Mainstream

ALT Over the past year, we have been consulting our members about the policy changes they want to see. Mainstream Members prioritised four changes where we want real, practical shifts in this week’s budget: 1) a fairer tax system, taxing the wealth of the richest to provide the resources we need for our communities; 2) a fairer housing market, including proportionate controls on high rents and an increase in social housing; 3) a ‘productive’ economy that is more equal and sustainable, with government enabling a social stake in the provision of essential services and infrastructure through public corporations at national and local level; 4) plans for democratic ownership of water and other public utilities. People can’t afford to simply wait till the next election for change.

ALT On the decision to approve the Jackdaw gas field We want a future we can actually plan for: secure, well-paid jobs, thriving communities and a liveable climate. The Government must show communities that these are not competing ambitions. They are the foundations of a prosperous country, and delivering them requires a government prepared to build. Scientists have warned time and time again: that we already have enough fossil fuel projects planned globally to meet our energy needs - but burning it all would blow us past 'safe' climate limits of 1.5C. The transition is an absolute certainty if we want a liveable future. But successive UK governments have prioritised propping up the dying oil and gas industry. In the last decade, jobs supported by the industry in the UK have halved – a loss of nearly 450 jobs a week over ten years. The approval of Jackdaw must not be followed by approval of Rosebank. The UK’s growing green economy is booming, already worth over £100bn per year, and