- Green MPs pose with scales showing government’s ‘skewed priorities’ as government slashes disability benefits while refusing to tax wealth
- They say a tax on assets over £10 million could raise nearly 5 times as much as Rachel Reeves’s cuts to disability benefits
- Greens urge Reeves to abandon the planned cuts and ‘rebalance’ the economy in favour of ordinary people
Ahead of the Spring Statement the Green Party is urging the government to ‘rebalance the economy’, by reversing the planned cuts to welfare spending and instead taxing the wealth of multi-millionaires and billionaires.
The party’s MPs say it is deeply unfair that those already struggling to get by will be pushed further into hardship because the government is unwilling to tax wealth fairly – and that while we are still feeling the effects of the Conservatives’ ‘failed austerity experiment’ more cuts will only damage the economy further while leaving us unprotected from the climate crisis.
The day before Rachel Reeves is due to unveil her response to the OBR’s economic outlook and set out her government’s response, Green MPs posed with a set of scales representing the stark difference in the money the government plans to save with its welfare cuts and the amount that could be raised by taxing extreme wealth.
They say if the government took the advice of the Patriotic Millionaires and levied a 2% tax on assets above £10 million, this could raise £24 billion a year – almost five times the amount Reeves plans to save by slashing welfare for disabled people.
Speaking ahead of the spring statement, Adrian Ramsay, Green Party Co-Leader, said:
“It’s not fair that this government is unwilling to introduce a modest tax on the extremely wealthy while removing vital support from a million disabled people.
“Fifteen years of austerity have driven our economy to the edge—forcing ordinary people to bear the burden while multi-millionaires, billionaires, and big corporations amass extreme wealth. Meanwhile our economy is not prepared to protect us from the climate crisis.
“Labour’s plans will only deepen this inequality and push our economy further off-kilter. From removing the winter fuel payment from millions of pensioners to plans for more public service cuts, this government’s priorities are completely skewed.
“Instead of doubling down on the Conservative failed austerity experiment and pushing more people into hardship, it’s time to rebalance our economy for good.
“At the Spring Statement, Rachel Reeves can do just this. By taxing wealth fairly, she could invest in what this country desperately needs: giving communities the support they need, rebuilding our NHS, and taking action for a safe climate so we all have a future to look forward to.”