In a keynote speech at 2pm during the Party’s annual Autumn conference in Brighton today (Friday 6 October), co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay will reveal ambitious plans to quadruple Green representation in Parliament in the next general election.
They promise the party’s four target candidates will hold the government to account and advocate for their Fairer, Greener Homes Guarantee – a policy directive aimed at ensuring universal access to a secure and warm home.
The party’s four target candidates are: Siân Berry (Brighton Pavilion), Carla Denyer, (Bristol Central), Adrian Ramsay (Waveney Valley) and Ellie Chowns (North Herefordshire).
Co-leader Carla Denyer is expected to say: “We think everyone deserves a warm, secure and affordable home. That’s how to build stronger communities and better lives for all.
“Yet successive governments have left a generation of renters unable to put down lasting roots because they can’t afford to get on the housing ladder – can’t even touch the first rung.
“The broken housing market leaves people much less likely to feel at home where they live – it’s hard to prioritise building relationships with your neighbours and local shop owners when you know you could get evicted with barely a moment’s notice.
“And too many private landlords in England are lining their pockets despite a quarter of privately rented homes not even meeting the most basic standards of decency.
“So as part of our promise for Fairer, Greener Homes for all, we are announcing a package of policies to make every house – and flat, and bedsit – a proper home.
“Every home should be properly insulated and free from damp and mould. We’d give renters the legal right to demand this from their landlords. No more battling to get things done and no more risk that you’ll get kicked out for insisting your home meets basic standards.
“And we want the amount of rent you pay to be fair, so we’d give councils the power to bring the cost of renting in line with local wages, and make sure housing benefit is enough too. No more lying awake at night worrying your landlord’s going to price you out of your home.
“That’s our promise to everyone – a home that’s warm, affordable and secure.”
The Guarantee also includes plans to:
- Invest £145 billion over a ten-year period to provide grants to retrofit all homes that need it, alongside government-backed property-linked finance to make up additional costs;
- Give local authorities the power to impose rent controls on the private rental sector ensuring there are affordable homes for key and critical workers in overheated local housing markets;
- Increase the stock of social housing by 150,000 homes a year including by bringing empty homes back into use.
Co-leader Adrian Ramsay is expected to add: “The other political parties are simply not living in the real world when it comes to dealing with the housing crisis while reaching the critical net zero target.
“The Conservatives are capitulating to developers while Labour still supports the highly damaging Right to Buy which helped create the crisis.
“This is why it is so crucial that we achieve our aim of Four for 24 – the next generation of Green MPs, our four target candidates, elected at the next election.
“Only by having more Green MPs will we have people in Parliament advocating the solutions to the country’s housing crisis."
