View all newsletters
Sign up to our newsletters

Support 110 years of independent journalism.

  1. Science & Tech
  2. Coronavirus
14 May 2020updated 11 Sep 2021 4:57pm

Caroline Lucas: “Covid-19 should act as a climate wake-up call“

By New Statesman

The Green Party MP for Brighton and Hove, Caroline Lucas, has written an article for the New Statesman, in which she calls for the UK to seize the “opportunity to create something different and better, a society which is fairer, greener and more resilient to the other even graver crises we face, the climate emergency and biodiversity loss… Our response to the coronavirus crisis could and must change everything.”

Much of the commentary on the coronavirus crisis has focused on the potential scenarios for a radically different post-Covid world. One such scenario is based around a radically different economic order based on larger, more interventionist states and vastly expanded public realms. However, there is also a likelihood that the recent unprecedented levels of Covid-related Treasury borrowing for bailouts and the furlough scheme will be repayed through another decade of austerity. Last week, some of the UK’s top economists, including Mariana Mazzucato, David Blanchflower, Ann Pettifor and Robert Skidelsky warned in the New Statesman that the government should not repeat the fiscal consolidation strategies of the Conservative and coalition governments since 2010, and instead made the case for a Keynesian stimulus.

Paul Mason has written on his support for radical measures such as monetisation of government debt to pay for increased public spending. But advocacy for such heterodox policies has also come from unlikely places, including the Financial Times, which has also called for the government to take equity stakes in companies it is bailing out – effectively wholesale nationalisation.

“Things we have long been told were impossible or unrealistic are, in fact, possible,” Lucas writes. “There is after all a ‘magic money tree’ when it is needed. The government can find the money to house homeless people, put resources into our healthcare system, provide an income to millions who cannot work and write off billions of pounds in public debt overnight.”

Last year’s Green Party manifesto called for a Universal Basic Income, a policy also supported by some on the Labour benches.

Content from our partners
The promise of prevention
How Labour hopes to make the UK a leader in green energy
Is now the time to rethink health and care for older people? With Age UK

Select and enter your email address The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU