Green Party leader Natalie Bennett has said that the Queen would be given a council house under a Green government, adding that she would welcome an economic recession.
In an interview with The Times, the Australian politician said her party would not only abolish the monarchy but would decriminalise membership of terrorist organisations.
The Green Party, which is hard left in its political thinking, has secured an invitation to the televised leaders debates after the Prime Minister David Cameron said he would not take part if it were just the four main party leaders.
The prime time slot for Ms Bennett may well backfire as viewers will get to hear more of the Green Party’s manifesto including legalising drugs and prostitution.
“I can’t see that the Queen is ever going to be really poor but I’m sure we can find a council house for her, we’re going to build lots more,” Miss Bennett said in a situation which sounds identical to the 1992 novel The Queen and I by Sue Townsend. In the book, The Queen and other members of the Royal Family are allocated council homes in ‘Hellebore Close’ while the new Prime Minister ends up selling the country to the Japanese as he struggles to grasp the complexities of international finance and running a country.
The Greens propose wealth taxes that would be enforced by powers of confiscation and inheritance tax would be tightened to stop parents who don’t want their children burdened with a huge tax bill after their death from passing on property while they are still alive.
They propose that this wealth grab on the prosperous and successful would fund a “citizen’s wage” of £71 a week for all adults that would cost the Treasury £280 billion a year.
“Sin taxes” would also be extended to include meat and imports, which would anger many in the business world who rely on importing raw materials or manufactured products in order to be internationally competitive and keep costs down for consumers.
Food such as Foie Gras and fur would be banned altogether.
Ms Bennett even said that she wouldn’t mind the country going into an economic recession.
“It depends if you want to measure success by GDP. Even the people who invented GDP said it’s a lousy tool for progress. The age of significant growth is over. We need to look at human measures now, not profits, but a better quality life, ” she said.
“We have been driven by this neoliberal Thatcherite idea that what motivates people is money. We want to focus on the fact that people don’t just want to work to earn more and more money, they want to do other things that often now aren’t recognised and valued.”
As with previous manifestos, the party would abolish tax breaks for private schools and wants rid of them altogether. They would also scrap school inspection group Ofsed, the national curriculum and make all schools the responsibility of local authorities rather than parents and governors.
“We need much more education for life, that means learning about sex and relationships, personal finance, cooking and food,” Bennett said.
With membership on an upward trajectory, Ms Bennett says the party has tripled its target for MPs this May, aiming for six. She said it was about to receive a big donation which would help fund their election campaign.
However, they may find their popularity waning when people take a closer look at the implications of their manifesto.
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