The Green Party launched its General Election manifesto with a call for a "peaceful political revolution" to end austerity and tackle climate change.
It pledged to stop the "creeping privatisation of the NHS" and increase the minimum wage to £10 an hour.
Leader Natalie Bennett and Caroline Lucas, the party's only ever MP, unveiled a plan to help the two million children growing up in cold homes.
They want an insulation programme for the worst affected nine million homes.
Introducing the manifesto at the Arcola Theatre in Dalston, east London, Ms Bennett said it represented a "genuine alternative" to "business as usual politics".
She said she wanted to "take back" the NHS and the railways from the public sector.
Key priorities
Green
Main pledges
- End austerity and restore the public sector, creating jobs that pay at least a living wage
- End privatisation of the National Health Service
- Work with other countries to ensure global temperatures do not rise by more than 2C
- £85bn programme of home insulation, renewable electricity generation & flood defences
- Provide 500,000 social homes for rent by 2020 and control rent levels
- Return the railways to public hands
She also highlighted a new 60% rate of income tax and a 10% cut in public transport fares.
The Greens are fielding a record number of candidates - 571 - on 7 May and they claim a surge in membership numbers to 59,000 - more than UKIP and the Lib Dems.
Ms Lucas said a free nationwide insulation programme to tackle cold homes, specifically in areas blighted by fuel poverty, would help two million children.
She also called for extra £1.3 billion on the NHS budget to deal with the associated costs of cold homes.
"We believe if we invest in insulating people's homes, we can get their fuel bills down on a permanent basis," Ms Lucas told BBC Radio 4's Today programme
"It would also get our climate change emissions down and could create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
"And crucially, for every £1 invested in this programme, it's estimated that £1.27 comes back to the economy in terms of the benefit in jobs and reduction on the NHS bill."
Ms Lucas said the government had "a woeful record on energy insulation", with the installation of energy efficient measures in UK homes falling by 80% over the last two years.
The Green Party says it has attracted thousands of new members over the past year. The challenge in this election will be to see that surge in support translate into parliamentary success.
Victory in Brighton Pavilion, where Caroline Lucas has been the party's sole MP, is vital to ensure the Greens' stint at Westminster isn't just seen as a blip.
The party will publish its manifesto calling for a "peaceful political revolution" to end austerity and tackle climate change.
But after promising a fully costed manifesto, the party should expect a deep analysis of its policies and significant scrutiny of the costs involved.
The Green Party has called for a "progressive alliance" with the SNP if it has MPs at Westminster in the next Parliament.
But Ms Lucas said the Greens would not get involved in a "formal coalition" with any major party, claiming support on "a case by case basis is a much more effective way for a smaller party to make inroads".
"We've ruled out being a coalition government," she told Today. "When you look at the experience of the Liberal Democrats in their coalition with the Tories, it's not a model that's been a huge success for them - you end up losing your identity and possibly, your integrity as well.
"We're a party committed to redistribution, social justice and to crucially recognising that we live on a planet of finite resources, and unless we have that understanding at the heart of all our policies, then we're not going to be able to live in a safe way into the future."
Scrap road building
Recently, Ms Bennett said the party's policy of a Citizens' Income of £72 a week for every adult in Britain would feature in the manifesto, but that it would take longer than one parliament for it to be implemented.
The cut in public transport fares would be paid for by scrapping new road-building programmes, while the party is also expected to pledge free social care for the elderly.
At the weekend, Ms Bennett said the 60% top rate of tax would apply to people earning over £150,000 and that it would raise £2bn a year.
Ms Lucas said the Greens would not rule out banning the Grand National if there was sufficient evidence of an animal welfare issue.
At the manifesto launch in East London, Ms Bennett is expected to promise to reverse what she calls the "creeping privatisation" of the NHS.
She will say: "Austerity has failed and we need a peaceful political revolution to get rid of it.
"Our manifesto is an unashamedly bold plan to create a more equal, more democratic society while healing the planet from the effects of an unstable, unsustainable economy."
Subscribe to the BBC Election 2015 newsletter to get a round-up of the day's campaign news sent to your inbox every weekday afternoon.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Greens pledging to 'take back' NHS
Dengan url
http://gayabugarsehat.blogspot.com/2015/04/greens-pledging-to-take-back-nhs.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Greens pledging to 'take back' NHS
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Greens pledging to 'take back' NHS
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar