‘Basics’ of life in Britain have been sold for profit, says Polanski | Zack Polanski
Zack Polanski will tell you that successive governments have transformed the UK from a manufacturing economy into one in which the basics of life are privatized and rented back to people at crushing cost.
In his speech, billed as the biggest policy intervention since the Green leader took over the leadership six months ago, Polanski will argue that decades of gradual economic rebalancing in favor of a wealthy minority has left most of the country vulnerable to economic shocks such as the current rise in fuel prices.
Polanski will call on the government to offer more support for households given the uncertainty of the conflict in Iran, and will want £8.4bn to be set aside to cover a possible rise of £300 per household in energy prices next year.
“A sustained project of privatization and deregulation has transformed Britain from a place that makes things people need to a place that makes money for people who own things,” he will tell the New Economic Forum think tank in London.
“We live in a rip-off Britain: an economy built to reward the few for the work of the many. A country where people work hard and try to do the right thing, but still struggle to meet basic needs and find themselves constantly cut off.”
“The things we rely on to form the foundations of a good life, the most basic things, have been taken away from us, sold for profit, and then sold at crushing prices or rented back to us. The water that keeps us alive, the energy that keeps us warm. The home that keeps us safe.”
“We stopped working to save money for a deposit, a summer holiday or even save some money for the future; most of us are working just to cover the cost of living, which increases every day.”
Polanski has seen a surge in Greens membership in England and Wales, with the party now ahead of Labor and the Conservative Party in some polls. The Greens won last month’s Gorton and Denton by-elections.
Although Polanski has had an energetic media presence since becoming leader, he has said relatively little about policy, partly because the Greens’ highly decentralized structure means they are decided by members.
However, the speech will include some details, including a proposal to tighten existing windfall taxes on energy companies and a call for more help on energy prices to be paid.
More broadly, Polanski will lay out a three-point vision for the economy, including measures such as rent controls, renationalization of water and decoupling of electricity prices from the cost of gas; changes to the tax system, including the previously announced proposal to equalize the capital gains tax rate with income tax; and ways to change the broader financial framework to make it work more effectively.
The speech was presented as a chance for Polanski to spell out his broad economic philosophy, starting with a critique of governments in recent decades, including the wave of privatization under Margaret Thatcher and subsequent austerity.
Another part of the speech will lament the economic impact of Brexit, saying that it has left the economy between 6% and 8% smaller than it would otherwise be. “Leaving the EU was a sledgehammer to an already weak economy,” Polanski will claim.
Calling for a fundamentally changed philosophical approach to economic policy, he will say: “Although successive governments have embraced the economics of controlled decline and effectively eroded many of the things we hold dear, the human spirit is such that compassion and care will always remain, and it is our duty as politicians to harness this potential.”
