Green Manifesto 2010 General Election

Business as usual, brought to you by the main political parties, has given us a series of linked economic, environmental and social crises. Why would you trust these same parties to sort the crises out? The state of Britain in May 2010 cries out for fresh thinking and new progressive voices.

What have the other parties got to offer?

The financial crisis has torn the veil from the Tories’ ‘compassionate conservatism’. They will let the market rip, roll back the State, and hope that the voluntary sector will pick up the pieces. It is hard to imagine a recipe more guaranteed to deepen inequality and destroy the planet than this – yet that is what David Cameron offers you.

New Labour has its back to the wall in the far corner of the last chance saloon. After thirteen years in power its fingerprints are all over the unjust and unsustainable economy that the new Government will inherit. New Labour is stimulating the economy through increasing consumption – exactly the wrong thing to do.

The Liberal Democrats – the ‘nice party’ – have just got nastier. The fig-leaf of higher taxes for the wealthy has gone, and Nick Clegg has imposed a ‘the state is a problem’ mentality on his party.

Unlike any of the other parties, we believe this is exactly the time to address the rising inequality which has so disfigured our society in recent years. We want to address the triple economic, environmental and social crises, and give every member of our society the opportunity to have a better life. Only the Green Party understands the need for a new economic and environmental settlement, in which our economy and our environment work with rather than against each other, for the benefit of all.

So I urge you to vote Green on May 6th for a fairer world.

Caroline Lucas : Green Party Leader