Greens call for £75bn tax hit on polluters and the wealthy

The Green Party has called for an emergency £75 billion tax package targeting polluters and the country’s wealthiest individuals, to fund a nationwide insulation and renewable energy programme.

At the party’s annual conference in Harrogate, co-leader Carla Denyer called for a new wealth tax on the richest 1% of households – starting with a marginal rate of 1% on those with £3.4 million, rising to 10% on those with £18.2 million and above.

She said there should be a “dirty profits tax” on North Sea oil and gas which would be used as a stepping stone towards a permanent carbon tax on polluting industries.

And she said the Government’s new energy price cap should be extended to limit the price of oil and gas to where it was last October, while the Big Five energy retailers should be nationalised.

“We’ve got the leakiest homes in Europe – losing huge amounts of energy through badly sealed windows and poorly lined walls,” she said.

“We could be saving hundreds, thousands of pounds through insulation – reducing energy wastage, cutting bills and emissions. It really isn’t rocket science. The cheapest bill is the one you don’t have to pay.”

Her fellow co-leader Adrian Ramsay added: “Rich people are getting richer and everyone else is getting poorer and more anxious, and the new Prime Minister is, as we suspected, doing everything she can to maintain that status quo.

“She has doubled down on the Tories’ lack of compassion and awareness for people’s real-life concerns as the cost of living crisis is allowed to continue and gather pace.

“This Government is nothing short of dangerous.”