Mastodawn

Richard Turner Mar 18

Emeritus Prof Christopher May

Zack Polanski is about to put his head above the parapet on the Green Party of England & Wales' economic policy.... we can expect there to be be quite a lot of push back despite much of the policy being pretty uncontentious in economic terms....

What will likely create the most noise are the proposals to shift fiscal rules (again) & to equalise tax rates on capital gains with those on income (highly welcome in my view).

The game is on (as they say).

#Greens #economics
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/mar/18/basics-of-life-in-britain-have-been-sold-for-profit-says-polanski

‘Basics’ of life in Britain have been sold for profit, says Polanski

Exclusive: England and Wales Greens leader outlines economic policy including help to meet rising energy costs and water re-nationalisation

The Guardian

Ben M0SWV 🏳️‍🌈 🇪🇺 🇮🇪 🇵🇸Mar 18

@ChrisMayLA6 I will prepare my tiny violin for the complainers

Passenger Mar 18

If he can play the same game that Trump and Farage did (being unashamed enough to use the complaints of his enemies as free publicity, and relishing the hatred from conservatives because his base also hate those conservatives) then this might work out well for him. If he flinches and tries to appease the Daily Mail crowd, it might not. Let's see.

Emeritus Prof Christopher May Mar 18

Yup, I'd agree.... I'm pretty confident he doesn't;t want to placate the Daily Fail....

Christine Burns MBE 🏳️‍⚧️📚⧖Mar 18

@ChrisMayLA6 I was struck by how the generally amiable Rory Stewart really went for Polanski over his (at that time) unfinished economic policy ideas when RS and Alaistair Campbell interviewed him in depth for their ‘Leading’ podcast. Over time I’ve come to view RS as more left-leaning than he’ll admit to himself but something about Polanski’s ideas really upset him and brought out the fiercer Tory side because what Polanski talks about really undermines a cross party orthodoxy in UK.

Christine Burns MBE 🏳️‍⚧️📚⧖Mar 18

@ChrisMayLA6 To me, as someone without any orthodox economic grounding, I find Polanski’s broad brush ideas refreshing even though I know that exposes me to accusations of naivety and of succumbing to Polanski’s skill as a populist of the left. I’m cautious because I recognise Polanski’s success is that he’s harnessing the tricks of the populist right to advance a leftist policy agenda, but his economics seem to make refreshing sense. After all, the orthodoxy hasn’t been working for yrs.

Christine Burns MBE 🏳️‍⚧️📚⧖Mar 18

@ChrisMayLA6 So, what I guess I’m hoping for is that a more finished and polished economic policy agenda starts to address the easy criticisms but still adheres to the quality of being different. I know that the broad brush upsets the status quo and brings on fierce criticism but I’d like to see him win that argument.

Jody Hughes Mar 18

@christineburns @ChrisMayLA6 I’d be interested to know where the Green economic platform stands in a European context — compared to those countries with a well-funded welfare state.

Emeritus Prof Christopher May Mar 18

@Gaolaitch @christineburns

At least at the moment it would appear particularly out of line

Emeritus Prof Christopher May Mar 18

@christineburns

The thing is his ideas & prospective policies are only 'radical' as a function of the shift in the Overton Window - the approach is (at least as far as I can see at the moment) what I would call left-reformism - which of course for a while in the past would have been easily within the gamut of Labour economic policy - if not for some decades, now....

In the past it wouldn't have been much beyond Ted Heath!

@christineburns

Estarriol, Terrorist Dragon Mar 18

@ReggieHere @ChrisMayLA6 @christineburns

I think RS antipathy and much of the centrists and rights problem, is that Polanski invokes the dread shade of Keynes, who they thought they had vanquished with neoliberalism and trickledown.

Agreed. The economic orthodoxy of the last forty-odd years is looking increasingly wobbly and much more difficult to defend.

@ChrisMayLA6 @christineburns

Steven Heywood Mar 18

@Thebratdragon @ReggieHere @ChrisMayLA6 @christineburns
Much of his antipathy is directed at the Butskellite legacy which is held up as a model of economic decline and manufacturing loss, conveniently ignoring the significantly greater manufacturing loss under Thatcher and the shift from national economic strategy to paying homage to the bookies runners in The City for scraps given to the middle classes. This has been the new normal for so long anything other is seen as unfathomable heterodoxy and triggers a fear response in anyone right of Gordon Brown.

#UKPolitics
#UKEconomy

Estarriol, Terrorist Dragon Mar 18

@Stevenheywood @ReggieHere @ChrisMayLA6 @christineburns

yep. The whole bottom line number is king, without considering other kinds of value.....

Both RS and AC are thatcherite neoliberals heart.

Christine Burns MBE 🏳️‍⚧️📚⧖Mar 18

@Thebratdragon @Stevenheywood @ReggieHere @ChrisMayLA6 I love it when their orthodoxy blindsides occasionally blare out without them realising

Estarriol, Terrorist Dragon Mar 18

@christineburns @Stevenheywood @ReggieHere @ChrisMayLA6

Blair surely?

Christine Burns MBE 🏳️‍⚧️📚⧖Mar 18

@Thebratdragon @Stevenheywood @ReggieHere @ChrisMayLA6 Definitely AC’s blind spot

Emeritus Prof Christopher May Mar 18

@christineburns

Yes, its a classic case of what happens when a left-leaning centrist confronts someone with real left-economic views... suddenly the logic of their own position confronts them & they need to deny it vehemently!

@christineburns

Anything that challenges the economic orthodoxy of the last forty years is an affront to both of their careers because they've both been complicit.

Claire McNab Mar 18

@ReggieHere I don't think this is about the substance of policy. Rory has made big policy shifts.

AFAICS, this is about #RoryStewart's enduring belief in HOW policy should be formed. Rory wants posh-spoken, well-connected, clubbable chaps in universities and think tanks to form policy in the way they always have.

#ZackPolanski bypasses all that. He challenges not just policies, but the role of chaps like Rory.

Rory is angry because Polanski makes Rory redundant.

@christineburns @ChrisMayLA6

Emeritus Prof Christopher May Mar 18

@2legged @ReggieHere @christineburns

'Rory is angry because Polanski makes Rory redundant' - brilliant summation!

Nicely put, and Polanski is certainly an oik in comparison with Stewart.

@christineburns @ChrisMayLA6

Now you've put that in my mind, I'm wondering whether the petulance that centrists show towards the left isn't just a less-posh version of the same thing.

@christineburns @ChrisMayLA6

Claire McNab Mar 19

Shockingky so, @ReggieHere. Polanski isn't even a pal of the King!🙄

Even worse, Polanski thinks they shouldn't be a king! 😱

@christineburns @ChrisMayLA6

It's 2026. Having a King is an embarrassment to the entire Commonwealth.

@christineburns @ChrisMayLA6

Claire McNab Mar 19

@ReggieHere to be fair, the so-called Commonwealth 8s an embarrassment to itself.

A club of survivors of a rapacious empire, headed by the former emperor. #YCMTSU

At its name is an outrage, because the one thing it certainly is not is a commonwealth.

@christineburns @ChrisMayLA6

Andy Wootton Mar 19

@2legged @ReggieHere @christineburns @ChrisMayLA6 Rory demonstrated that he thinks any attack on Conservative policy by someone with a working class accent is due to economic resentment, though he was talking to a millionaire, who didn't inherit his wealth.

David John Crook Mar 20

@christineburns @ChrisMayLA6 Rory certainly had a real hissy fit.
Why? Perhaps because he sees a serious challenge to the economic orthodoxy of the last 45 years. He and Campbell only see the monetary policy driven by the Treasury that serves them and their peer group.
Polanski dares to point out that for 95% of the population it is just stagnation and austerity.

Marc Rothera Mar 18

@ChrisMayLA6 Didn't Nigel Lawson equalise capital gains and income tax? Presumably this means that C&UP + Thatcherite Reform folk will welcome this policy move?

Fardels Bear Mar 18

If I lived in England and didn't have the SNP, I'd be voting Green.

A Westminster wipeout at the next election isn't inconceivable at this point.

@riggbeck @ChrisMayLA6 there's the Scottish Green Party, and SNP economic policy is pretty conservative imv. Fortunately Kate Forbes is on her way out but it wasn't only her social policies that were right wing, the landlord lobby is really well entrenched in Holyrood

Fardels Bear Mar 18

@Mschatelaine @ChrisMayLA6

According to a website, if I vote SNP for my constituency MSP and Scottish Greens on the regional list, I can maximise both. But I've misplaced the website. Does anyone know anything about this?

@riggbeck @ChrisMayLA6 that's about right, for a couple of reasons. SNP tend to win most of the constituency votes but that makes their regional votes count less (checked the arithmetic) the regional votes get divided by the number of (constituency and regional) seats won +1 so if they have four seats, the list vote = vote total / 5. Which in this example would make your Green vote worth 5x an SNP vote. And then for each list seat they win it gets harder as they go through the runoff

@riggbeck @ChrisMayLA6 also, SNP have big donors (a lot of big landholders, bus company owners, bank shareholders, etc.) and can afford to run candidates in every seat in Scotland. SGP are member-led and -supported, so can only target the most likely seats. You will be able to vote Green in every list, but not every constituency.

Gillinger Mar 18

@ChrisMayLA6
Anyone who wants to re-nationalise anything at all gets my vote. Power to the People!

A lot's happened in the last ten years, and while far-right populists fight amongst themselves and try to rationalise the crazed vanity of Trump, the sensible centrists are looking like middle managers living with the threat of redundancy.

TINA is no longer a good enough answer and can be challenged.

Mic hel Drops Mar 18

@ChrisMayLA6 Same here in Canada, Boss. Especially, the province of Ontario. 👎 😣

@ChrisMayLA6 So you work, you earn money, you pay tax on it, and with whats left you invest because there is no interest on savings, and then you are taxed on that. You borrow to buy a house because it is cheaper than renting, then they tax that, then you have to sell it to pay for your care. #greens #economics #MovingTheGoalPosts

Emeritus Prof Christopher May Mar 18

Well, of course the fact the housing (principle residence) is not taxed is what has skewed the tax system...

@ChrisMayLA6 The money you use to buy the house has already been taxed. You then pay council tax because you own it. How many times does the same money have to be taxed? I forgot to mention that inflation is also a tax. #greens #economics #MovingTheGoalPosts

@ChrisMayLA6 I spend more on council tax than I do on energy. And energy is taxed too. In fact pretty much everything I buy is taxed, and I buy it with money already taxed. #greens #economics #MovingTheGoalPosts

MostlyTato Mar 18

@ChrisMayLA6
Well, he's not wrong. But the Thatcher Project, still going strong, really won't tolerate that kind of talk. Wouldn't want any of the Plebs rising above their station now, would we? 😜

It will be good to see an approach to economics which is moral, rather than deterministic.

Paco Hope Mar 18

@ChrisMayLA6 Polanski seems to be the right man at the right time. Everything has gotten so shitty and the excuses for why it is so shitty are paper thin and not credible.

All he has to do is say pretty ordinary, sensible things and everyone who advocates for the shitty status quo will look foolish trying to explain why these totally sensible things are bad.

#ukpol #ukpolitics

Pete Alex Harris🦡🕸️🌲/∞🪐∫Mar 19

@paco @ChrisMayLA6

He is England's Nicola Sturgeon.