Green Party manifesto targets Labour voters with pledge for net zero carbon emissions by 2030

The Green Party is targeting environmentally concerned Labour voters with a pledge to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2030.

The party’s co-leaders Sian Berry and Jonathan Bartley launched their manifesto this morning at the London Wetlands Centre in Barnes.

They pledged to invest £100 billion a year by 2030 — paid for through borrowing — to fight climate change.

It comes after Labour appeared to soften a target, approved at its September party conference, for Britain to produce net zero carbon emissions by 2030.

The Greens also pledged to increase NHS funding, hold another Brexit referendum, extend the vote to 16-year-olds and reduce rent levels.

Mr Bartley said they were being “honest” about the investment needed to fight climate change.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “When we are facing an existential threat, we don’t hold back... Frankly, if the climate were a bank we would have bailed it out by now.”

He added that climate change had been overshadowed by financial crises, but those responsible had been "let off the hook".

"World leaders rushed to help a failing economic model. We returned to business as usual. Then we turbo-charged business as usual," he said.

"Back then our economy itself warned us that things had to change. Now our very planet is ringing the alarm.

"Hitting snooze for another 15 years simply isn't an option. This is a different magnitude to the financial crash.

"You can't double down on business as usual, pray to the markets and expect the climate emergency to magically go into reverse."

Ms Berry, who is running to be Mayor of London, said that each elected Green MP would have 10 bills ready to put forward to ensure that the next parliament "hit the ground running".

"The future will not give us another chance to get these next two years right," she said.

The focus of the bills would include the green new deal, a People's Vote, NHS reinstatement, higher education, a more sustainable economy and a future generations bill.

The party also said that a further £9 billion a year in operational spending would be funded through raising taxes, including corporation tax which would rise to 24 per cent.

They argue that borrowing on such a scale is justified partly due to the looming climate crisis.