Members of the Green Party adopted a motion to “abolish landlords” in Britain as the party seeks to expand its reach and sway defected Labour voters by adopting so-called “eco-populist” policies.
At the Green Party conference in Bournemouth on Sunday, members committed the party to “seek the effective abolition of private landlordism” in Britain in addition to a range of other measures to incentivise state ownership of property.
The motion stated per the Daily Mail: “The private rental sector has failed, it is a vehicle for wealth extraction, funnelling money from renters to the landlord class.
“This motion makes it clear Green Party policy is to seek the effective abolition of private landlordism and our support for building council housing.
“The Green Party believes the existence of private landlords adds no positive value to the economy or society, that the relationship between landlord and tenant is inherently and intrinsically extractive and exploitative.”
Additionally, the party would scrap buy-to-rent mortgages, impose a land value tax on property owners, a National Insurance tax on private rents, a double taxation scheme on empty properties, and force Airbnb owners to pay business tax rates.
Meanwhile, Green Party leader Zack Polanski came out this week in favour of legalising all drugs in Britain, including Class A drugs like crack cocaine or heroin. He argued that the war on drugs has “failed” and that the issue should be “led by public health experts, not politicians”.
Not to be outdone, Green deputy leader Mothin Ali said that the anti-terror Prevent programme should be eliminated for “specifically targeting” Muslims and overlooking far-right extremism, despite consistent findings that authorities have disproportionately focused on far-right threats and downplayed Islamist threats.
Nevertheless, Ali said that the Greens are seeking to expand from being seen as a “one-issue” party.
The approach appears to be paying off in terms of courting the progressive vote, with a survey this week from YouGov finding that the Greens now have a higher favourability rating than the governing left-wing Labour Party at 17 to 16 per cent, respectively.
The party has seen particular growth in multicultural London, with 27 per cent of voters in the capital having a favourable view of the Greens, compared to 20 per cent for Labour.
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