustainable and just future. If you re a member of the Green Party and under 30 or a student, you can join the Young Greens.

4 A GREEN EUROPE

5 Introduction We want a Green Europe. More elected Greens will stand up in a Europe currently facing the consequences of a flawed economic and social model with unregulated financial markets, an uncontrolled banking system and the dominance of private profit over public well-being. Introducing democracy With its lack of transparency and high levels of power given to unelected bodies, the EU has lost its citizens trust. We would push to restrict the power of lobbyists, improve the transparency of the decision-making process, increase the power of the democratically elected European Parliament and make the Commission accountable to it s electorate. Referendum! We believe in a more democratic Europe but we also believe in a more democratic UK. We think British people deserve a say over their political future. Reducing Youth unemployment We would stand by the Youth Guarantee, ensuring every young person in Europe is offered a job, further education or training. We will resist the austerity which is at the root of youth unemployment, and risks condemning a generation. Solidarity We will stand by Europeans suffering under austerity. With the gap between rich and poor in Europe increasing, it s vital that we provide common social security. This means fighting against tax evasion, protecting workers rights in Europe and making sure the banking sector is prevented from wreaking havoc on tax-payers again. Free movement We believe freedom of movement is a basic human right for everybody. For British pensioners in Spain but also Polish workers in the UK. We would defend freedom of movement within the EU.

6 WHAT GREEN MEPS HAVE DONE?

7 Greens in Europe stand up for young people. Our existing two MEPs (Keith Taylor and Jean Lambert) know how to make an impact! Here are just some of the things our MEPs have achieved: A guarantee of work for young people Green MEPs have tirelessly campaigned for EU support to those countries most affected by rocketing youth unemployment. The Greens/EFA campaign for Youth Employment to be earmarked led to the allocation of 3bn from the European Social Fund to fund it. Curbing pay at the top Greens in the European Parliament fought for, and won, a cap on bankers bonuses and tough legislation on speculators in the city. Only Greens are working to radically reform our economy to one which works for everyone. Opposing The EU/US Trade Deal You might never have heard of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) but that doesn t mean it s not important. In fact TTIP is set to be one of the largest trade deals in history and it s being negotiated behind closed doors and away from the democratic process. Greens are the only ones opposing it. We want to stop negotiations because of: - Proposals in the agreement to allow private companies to sue governments over regulations they don t like. - The potential for the watering down of regulations in the UK to harmonise with those in the United States. - The undemocratic process by which the deal is being done. Standing up for LGBTQI Rights Greens in the European Parliament have always been at the forefront of fighting for equality. Both Keith and Jean have fought for equal rights for LGBTQI people across the continent.

8 ECONOMY & SOCIETY Business as usual doesn t work. We must build a sustainable economy and society, investing in people and public services.

9 PUBLIC SERVICES The Green Party will reverse the trend towards the liberalisation, privatisation and deregulation of public services and utilities. We want to renationalise the railways and keep our NHS free and public. Cuts to health and education services will hit the poorest and most vulnerable first and we would protect basic public services. Key services must be free at the point of delivery so they are open and accessible to all. We believe we should pay for these services with a taxation system that promotes fairness and rewards behaviour that s both good for society and good for the environment. GREEN INVESTMENT We need to invest in the green economy now and support new institutions like a green investment bank and local community banks. We would introduce a massive programme of direct Government investment in large-scale wind and other renewable energy generation, and investment in the grid. This would create 80,000 jobs. This is needed urgently - the private sector has simply not put enough money into responding to the renewable energy challenge. FAIRER TRADE & TAXES We support a special tax on bankers bonuses and would crack down on tax havens and other methods of tax evasion and avoidance. We would promote fair trade, so that trade with developing countries is based on decent pay and conditions, with a fair price paid to producers. We support the Robin Hood Tax on financial transactions. We would act unilaterally by taxing sterling foreign exchange transactions, helping to set a global example. Background photo: Chris Honeywell

10 YOUTH & EDUCATION We need more investment in young people s education and youth services.

11 YOUTH SERVICES We would double the amount that local authorities spend on youth services. We would create Young People s Centres - dedicated spaces for young people to meet and to access information and specialist support. We would spend 1bn per yer on ensuring universal access to quality facilities for music, art, drama, dance and youth clubs, as well as sports. EDUCATION We believe in free education for all and we would phase in the abolition of student tuition fees in higher education. We would phase out Academies, Trust Schools and Free Schools - because businesses and private interests shouldn t have that much influence on our schools. Teachers and educational staff should get comprehensive training on all diversity and inclusion issues. Schools should promote equal opportunities in their anti-bullying procedures and equality issues should be monitored in teaching recruitment. Photo: Chris Honeywell

12 JOBS We need to protect the growing numbers of young people looking for work or in low paid jobs.

13 BETTER WORK We reject workfare and forcing unemployed people into unsuitable jobs by removing benefits. We support moves towards workplace democracy and a greater role for mutual models like worker co-operatives. JOB TRAINING We would offer Green workforce training and an environmental community programme, including training courses for jobs in energy conservation and renewable energy. We would spend 5bn on creating 350,000 training places, and offering opportunities to 700,000 unemployed people, in particular the young unemployed. LIVING WAGE We support a National Minimum Wage that is a Living Wage, at 60% of net national average earnings. We would work towards pay ratios, ensuring that the maximum wage in any organisation is no more than ten times the minimum wage in that organisation. THE FAIR PAY CAMPAIGN The Young Greens Fair Pay Campus Campaign aims to tackle wage inequalities at universities and in the higher education sector more widely. At 15:1, the Higher Education sector has the highest ratio between lowest and highest paid workers in the public sector. Growing academic evidence shows that institutions, organisations and societies with greater equality are more productive and their workers enjoy a greater sense of well being. The Young Greens want to see greater income equality in Higher Education and the rest of the public sector. We are currently supporting student groups in lobbying their Vice Chancellors to sign up to become a Fair Pay campus and will shortly be launching new resources to spread the Fair Pay campaign beyond universities.

14 HOUSING Young people are finding it harder and harder to get on the job ladder and are getting ripped off by dodgy landlords and letting agents. We need to invest in social housing and promote affordability and sustainability.

15 MORE & BETTER HOUSING We would start investing in social and council housing again, and let local authorities use receipts from sales to fund new affordable accommodation. The Greens would end the Right to Buy and introduce the Right to Rent. People facing severe difficulties with paying their mortgage and facing repossession should have a right to rent their existing home as council housing. We would provide more rights for homeless people and halve the one million empty homes through empty property use orders. INVESTMENT & GROWTH We would kickstart the building trade by providing funding to local authorities to expand social housing, mainly through conversion and renovation, creating 80,000 jobs. Development would be evenly distributed across the whole of the country, therefore reducing pressure on housing in the South East in particular. We also support self-build social cooperatives. We would minimise encroachment onto undeveloped greenfield sites wherever possible by reusing previously developed sites that have fallen into disuse. Photo: Kevin Baird (Creative Commons)

16 ENVIRONMENT Climate change is a demonstration of the catastrophic social and environmental consequences of business as usual. We must protect the environment for future generations.

17 CLIMATE CHANGE We would aim to obtain half our energy from renewable sources by 2020 and ensure that emissions from power generation are zero by We would discourage use of fossil fuels by bringing back the fuel duty escalator, increasing duty in real terms by 8% per annum. We want to increase the tranquillity of our urban environments, with less litter, less noise, reduced light pollution and more green spaces. CONTRACTION AND CONVERGENCE We support the Contraction and Convergence framework for mitigating climate change. Under such a system, all countries would eventually converge on the same low emissions per capita. Rich countries would need to contract to that level quickly, while poorer countries would contract much more slowly to that level, or in a few cases expand to meet it. FAIRER FOOD We want to localise the food chain, including assistance for small farms, starting farmers markets, farm box schemes and locally owned co-ops. We believe in phasing out all forms of factory farming of animals, enforcing strict animal welfare standards, and dramatically reducing the use of pesticides to protect both humans and wildlife. We support GM-free zones and continue to work for a complete ban on genetically modified food in Europe. Photo: Mike Thomson (Creative Commons)

18 GOVERNMENT & COMMUNITY We need fair representation and respect for everyone, including young people and at the international level.

19 Representation We would introduce proportional representation, including for the House of Lords, to help fix our unfair electoral system, hold people to account, and make sure that every vote counts. We would introduce the right to vote at 16 because we believe that young people should have a say. We believe that issues should be decided at a local level whenever possible. We would decentralise and localise, putting power back in the hands of people. We would revive local government through grassroots democracy and the use of smaller community and district councils with enhanced powers including new tax-raising powers. Respect & LGBTQI We will work to ensure respect for everyone whatever their ethnicity, gender, age, religious belief or nonbelief, sexual orientation, class, size, disability or other status. We will campaign for homophobic and transphobic crimes as well as crimes against disabled people - including people with learning difficulties - to be dealt with effectively and on a par with racist crimes. The Greens support the human rights struggles of LGBTQI movements in oppressive states such as Jamaica, Iran, Uganda, Malawi, Iraq, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Russia. We would push for the rewriting of the Mental Health Act to remove trans people from the Psychiatric Disorder Register. International We reject the use of immigration as a political issue to mask problems such as a lack of high quality social housing. The proper solution is to provide enough social housing. We would open up ways for existing illegal migrants who have been here for three years to become legal. We need more and better aid. We will exceed the UN s 0.7% target and allocate at least 1% of UK Gross National Product for aid. Aid should be targeted for the poorest, not involve economic policy conditions, respect gender equality, and not be diverted to equipping security forces.

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