Greens plan ‘frequent flyer’ levies under election pledges

Britons who travel abroad more than once a year would face punitive ‘frequent flyer’ levies under Green Party proposals.

The party – which is on course to have its best ever general election result – also wants to raise National Insurance rates for those earning more than £50,000 and scrap the Trident nuclear deterrent.

Announcing a £70billion investment to mend ‘broken Britain’, the Greens said they would fund their plans through a wealth tax on assets above £10million and by expanding the windfall levy on energy giants.

At yesterday’s manifesto launch in the Brighton Pavilion constituency – their only seat in Westminster – Green Party co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay also proudly unveiled plans to ban domestic short-haul flights in the UK.

Under their ‘frequent flyer’ proposal, travellers taking ten flights a year would be forced to pay an extra £585.

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Mr Ramsay told the Mail: ‘This is not intended to affect the average family. People who fly on holiday once a year would not be charged extra because we’re talking about frequent fliers.

‘Just 15 per cent of the population take 70 per cent of the flights. So we’re talking about business people or people who have wealth and fly frequently.’

The Greens have come under fire for their nuclear policies – which include cancelling the Trident nuclear programme and aiming to ‘phase out’ nuclear power.

Mr Ramsay suggested any money saved from axing the deterrent would be used to improve the Armed Forces, while nuclear-generated energy would form part of the transition to a greener future.

The party would advocate for remaining in Nato – but seek an end to the alliance’s ‘first-use’ policy for nuclear weapons.

Last night the Institute for Fiscal Studies said Green Party plans to tax both ‘excessive concentrations’ of wealth and middle-class earners – those on £55,000 would pay an extra £268 a year – are not enough to fund their spending commitments, which would see the tax burden rise by £170billion per year.

Helen Miller, deputy director of the think-tank, said it was ‘unlikely’ that the party’s proposed tax rises would generate the amount claimed and ‘certainly not without real economic cost’.

The party, which is polling at around eight per cent nationally, is focusing on four winnable Westminster seats.

Many voters thought to be disillusioned by Labour’s shift from the Left after the Jeremy Corbyn era have pledged allegiance to the party.

The Greens have vowed to keep Sir Keir Starmer honest over the next five years if he enters government.

‘We will push Labour to stop backtracking on their promises,’ Mr Ramsay said at yesterday’s launch. ‘We will be there to drive them to be braver, to be more ambitious, not to take timid baby steps towards change but to actually do what’s necessary to fix our country and get us back on track.’