6 Minimum requirements for achieving UK inequality targets by 2030:

1. Progressive tax code

The wealthy should be paying their fair share of taxes. A progressive tax code increases the rate of tax the more you earn. For most of the 20th century, the top rate of tax in the UK was between 80% and 99% on income over a certain amount. Since 1979, that rate has steadily come down while incomes for the highest earners have steadily increased.

Meanwhile, some of the biggest companies operating in the UK, like Amazon, pay no UK tax at all and others, like BP, actually receive millions of pounds in tax credits instead of paying any UK tax on their profits.

No plan to reduce inequality in the UK can succeed without seriously addressing the tax code and returning to a fairer system which taxes excess income sufficiently to fund the public services and safety net which props up and supports the poorest members of our society.

2. Global agreement on tax havens

No tax system can be effective so long as the wealthy simply move their money abroad to avoid UK taxes. Some of the worst tax havens in the world are British Overseas Territories, including the Channel Islands, the Virgin Islands, and the Cayman Islands. It therefore falls to the UK to take a lead in negotiating a new agreement that would prevent wealthy individuals and corporations from avoiding their tax responsibilities.

3. Create 1 million decent jobs

Addressing the grotesque and unsustainable levels of inequality and injustice in this country requires all kinds of policy changes that only the government can make. But the single most important way to address inequality is to make sure there are plenty of decent, well-paid jobs available. That is the core of any Green New Deal.

A Green New Deal is about addressing climate change, but it is also about creating jobs through government investment, and prioritising those jobs in areas that will be hit most by decarbonisation.

When the government creates jobs that pay a living wage sufficient to support a family, this does more than provide a decent job for those who get hired. It also sets a standard which other private employers have to achieve and raises wages and standards of living for many more workers.

4. Subsidise fossil-free homes

Moving to a fossil-free economy without harming the poor requires incentives, tax credits and subsidies that will enable those with fewer resources to switch to electric vehicles, electric heating and cooking technologies and distributed electricity supplies such as rooftop solar panels.

Rooftop solar in urban areas and off-grid wind turbines in rural areas could lower electricity costs and provide an unprecedented level of energy independence for large numbers of people. A GND can also help ensure a fair distribution of the benefits of moving to electricity by subsidizing home battery storage.

5. Improved social services

Everything that governments provide to the pubic, from public transport to health care to pre-school education, helps create a more level playing field for all. This goes beyond the concept of a ‘Green New Deal’ as such, but is an essential component of addressing inequality.

6. Commit to SDG goals for 2030

The UN Sustainable Development Goals aim to reduce poverty and inequality across the world and require major investment from wealthier countries like the UK to be achieved. Inequality within the UK can only be adequately addressed by also addressing inequality outside the UK, since wages in the UK are suppressed and inequality increases when companies can hire or buy more cheaply from abroad.

People flee to the UK and other European countries largely because of poverty and poor living conditions elsewhere, thus creating conditions of overcrowding in certain parts of the UK and competition for scarce social services. This creates resentment and animosity, fueling right-wing political movements which in turn increase inequality and worsens the plight of the poorest.