The Green Party were the third party to release their manifesto, find the key points here:
Big NHS investment
The cash injection being promised by the Greens into the NHS is huge. In the first year, they say they will increase the budget in England by ÂŁ8bn. It is currently ÂŁ165bn. And by 2030 there will be ÂŁ28bn more. There will be more for public health too, delivered by councils.
To put that into context, the Liberal Democrats are only promising ÂŁ8bn a year more for health by the end of the Parliament, while the Conservatives have limited their promises to above inflation increases.
The Green Party manifesto promises quicker access to NHS dentistry and GPs and reductions in the hospital waiting list. But the money will also be needed for one of its more unique proposals: a commitment to restore pay for junior doctors. That requires a 35% pay increase, something none of the other parties seem prepared to do.
Tax on assets over ÂŁ10m
The Green Party manifesto proposes to raise up to ÂŁ151bn a year in new taxes by 2029. This would be a very large increase, equal to around 4.5% of GDP.
One of the big components of this is a new tax on the weathy, which they say would raise about ÂŁ15bn. This would be levied at 1% a year on the assets of people with more than ÂŁ10m and 2% on those with more than ÂŁ1bn.
Some tax experts are doubtful this would raise as much as the Greens’ costings suggest, saying many wealthier people who are resident in the UK have only tenuous ties with the UK and could leave to avoid it.
However, Arun Advani of Warwick University, who was part of the Wealth Tax Commission, judges the idea of raising a sum from a wealth tax similar to that claimed by the Greens to be “economically credible”.
Tax rise for earners on more than ÂŁ50,270
The Green Party’s proposal on National Insurance is to charge the basic 8% rate on income above what’s called the Upper Earnings Limit.
If you pay higher-rate tax at 40% on some of your pay, you are in a small minority of the population who earn more than the higher-rate threshold of £50,270 a year. It is currently about 5.8 million people out of the total population of 67 million – less than a tenth.
It is a minority that’s expanding rapidly because of the 2021 decision to freeze income tax and National Insurance thresholds so that they do not rise in line with earnings or inflation. Since then, wages have risen rapidly but the thresholds haven’t, dragging more and more taxpayers above them to pay a higher rate of tax. Had those thresholds risen as before, there would now be only 3.9 million people exposed to the Green Party’s proposal – a little over a tenth of the workforce.
But instead there are now 5.8 million – about 15%. And that is set to grow to 6.7 million, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility. The Greens say that if you earn £55,000, the additional amount you pay under their proposals would be less than £6 per week and if you earn £65,000, it would be about £17 a week.
Scrap university tuition fees
The Greens are making a renewed pledge to scrap university tuition fees.
The party say they would “fully fund” every student and bring back maintenance grants. It is an expensive promise. It also comes at a time when universities are worried about their finances. Fees for UK students haven’t kept up with costs, and the number of higher-paying international students is predicted to fall.
The party says it would scrap “high-stakes testing” in schools and abolish their regulator, Ofsted. And there is a pledge to boost funding for schools by £8bn, including £2bn for teachers’ pay.
Spending per pupil currently sits, in real terms, at around the same level it did in 2010. With schools’ costs projected to rise by 4% in 2024 and teachers’ pay for September at the top of the next education secretary’s to-do list, head teachers will be keen to dig into the detail.
Dismantle Trident, stay in NATO
The Greens call for sweeping reforms of Britain’s defence and foreign policies but the radicalism is often tempered by some more mainstream positions. The party would dismantle Britain’s entire Trident nuclear deterrent and remove all foreign nuclear weapons from UK soil. But the party would also keep the UK in the Nato military alliance, saying it has “an important role in ensuring the ability of its member states to respond to threats to their security”.
On the war in Gaza, the Greens would end UK military co-operation with Israel, reinstate funding for a UN agency for Palestinian refugees, and support international investigations into war crimes’ allegations against Israel. But it would also push for a ceasefire, the release of hostages and a long-term settlement to bring security to both sides.
The Greens would re-join the EU “as soon as the domestic political situation is favourable”. But it would seek to re-enter the Customs Union first and restore the free movement of people, especially students.
Naturally, much of their global focus is on climate change. The party would spend 1% of national income on foreign aid and 1.5% on climate finance. But like a rising number of countries in the West, its focus would be on giving emerging economies a greater say over how the money is spent.
Really interesting to see they would seek to abolish tuition fees, it will be intriguing to see how they intend to fund this. Check out the rest of the manifesto here: Our 2024 General Election Manifesto - Green Party