Green New Deal

I was very impressed by the Camden New Journal this week that published a veritable essay by Natalie Bennett on why we need to modernise the economy with a Green New Deal.

Natalie is clearly a 'deficit denier' because she argues that "We need a Green New Deal – a major investment package to rapidly modernise the UK economy for a low-carbon future, while seeing off the recession through large-scale job-creation."

It's sickening to watch as the government attempts to deal with the deficit by undermining the entire basis of the economy. By turning taxpayers who are doing productive work into unemployed benefit claimants they're not just causing a host of personal tragedies they're also hitting the public services that the poorest need most.

The government like to talk about a low carbon economy, but unless they mean a society where no one has a job it's nothing but spin. We need investment to make the transition to anything resembling a low carbon economy. That doesn't just mean job creation but the right kind of jobs, that build for a sustainable society.

For me the way we deal with the deficit is to generate tax revenue with a combination of progressive taxation and rebuilding the economic base of the UK, not by cutting environmental projects and shutting down libraries.