Zack Polanski says Greens would ditch GDP targets and focus on wellbeing instead

A government led by the Green Party would not set targets for GDP growth but would instead focus on people’s mental health, social cohesion and community welfare, Zack Polanski has said in a major speech to set out his plans for the economy.In his first policy address since taking over as leader of the Greens in England and Wales six months ago, Polanski condemned what he called “rip-off Britain”, where a minority of asset owners benefited at the expense of people obliged to pay unaffordable sums for housing and other basics.In a post-speech press conference, when asked if a government he led would seek to create economic growth, Polanski argued this was the wrong way of looking at the issue.“Actually, I’m much more interested in growing people’s mental health, growing our public services, growing cohesion in our communities,” he said, arguing a focus on increasing GDP growth could create unintended incentives and outcomes.“If we’re looking at GDP – if a water company pumps sewage into the water and then pays for that to be cleaned up, then that technically improves your GDP, and that’s economic growth,” he said. “That would seem absurd to most people, and it’s not a way to do it.”Instead, he said, governments should build policies around broader “missions”, such as tackling the climate emergency or reducing gender inequality, for which economic growth could be a byproduct.“Your missions should be cross-cutting across all sectors, rather than being a mission that’s about economic growth that can become arbitrary and then can result in perverse means to try and get to that end,” Polanski argued.“Really, what we should actually be doing is looking at how we can improve people’s lives in this country, make sure that our communities have more money in their pockets. Then we’re looking after communities.”Speaking at a community garden in north London in an event organised by the New Economics Foundation thinktank, Polanski called for more government help with household energy bills as a result of the US-Israel attack on Iran, which he called “a war of choice” that was not launched because of any imminent threat.Polanski said the privatisation of social housing and utilities, followed by austerity, had created a hugely unjust economic landscape.“The picture for people living in the UK today is bleak,” he said. “Wages have all but stagnated since 2008. Unemployment is on the rise – and the number of young people out of work is at an 11-year high. Growth has literally ground to a halt in spite of this government pursuing a policy of growth at all costs.”In contrast, he said, the Green Party’s economic policy would be based around “three very simple questions: how do we make life more affordable? How do we back the caring majority over the wealthy elite? And how do we protect our planet for generations to come?”On specific policies, Polanski reiterated his calls for a wealth tax and measures to tackle the cost of living, such as rent controls and the renationalisation of the water industry, as well as a mass programme of home insulation.Asked about how a Green government would pay for all this, Polanski said the UK needed to “exit the bond market doom loop” with a rethink of economic rules.Questioned on whether this could include printing more money and changes to borrowing, Polanski said: “Ultimately, I’m a pragmatist. I’m not an ideologue, so I’m interested in anything that works.”He added: “There will be borrowing, but it’s borrowing for investment. I think that’s the key point there. As well as that, I think there is a conversation to be had about quantitative easing, and I think part of it is there’s no one fixed approach. There’s no one jigsaw piece that’s going to solve everything.”