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Labour for a Green New Deal (LGND) welcome Labour’s
plan for 400,000 new green jobs to tackle the climate crisis
and unemployment.
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But this plan is a retreat
from the Green New Deal policies which Labour Party
members and trade unions backed overwhelmingly at conference
last year and in this summer’s consultation.
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LGND spokesperson: “We call on Labour to be braver -
and keep its promises to fight for a socialist Green New
Deal”
Last night, Labour announced a Green Recovery
Plan, challenging the Tories to tackle both the
climate crisis and unemployment caused by the coronavirus
pandemic.
Labour for a Green New Deal (LGND) welcome Labour’s plan to
bring forward £30bn of spending over the next 18 months, creating
400,000 new green jobs.
However, Labour’s Green Recovery Plan is a retreat on
Labour’s commitment to a socialist Green New Deal. The Green
Recovery Plan does not commit to public ownership of key
industries and does not include existing Labour policies to
tackle the climate crisis, create millions of good green jobs and
build back better after covid.
The Labour Party has a mandate for socialist Green New
Deal. Labour members and trade unionists backed a socialist Green
New Deal at the 2019 Labour conference and
then again in
Labour’s policy consultation this summer. In this summer’s
consultation, more than two-thirds of all responses backed LGND’s
radical plans.
Policies which have not been included in the Labour Party’s
Green Recovery Plan include: a £60bn ‘Warm Homes for All’ scheme
which could create 250,000 jobs; a National Care Service; and
rolling out universal broadband. Notably, there is no mention of
public ownership, which has been a key demand of Labour members
and trade unions, or a just transition for workers.
A Labour for a Green New Deal spokesperson said:
“We welcome Labour’s plan for 400,000 green jobs, but call
on the party to be braver and go further. Labour has ready-to-go
policies which can tackle the climate crisis, create millions of
good green jobs and build back better after covid, from Warm
Homes for All to a National Care Service to Universal Broadband.
In the face of economic, health and climate crises, now is not
the time to scale back our ambitions.
“Labour members and trade unionists demand a socialist
Green New Deal. They backed it overwhelmingly at party conference
last year and again in this summer’s consultation, in which more
than two-thirds of responses supported our campaign’s demands.
Labour has a democratic mandate to argue for large-scale
investment, expanding public ownership and a just transition for
workers. We expect the Leadership to keep its promises and fight
for a Green New Deal.”
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