Colin Hines continues his work as convenor of the Green New Deal Group with Larry Elliott, Tony Juniper, Jeremy Leggett, Caroline Lucas, Richard Murphy, Ann Pettifor, Charles Secrett and Andrew Simms.
Recently, Colin has been working to get private finance involved constructively with Green New Deal type initiatives particularly in Birmingham, the first local authority to set one up.
Spend on a Green New Deal
Nine months ago the group published their second report: The Cuts Won’t Work: which explains why spending on a Green New Deal will reduce the public debt, cut carbon emissions, increase energy security and reduce fuel poverty. Public and private investment in a Green New Deal to make all UK buildings energy efficient, will generate jobs, business opportunities and safe havens for investors by putting in place the green infrastructure our future economy needs.
The need for Green Quantitative Easing
The report advocates the need for Green Quantitative Easing as a response to the anticipated serious economic downturn, “as a response to the serious economic downturn the clowns in government are engineering”.
Cuts: the callous con trick
In an August report, Cuts: the callous con trick, Green MP Caroline Lucas, tax expert Richard Murphy and Colin document why any reductions in the deficit still needed once the economy is in better health can be paid for by fairer taxes, not cuts. It sets out a range of options for changing the tax rules so that more than £40bn in additional taxes could be raised each year. HM Revenue & Customs are pursuing a programme of job cuts which will ultimately reduce their own staff by 20,000. This should be reversed in order to tackle tax abuse.
When Colin came back from his August break, he started to write a short polemical book – over which a veil must currently be drawn.
