Green alternatives to austerity

Will Duckworth, outgoing Deputy Leader of the Green Party, is speaking on Green alternatives to austerity on Saturday 20th September. He will be speaking in a public session of the Oxfordshire Green Gathering.

All are welcome to his talk and to the workshops before his talk.

Will Duckworth will be saying:

Austerity is not an economic imperative. We have to make sure we tax people properly. That is, ensure that people pay the correct amount of tax the legal level, and the level they are expected to pay. Tax evasion and tax avoidance cost us, according to economists’ reports, £120bn per year. Let’s make sure we set taxes that are not there to be avoided and that when people evade them illegally we catch them and punish them.

To get out of this crisis, we must invest. In jobs, in useful industries, and in people. We can bring people back into the world of work, benefitting everyone they get a job and a decent income, the taxpayer spends less on social security payments, and every one of us benefits from the results of their labour.

We believe Green technology holds the key to rescuing us from ecological catastrophe. Species’ extinctions, rising temperatures and sea-levels do threaten us all. We can lead the world in Green technology and manufacture, creating thousands and thousands of new jobs in the process, if we’re just brave enough to do so. If our politicians don't believe that people and the planet are worth investing in then we need to change our politicians.