Green Party leader calls for Home Office to be abolished

Image copyright PA Media

The Green Party’s co-leader is calling for the Home Office to be scrapped in a radical shake-up of immigration policy.

Jonathan Bartley wants a new Ministry for Sanctuary to be set up to oversee a “fairer” system, including the closure of all migration detention centres.

In a speech to his party conference, he warned of a “new authoritarianism” in Britain and said he was “ashamed of what our country has become”.

Only the Greens could deal with the injustices that led to Brexit, he said.

Addressing activists on the first day of the Green Party conference in Newport, Mr Bartley also called for free bus travel in England, and for all future laws passed by Parliament to be measured against their environmental impact on the next generation.

The party, which opposes Brexit and supports another referendum, has only one MP in Westminster, Caroline Lucas, but performed strongly in council and European elections earlier this year.

In his speech, Mr Bartley – who shares the leadership with Sian Berry – said a “green wave was sweeping the continent and we are surfing it in England and Wales”.

Paying tribute to climate protesters, including Extinction Rebellion, who he said had made the future of the planet a political imperative, he said the “oceans are rising but so are we”.

Outlining a “radical plan” to revamp government and the economy, he said the Home Office should be scrapped and its responsibilities shared between two new departments.

‘Climate chancellor’

While the Ministry for Sanctuary would be in charge of immigration policy, the Ministry for the Interior would have responsibility for law and order.

The changes, he said, were needed to address the “austerity, inequality and political exclusion” which he said had contributed to the Brexit vote.

“There is an imperative to fight not only the threat of Brexit but the conditions that have brought us Brexit,” he said. “With a general election looming, a vote for the Green Party is the most powerful vote you can cast.”

“We will fight to remain in Europe and but we will also fight to transform Britain.”

On the environment, his other proposals include:

• Introducing a carbon tax to fund investments in renewable energy.
• Scrapping the HS2 rail line and investing £70bn in local transport networks
• Phasing out petrol and diesel cars by 2030
• Installing a “Climate Chancellor” so all decisions are judged on environmental impact
• Passing a Future Generations Act which would require the needs of young people to be taken into account before every government decision

“This can be a new start,” he said. “We need a decisive break from business as usual, and we are ready to make the leap.

“The Green Party has always been on the right side of history. The time is now to shape our future.”

Sian Berry will address the three-day event on Sunday.

About The Author