Speech to Green Party conference, Brighton

The first green breakthrough on the Senate. [cheering and applause] And a little small matter of our first ever win at a Westminster by-election. [cheering] [applause] And last May, London turned green. The amazing Zoe and Liam and all of our new council leaders with their historic victories. Go London!

[cheering] [applause] And of course, it wasn't just London. Every corner of this country, Greens elected. Cities, towns, villages. More knocks on doors, leaflets on mats, crosses next to our names. And yes, we did win elections in greater numbers than ever before.

But more than that, we've changed this country. You did this. We made this happen. Thank you. [cheering] [applause] This party has existed since 1973.

And people have always told us, "You can't win." And in fairness, back then, that was sort of true. [laughter] It took decades of hard work to get us here. I'm standing here on the shoulders of giants who have spent so many years building this movement. Those very first council wins against the odds. Then, we got MEPs elected.

And then, the first historic breakthrough in this very city when in 2010, elected to Westminster was our very own Caroline Lucas. [cheering] [applause] And from Caroline to Natalie to Jonathan to Shah to Carla and Adrian, I took over as a leader of party that was already transformed. It was already growing, but this year well, it's been wild. When I was elected as leader of the Green Party, I said I wanted to bring the green message to new people. To shift perceptions about who we are.

To show that we care about what's happening in people's lives. I looked at a country crying out for change, where people feel like they're running every day just to stay in the same place. A country where struggling has become the norm. How many people across this country are timing their day so they're in that shop when those yellow reduced stickers start to come out? For some people, that's the only way they can afford a food shop.

How many people have started waking up half an hour earlier so they can walk to work because they can't afford the money on the bus fare? And how many people are cutting down on the things that used to make it all worth it? Weekends away, a meal out, because the costs of the bare essentials take up more and more of our wages every single month. You know, I met a woman recently who said to me, "I'm not making ends meet month to month. I'm making ends meet prayer by prayer.

I said I would always make clear that this party will always stand up for people like that woman. Tax [applause] [cheering] We are the party that wants to tax the very richest, bring our public services back into public hands, and end rip-off Britain. [cheering] [applause] That's the message that helped us win the record numbers of votes because we are sure about who we stand up for, and crucially, we are just as sure about who we are standing up against. [applause] Even when there are rooms full of people who disagree with us, and there often are, we will go into the lion's den and stand for our principles, or as the young people tell me, we stand on business. [applause] And even when times are hard, even when we're under attack, we always remember why we're here.

I'm always guided by three essential questions. How do we make life more affordable for everyone? How do we back the caring majority over the tiny wealthy elite? And how do we protect our planet for generations to come? Now, I've been knocking on lots of doors lately for some reason.

Particularly in an area that I have known a long time. I've lived there. I've worked there. I've seen it change. Now, some of these changes are really visible.

I'm talking about huge skyscrapers springing up on spots that used to be green space for council estates. Porches out of the front of what used to be family homes, but now they're full of lockboxes stuck with Airbnb keys. But, some of the changes are much more subtle. Many of the doors I'm knocking on look the same as they did 10, 20 years ago. But, behind those doors something has shifted.

It doesn't matter whether it's council homes or terraced houses, I hear one thing over and over again. Mums who say to me "I've still got my kids living at home with me." 19-year-olds who can't afford student housing. So, they're living with their parents and commuting to uni. But, they're missing lectures because they can't afford the bus in and out. Missing out on living with strangers who could have become friends for life.

Or there's the 25-year-olds. They can't find a job no matter how many tens or hundreds of applications they send. They can't imagine ever being able to afford to rent a room of their own, never mind having a whole place of their own. That just feels now like some sort of impossible dream. Or 30 35-year-olds moving back to their parents with their partner in tow, sometimes even their kids, too.

Now, maybe it's temporary at first, just a few months back at home, saving up a bit, hoping to scrape together a deposit. But, times get tougher. And those months can quickly turn to years. We are seeing a dramatic shift in the way people live their lives behind those closed doors. And its impacts run deep.

For young people with their lives on hold. And for parents. They are finding themselves back in the pressure cooker of family life just as they thought they were going to get a bit of space. And the consequences? They affect us all.

Young families are being forced to choose between moving out of the cities of the places they love or giving up on their dreams of having a family altogether. Take London. More than 90 primary schools have shut down since 2019 because there aren't enough children to fill them. Teachers seeing kids they love being priced out of the city. And it's not just the private pain of these impossible choices.

It's what that pain and these choices add up all to for our country. We know building the life we want for ourselves and our kids, well, it starts with having a home of our own. That's why I'm so proud of what Greens are delivering every single day across England and Wales. Like Bristol Greens. They are breaking records on affordable homes.

Stroud, yes, Bristol. [applause and cheering] Stroud are one of the biggest council home builders in the whole of England. That's what Greens deliver. [cheering and applause] [applause] More Greens elected, well, that means more homes being built. More people getting their foot on the housing ladder for the very first time.

More families having that incredible feeling of putting a key in the door for the first time of their very first home. And while our councils are delivering in their communities, we fight for change on the national level, too. So, in every corner of the country, at every stage of life, we can all have a place, a place we can call home. So, that means green MPs fighting for an end to the leasehold trap. For the people I meet who are living in defective buildings, and they are terrified for their safety.

So, that buying your first home is both a guarantee of security and it's an important stepping stone to whatever might happen next. We need to stop governments using the blunt tool of interest rates to control inflation. I meet people with mortgages who are constantly worried about renewing. They tell me they crave certainty about the future. And for the families I have met who have been stuck on waiting lists for years, desperately waiting for the government to build the homes they need, it is time for a serious plan to build council homes at scale.

[cheering] [applause] And of course, of course, the first vital step to ending the runaway cost of housing, well, it must be tackling the scandalous cost of private rents. [cheering] [applause] And that's exactly why our MP Carla Denyer has been fighting tooth and nail to get this government to do something about the affordability crisis in private renting. Because for too long landlords have been able to hike prices way above wages, leaving renters forced to meet the cost of just keeping a roof over their heads, cutting back and back and back on everything else. And it's not just renters who lose out, by the way. It's taxpayers, too.

Over the next year, more than a third of the money that the DWP will spend on housing benefits will go straight into the pockets of private landlords, subsidizing their extortionate rents. That's 13.4 billion pounds that could be spent building new council homes, repairing our creaking housing stock, bringing homes lost through right-to-buy back into public hands. That is why [applause] [applause] That's why today we are calling on this government to put in place a 3-year emergency break on private rents. [applause] [applause] No rent rises above CPI, wage growth, or 2%, whichever is lower. No sudden hikes.

No evictions under the guise of rent rises. No more uncertainty. No more fear. [cheering] [applause] That emergency break would give renters vital breathing space. Let wages begin to catch up with the rents that have outstripped them for far too long.

And in the long term, we'll put in place a national fair rents guarantee to keep rents affordable for everyone forever. [applause] [applause] And that doesn't just mean cheaper homes. It doesn't just mean government savings. It will mean that people can stay in the places they love, close to their family and friends. It will mean young people can take those first amazing, exhilarating steps into independence and have full lives waiting for them on the other side.

Young families able to live around the corner from the in-laws, not crammed into their spare room. But we know we know Labour will not take this simple, common-sense measure unless we force them to. Because right now, government ministers go on TV and talk down rent controls against the evidence. To see Jonathan Reynolds on Question Time say no economist support rent controls is utterly absurd. It shows that this Labour government will not take on powerful vested interests of developers and big landlords.

[cheering] [applause] Their half-measure reforms just don't go far enough. I have knocked on enough doors in the last few weeks to know for certain housing pressures are extreme levels. That's why our plan is so needed. So So, me say this so simply to the government. Slogans without action, half-measure legislation, outdated economic management, it is not good enough.

It is not going to cut it. [cheering] [applause] And that's why we're so needed. People need an alternative. Only by voting Green can voters be sure that they will back a real plan to shake up the housing market. Only by voting Green can they put an end to the rental rip-off and guarantee affordable rents.

And only by voting Green can they choose a future where houses don't sit empty as mere investment assets, but as a safe place to rest our heads at night that all of us need. That's what a Green vote gets. [applause and cheering] [applause] Homes, though, don't stop at the bricks and mortar around us. Home is so much bigger than that. Right now, we are living in a tense, volatile world, aren't we?

Fewer places of refuge than ever before. Youth centers, community centers, pubs, cornerstones of our neighborhood that just are no longer there in the same way. And when we don't have these physical spaces, toxic online worlds explode out onto our streets. Some leaders stand by and watch, while others pour fuel onto the fire. Look at the cruel anti-migrant laws that are carving up our communities, shaking the ground from beneath people who have made their life here over the despicable sight of masked men intimidating people who have just arrived here.

Actually, can I say by the way to those brave people from the RNLI who are waving against That's right. [cheering] [applause] They're the people, right? They are fighting against those stormy waves. They're having to deal with their lifeboats being targeted with trackers. I'm from the Green Party, we want to say to the RNLI, you are the very best of us.

Thank you. [screaming] [applause] And when it comes to protecting communities, I'm so inspired by our deputy leaders, Rachel and Mothin. Rachel, give them a clap. [applause and cheering] Rachel for standing up for refugees in her community in the face of horrifying hate and abuse. And Mothin for stepping out in the face of violent unrest to protect his neighbors and Leeds.

From all of us, thank you, Mothin. Thank you, Rachel. [applause and cheering] [applause] And then there's our trans community. Still discriminated against. Still legislated against.

Harassed out of toilets. Policed in public places. Scared to go about their daily lives. I'm so proud of our MPs Shah and Carla, our Senate member Anthony Slaughter, for standing up for trans people in the corridors of power while other parties turn their backs. The Green Party [applause] [applause] Let me say this very clearly.

The Green Party will always stand with our LGBTI communities, our migrant communities, our disabled community. We stand with everyone who is under attack. [cheering and applause] [applause] And that's what Greens do. We do it because it's the right thing to do. And talking of the right thing to do.

Just a few days ago the Foreign Secretary stood on a stage like this and said something many of us will feel vindicated by. That those who have been raising their voices against the atrocities in Gaza were right. Yet as he spoke meters away principled people were being hauled away by the police. [cheering] It is a shame. Because their crime holding up signs.

The sight of pensioners being put in handcuffs and bundled into police vans for holding up cardboard signs that has been a stain and a shame on this country's reputation for far too long. [applause] [applause] But those scenes are just an awful symptom of a rot that runs much deeper. To a government, a Labor government, so determined to crush dissent, that it labels those with views it doesn't want to hear as terrorists. Terrorists. Terrorists.

Hundreds of Labor MPs willing to label people terrorists, to troop through the voting lobbies to approve it. You know something? Our MPs didn't troop through the yes lobby. Our MPs weren't cowed by fear or malicious attacks in the press. They stood up for the principles we all hold so dear.

[cheering] [applause] Those principles, free speech, civil liberties, the right to dissent, which is one of our most precious freedoms. And Greens, we stand with one voice now as we say, "Drop the charges, end the genocide, de-prescribe Palestine and action." [cheering] [applause] [cheering] [applause] [cheering] [applause] A free Palestine because politics is about priorities, isn't it? So, let me be plain about ours. If you're at the sharp end of intimidation and violence, we're with you. If you wake up in the morning praying for an economic miracle, then we have a plan to help you.

And if you fight for justice and peace for everyone across the world, we will always have your back. [cheering] [applause] And when it comes to priorities, there's one that sits at the heart of all we do. Because something changed this summer, didn't it? A few months ago, I walked across charred ground in Oxfordshire. Burnt wood crunching beneath my feet.

Just days before that space in the woods had housed a thriving local business. Around it, birds had sung in the trees while local people had walked their dogs in the parks. And wildfires had pretty much destroyed everything. Whether you were sweltering in your flat in London, desperately trying to keep your kids cool, or waking up in the middle of the night in Manchester smelling smoke and panicking maybe you'd left the hob on, only to find out in the news that what you heard or saw was the hills burning miles away. Across the world, the ravages of the climate crisis have been taking lives and destroying livelihoods for years.

But this summer the destruction reached our shores like never before. So many things shocked me this summer. But do you know what shocked me the most? The silence. The eerie quiet of that Oxfordshire clearing.

But even more chilling the silence from our government. From the people whose very first duty it is to keep us safe. And in the face of government inaction, it was Greens who stepped in. Hannah Spencer, MP, putting forward a law to protect workers from extreme temperatures. Yes.

[applause] And it was only after we demanded that the Prime Minister call a Cobra meeting that he finally did it. But what was the outcome? To ban disposable barbecues. I still can't believe they had a meeting, gathered together, and went, "We're going to go out there and say our solution to the climate crisis is to ban disposable barbecues." And then just weeks later reports that the same government is set to give the go-ahead to dangerous new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea. It is not acceptable.

[cheering] [applause] A room shouting shame because it's so obvious. This summer's fires should have been the final nail in the coffin for new oil and gas. We know that drilling for new fossil fuels, it won't bring down bills. We know it won't make us more secure, and we know it locks us into a hotter, more dangerous climate, and we say no. No more fossil fuel extraction and a clean energy revolution now.

[cheering] [cheering] [applause] [cheering] [applause] [cheering] [applause] [cheering] I say a clean green revolution now. Wait till after the speech. You were starting to get ready too quick. What is a clean green revolution? Well, that means every single home transformed to highest energy efficiency.

We need to be kept cool in the summer, warm in the winter, and it keeps our bills down, too. It means sticking to the plan to cut emissions from polluting vehicles so our children can breathe clean air in our streets and parents can breathe easier knowing their kids actually have a future they can look forward to. And it means [applause] And it means a massive expansion of community energy. So, our power is cheap. Our power is clean.

Our power is in our hands. [cheering] [applause] I can hear in this hall. It's so obvious. So, there's one question. Will Labour face down the fossil fuel giants?

Well, it won't surprise you to hear that I'm not particularly hopeful about Labour's backbone, either. What backbone? Quite. [applause] But we know what we have to do. A few weeks ago, we heard that the government had delayed giving the green light to new oil and gas drilling at Rosebank and Jackdaw.

Why? Because they're worried about losing votes to the Greens. Now, that makes me hopeful because that is the difference our party makes. Vote Green and watch Labour move. [cheering] [applause] Voting Green between general elections with our 6th 5 MPs is the most powerful vote you can make.

Voting Green is powerful and here's two reasons why. First, more Greens in elected positions making the changes our neighbors, our communities so desperately need. And second, at general elections, the government changes, but between general elections, we change the government. [cheering] [applause] Now, let me tell you what I mean. A few weeks ago, our MP, Adrian Ramsay, led a vital debate in Parliament.

He called on the government to release a buried report detailing the threat posed by our national security by the climate and nature crisis. [snorts] Last week, the government finally started to at least talk about it. Another example, our MP, Ellie Chowns, has demanded our government end its complicity in the genocide in Gaza and of course the illegal occupation of Palestine. A few weeks ago, Ed Miliband took the first long overdue step by banning trade with illegal settlements. Necessary by the way, but not nearly sufficient.

The pattern is clear. Vote Green, watch Labour move. [cheering and applause] [applause] Through our sustained pressure and our historic wins, we have held the worst instincts of the Labour government in check and we have started to move them in the right direction. But we can't wait for them to get there on their own. The UN Secretary-General said, "This is the crucial decade for climate action." Bills are going up this winter and people don't know if they'll be able to afford to pay them.

And when billionaires are hoarding wealth and buying our democracy, the time for real hope and real change is now. [cheering and applause] [applause] Since we were last together, a year ago, a lot has changed. Back then, that was my staff laughing by the way. [laughter] Back then, I got asked, "Can you really do it? Can you really break through?" But now I get asked, "Isn't your job done?

Isn't the government doing everything you wanted?" Wish I could just laugh in response to the question. But in answering, I actually return to my three key questions. First, how do we make life more affordable? Under Labour, rents are set to rise, energy bills are spiking, and people are shelling out more and more just to afford the basics. But we Greens have a plan to bring bills down by nationalizing water, making every home efficient, and putting an emergency brake on rents.

[cheering] [applause] Second, how do we back the caring majority over a tiny wealthy elite? Unlike Labour, we will not hesitate in taxing extreme wealth. We will apply [applause and cheering] We will apply a windfall tax to obscene bank profits, and we will make sure the support of the welfare state is there for those who need it. Because finally, how do we protect our planet for generations to come? This is the whole reason we're here.

Our differences with this Labour government could not be clearer. While they play politics with our planet, we stick to the science. While Andy Burnham barely whispers a word about climate, we seek urgent action. While they bend to the whims of fossil fuel giants, we take the only credible principled stand that exists, keep oil and gas in the grounds. [cheering] [applause] And it's important to say that's not some kind of sacrifice.

That's the way of investing in the clean energy revolution of the future. One of my political heroes, Tony Benn, he once said, "Hope." Give Tony Benn a round of applause. [applause] He once said, "Hope is the fuel of progress, and fear is the prison in which you put yourself." Over the last year, we've seen just how powerful hope with a plan can be. It has fueled our membership to record levels, propelled our party to amazing electoral success, but more importantly, it's changed our country for the better. But we in this room all know, we're just getting started.

And so, when times get tough, when our opponents attack us or smear us or try to put obstacles in our way, we remember fear will get us nowhere. Only being brave, being bold will take us where we need to go. And when I'm in need of hope, all I need to think of is what is in front of me right now. [applause] [applause] It's all of you. It's everyone in this country who is working day in, day out for a better country and a better world.

The movement has brought us so far already. Because only with real hope and real change will we build the country and the world we can be so proud of. Thank you. Let's go.