Green Party candidate for Mayor of London, Sian Berry, is today pledging the creation of new jobs in overlooked green sectors, including repair, farming and digital services, if elected on 6 May, for a comprehensive green recovery from the coronavirus crisis.
The Green manifesto contains ambitious and transformative thinking on the next steps for London’s economy, which will create new employment opportunities across sectors ranging from agriculture in the green belt, to jobs in repair and reuse on London’s high streets, to digital services in a new economic district on the site of City Airport.
These jobs will create opportunities for workers with skills outside the stereotypical sectors associated with green jobs, such as energy and transport.
Sian says:
“I have a mission to transform the economy, and to make London the greenest city in the world. Only a Green Mayor can get it done.
“Londoners are concerned about their own futures and the planet, and are looking for jobs and new challenges in sectors that they know will be there for the long term. No other party is focused on the whole range of jobs that a zero carbon economy needs, and planning ahead for them right now.
“In the General Election in 2019, Greens put forward the biggest and most ambitious plan to decarbonise the economy while creating good, green jobs. I will bring that same ambition to London, making sure we achieve climate targets and cut resources, while rebuilding from the ground up through the coronavirus crisis.
“Most importantly, we will create an economy where people are secure, where everyone can thrive and where new careers and small businesses can flourish. That means a higher living wage, the protection of a basic income, and flexible working which fits everyone’s needs.”
The plans will also move London towards an economy that consumes fewer resources, with more repair services and businesses, and more materials re-used and repurposed.
As co-leader of the Green Party, Sian put forward the most ambitious Green New Deal plan seen anywhere in the world at the outset of the 2019 General Election, pledging £100bn investment in decarbonising the economy and creating new jobs, every year for ten years.
A Green Mayor will bring the same ambition to London, using every lever available to create new employment opportunities while hitting the climate and ecological targets the science demands.
Today Sian Berry will visit Save The World Club, a charity in Kingston that puts the principles of re-use and the circular economy into action by taking food, resources and goods that would have been incinerated or sent to landfill, and redistributing, repurposing and repairing them.
Sian’s job creation policies will also be matched by policies to support people starting out in their careers and to lift up people on lower wages. These include a trial of a Creative Autonomy Allowance to provide young Londoners with financial security to start new careers in business and the arts, a new London Living Wage rate of £14 per hour, and a jobs guarantee for London’s most marginalised groups.
Sian has also put forward policy to support new and existing small businesses, which she sees as a key engine of the green jobs agenda. A Green Mayor will define a fair, affordable Working Rent for small businesses in all areas of London. Where necessary, landlords will be incentivised to offer rent holidays to ensure survival through the consequences of the pandemic and Brexit. She will also establish new town centre funds financed by the business rates paid by large retail developers.
