14-07-2025
Government have ignored human rights and are ignoring the only solution: a wealth tax
For months, I have been hearing from Brighton Pavilion residents about their fear, worry and confusion at the Government's proposed welfare reforms. This is my third column about this topic, with good reason because - aside from the atrocities in Gaza - this is the single most common subject in my correspondence tray.
With the most brutal parts of its cruel benefits Bill removed, the Treasury's brutal fiscal rules are still set to do huge harm to people who need the support of social security to live equal lives. And there are now dark rumours that even the minor concessions won by the backbench rebels will be paid for by other cuts within the Department for Work and Pensions.
It has been a turbulent few weeks for the Government which, in the face of an angry rebellion, has persisted in rushing the welfare Bill through Parliament. All four Green MPs have repeatedly voted against measures that would have seen vital support ripped away from sick, Disabled and young people but, ultimately, a reduced version of the Bill was finally passed last Wednesday.
At every stage, as our lead MP for welfare issues, I tried and tried to make it do good, not harm. I tried to improve the only remotely positive proposal in the Bill – a staggered boost to the standard rate of Universal Credit – with an amendment to boost Universal Credit by the maximum amount from the start not over several years.
(Image: Milo Chandler) I worked on this amendment with anti-poverty campaigners from Trussell, and they are clear that the current basic rate of Universal Credit cannot cover life's essentials, including groceries, bills and travel. My amendment would have gone some way to creating a more humane benefits system that genuinely helps people. It was heavily defeated, but I won support from Labour, Liberal Democrat, SNP, Plaid Cymru and Independent MPs and we will keep pushing for this essential guarantee of the basics.
I spoke to introduce the final debate on the Bill and set out the clear alternative to cruel cuts that is being put forward by an unlikely alliance of Greens, millionaires and not one but two former Labour Party leaders.
Greens have been leading the debate on fairer taxes for many years. There should be nothing radical about calling for the most wealthy in society to pay a little more tax to fund the essential spending needed to fix our depleted public services. We have helped to promote the simple idea from a group of millionaires, who brilliantly call themselves 'Patriotic Millionaires', and propose a two per cent tax on wealth over £10 million.
(Image: Milo Chandler)
The most recent champion of this idea? In addition to Jeremy Corbyn, now a second former Labour leader, Neil Kinnock, who told Sky News last week that this kind of levy would prove that the Government is standing up for a more equal society. I could not agree more.
Britain's wealth gap between the richest and poorest, is now the second largest in the world behind the USA. Two thirds of Britain's entire wealth is owned by the ten richest percent, while over four million children are living in poverty.
Greens often get attacked about our support for wealth taxes on the basis that such a levy would drive these multi-millionaires out of the country. This attack ignores both the fact that property and land can't really be exported, and the fact that over 85 per cent of UK millionaires in fact support the idea of paying higher taxes.
And regular polling shows the public overwhelmingly agree so, I think it is finally time for the Government to listen.
Our country is crying out for the investment a wealth tax could make possible. In Brighton, three of our treasured libraries are under consideration for closure, and if this Labour Government sticks to Conservative austerity and refuses to consider looking at fairer tax measures, we are at serious risk of losing other cherished local services forever.
