SmarterUK regards itself as a “Practically Green” party that balances the urgent need to “Save the Planet” by reducing carbon emissions with well-thought-out and fully costed political policies.
Living sustainably is a must for everyone, but it must also be affordable. SmarterUK believes that the supposed “Green” party has scored some spectacular own goals that question their ability to Govern in the Brighton and Hove region.
Daft Policies
- Providing a £36.2m loan to the Brighton Eye Vanity project.
The Green Party, during their first stint in charge between 2011 and 2015, approved this project, which has created an annual multimillion-pound hole in the local council’s funding. Every footfall target has been missed, and the project managers have continually defaulted on loan repayments.
This clearly shows that the Green party lacks the commercial acumen offered by the SmarterUK party, whose ideas for electrifying Brighton Car parks and creating green fleets of electric taxis would be revenue generating for the local council.
- Failing to get the basics right.
Although the Green Party espouses “Recycling”, its failure to deliver a reliable bin collection service in the area has made this virtually impossible for many residents.
Anybody who has walked the streets in Brighton in recent years may have stumbled and tripped over our uneven streets. Weeds have taken control after the banning of the pesticide-based weed killers the Brighton Works department used to use. Again, this green strategy has not translated into a fit-for-purpose solution.
- Introduction of a Brighton OLEV Zones.
The proposed daily charge aimed at forcing people into EVs is a blunt penal taxation that will impact lower-income families most and is not appropriate for Brighton, given its current inability to support EV charging.
SmarterUK believes in rapidly replacing polluting “Petrol” cars with much cleaner EVs. However, Brighton’s lack of off-road parking and public charging infrastructure makes it one of the hardest places in the country to own an EV.
If you have off-road parking, it is simple to install a home charger and access cheap overnight electricity at 5-15p per KWH, cutting the cost of running a vehicle by 50% compared to petrol equivalents.
However, 65% of homes in Brighton Pavilion require on-road parking, and it is difficult to get parking permits to park in the same area as your house, let alone directly outside.
Hence, we need to convert all local car parks, which are currently only 15% used at night, into pre-bookable charging hubs.
At the same time, a loan fund needs to be created for partial loans to allow all Brighton Taxis to be converted to EVs immediately. EVs are ideal for high-mileage vehicles, and there is a vast range of ultra-cheap second-hand EVs in the market currently. These loans will be recovered by charging a per-mile charge of 7p, which is funded by cost savings compared to petrol and will generate a small profit for the council.
- Narrowing of Salaries between higher and lower earners.
Although a very vague Green policy with no substance behind it, SmarterUK fundamentally disagrees with it.
The government has shown that it cannot effectively manage public sector pay and should never interfere with the free market setting of salaries.
The whole point of our taxation system is to “Level” things up in society, with the rich paying a much higher percentage of the cost of delivering public services. Combined with the minimum living wage, this is more than adequate for achieving a society where everybody can afford to live and is not driven to commit crimes to survive.
Good Policies
- Green Transition Grants:
The Green Party proposes an additional £3 billion in Green Transition Grants for small businesses to help them prepare for and take advantage of opportunities offered by greening the economy.
SmarterUK View.
Although there are no details of how this £3 billion fund will be created, the SmarterUK party supports the principals and has suggested.
- Levelling up VAT charge. Increase the VAT on online giants like Amazon to create a fund to support smaller businesses on our high streets.
- Electrification of Brighton’s Car Parks to allow people without off-road parking to charge their EVs overnight, which is key to promoting the switch to cleaner, green EVs.
- Loans and subsidies to help smaller taxi firms to migrate to clean EV fleets.
- Decarbonising Transport:
Support for small businesses to decarbonise their transport needs, including access to electric vans and other low-carbon transport solutions on the same terms as large companies.
SmarterUK supports this move entirely.
- Housing:
The Green Party pledges to create 150,000 new council homes, abolish the Right to Buy scheme, introduce rent controls, and end no-fault evictions.
SmarterUK supports this move entirely in principle but again requests the Green party to explain how the 150,000 new council homes will be funded, given the current state of Brighton Hove council’s financial statements.
- NHS and Social Care:
Reversing the trend of privatisation in the NHS and significantly increasing investment in social care and support for carers.
Smarter UK view.
SmarterUK agrees but insists that the UK public needs to be given an honest choice between higher taxation and the repair of the NHS and education facilities. SmarterUK has stated that it will reverse the 4% cut in National insurance implemented by the Conservative Government and will invest this into a long-term 15-year fund to be managed by a cross-party panel to ensure that a long-term non-political agenda investment strategy is implemented.
- Climate and Nature:
Strong emphasis on funding for countries that have suffered catastrophic climate harms (Loss and Damage) and increasing the UK’s carbon reduction commitment
SmarterUK view.
Until we reach carbon neutrality, all funding should be solely focused on UK projects. We have far too much work to do in our own country to contribute millions to third-party countries.
10 Education
Free school meals for all primary and secondary school children, increased climate awareness through education, and support for skills training services, nursery care, and schools staying in or returning to the public sector.
SmarterUK view.
We support free school meals for all primary and secondary children but have no objection to privately funded educations as this should be every parent’s right of choice.
