Green Party secures the rabbit vote with promise of total ban on rabbit hutches
THE Green Party left political pundits somewhat baffled today promising a total ban on rabbit hutches and bird cages if it gets into power.
In their manifesto, which was released today, the party said it would introduce a 'complete ban' on cages for both birds and rabbits.
It also said it would ban the practice of 'puppy farming', where young dogs are sold without their mother being present and ban grouse shooting and the whip in racing.
The leftfield promises were among a raft of policy statements proposed by Natalie Bennett's party including:
Tax
• The Greens would introduce a raft of tax increases, bringing in £198.6bn a year by 2019 – an extra £6,600 for every taxpayer.
• This would include increases in income and inheritance taxes and a wealth charge of two per cent on people worth more than £3m – which the party claims would raise £25bn a year by the end of the parliament.
• They would also clamp down on tax evasion, raising £30bn a year by 2019.
• Additional levies on alcohol, tobacco and unhealthy food would raise billions, the party says.
Economy and spending
• The Green Party is promising an "alternative to austerity".
• Its biggest spending commitments include increasing pension and child benefit welfare payments, investment in renewable energy and reversing cuts to school-aged and higher education budgets.
• The party says it would save £21bn in existing spending commitment by the final year of the next parliament, including by scrapping the Help to Buy scheme and not replacing the Trident nuclear weapons system.
Employment
• The party says it is a target of theirs to increase the living wage to £10 an hour by 2020.
• The manifesto promises that a Green government would create one million new jobs paying at least that living wage.
• They would also phase in 35-hour weeks and ban zero-hour contracts.
Pensioners
• A Green government would provide "proper funding and free social care for the elderly".
• The party would introduce a citizens pension, paid to all pensioners regardless of how much they had paid in over their lifetime, of £180 a week to a single pensioner and £310 to a couple. They claim this would take all pensioners above the poverty line. Pensioners living abroad would receive the same amount as those in the UK.
• The Greens have also committed to keeping the free bus pass and Winter Fuel Payment – and would scrap prescription charges and the TV licence for old and young.
NHS
• The party has vowed to “end privatisation in the NHS”.
• They would increase the overall NHS budget by £12bn a year and provide free social care.
Defence and terrorism
• The Greens would scrap Britain’s nuclear deterrent, and pursue a policy of “defensive defence, which threatens no one”.
• The party backtracked on a policy that would have allowed people to freely join terrorist groups that are banned under existing laws.
Crime
• The Greens would grant prisoners the right to vote, cut the number of prisoners in the system and treat drug addicts with health services rather than punish them using the justice system.
Housing
• They commit to providing 500,000 social homes for rent over the next five years.
• The ‘bedroom tax’ and Help to Buy scheme would be abolished.
Education
• If elected, the party would end tuition fees and cancel all student debt.
• They would abolish SATs tests, school league tables and academies, and introduce free early education and childcare.
• They also support class sizes of 20, which the party claims would cost £1.5bn over the next five years.
Europe
• The Greens support having a referendum on Britain’s continued membership of the European Union. They support staying in a reformed EU but says it would not join the Euro single currency.
Immigration
• The party claims to have rejected an “open borders approach” to migration, but the party would make it much easier for people from around the world to settle in the UK and rejects an “arbitrary” cap on the numbers of people coming to Britain.
• This would include scrapping the rule that says British citizens must earn at least £18,600 before their spouse can settle in the UK.
• Free English or Welsh language classes would be offered to new immigrants at a cost of £200m a year.
Defence and terrorism
• The Greens would scrap Britain’s nuclear deterrent, and pursue a policy of “defensive defence, which threatens no one”.
• The party backtracked on a policy that would have allowed people to freely join terrorist groups that are banned under existing laws.
Crime
• The Greens would grant prisoners the right to vote, cut the number of prisoners in the system and treat drug addicts with health services rather than punish them using the justice system.
Housing
• They commit to providing 500,000 social homes for rent over the next five years.
• The ‘bedroom tax’ and Help to Buy scheme would be abolished.
Education
• If elected, the party would end tuition fees and cancel all student debt.
• They would abolish SATs tests, school league tables and academies, and introduce free early education and childcare.
• They also support class sizes of 20, which the party claims would cost £1.5bn over the next five years.
Transport
• The party would reduce public transport fares by 10 per cent on 2015 levels.
• They would also seek to bring the railways back into public ownership.
• The current government's £15bn road building programme would be scrapped.
The planet
• The Greens blame humans for causing a “sixth extinction”, with hundreds of thousands of species lost in recent years.
• The party would seek to reduce the use of pesticides, help bees, expand marine conservation zones and back sustainable farming.
• Other policies include a ban on the production and sale of foie gras, CCTV in all slaughterhouses, and an end to the controversial badger cull.
