Caroline will vote against the fiscal responsibility charter later today.

She has opposed the charter since its inception, and has today welcomed the belated change of heart from the Shadow Chancellor.

Caroline Lucas MP said:

“This charter is a massive and reckless gamble with our economy. These plans will either crash the economy now by sucking away demand, or crash it later by relying on dangerous levels of private debt to keep demand growing. The sad fact is that this economic illiteracy will lead to further cuts and privatisation – harming communities up and down the country.

“In a world of limits to growth, the entire current economic model needs to be rethought: we need radically new ways of providing for each other, and we can’t escape from the need to build an economy and society that delivers more equitable outcomes to start with.”

Lucas also made a plea to the Labour party – calling for unity in opposition to austerity.

She said:

“I’m glad the Shadow Chancellor changed his mind. I hope we can now work constructively together to repeatedly challenge the Chancellor’s narrative and to make the case for credible alternatives. I hope that Labour MPs will also join me in campaigning for the establishment of a British version of Greece’s Debt Truth Committee, as part of the process of advancing an evidence based approach to public spending and levels of debt.”[1]

ENDS

[1] http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/caroline-lucas/greece-debt-austerity_b_8...

Contact: Matthew Butcher on 07885 459 904