Zack Polanski will today demand ministers ‘tighten’ wealth taxes on oil and gas profits to provide an eye-watering £8.4billion to help cover household energy bills.
In his first major speech on the economy, the populist Green leader will urge Chancellor Rachel Reeves to hit firms harder to offset price rises caused by Trump’s war on Iran.
Mr Polanski will argue the move would help to claw back any ‘excess profiteering’ from the crisis in the Middle East, which has seen oil prices soar amid pressure on global supplies.
He is also expected to make the case for rent controls and water nationalisation as measures to further ease the cost of living, and for equalising capital gains tax with income tax as a way of raising revenue.
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride accused Mr Polanski of ‘breathtaking and dangerous’ naivety over the plans, adding: ‘Zack Polanski is a man who believes we can just keep shaking the magic money tree, with no consequences whatsoever.’
The Green leader’s speech also comes as new polling suggests that the party’s voters are not sold on the idea of a wealth tax.
Just 43 per cent of those polled by Merlin Strategies back the levy, compared to 66 per cent of Labour voters.
A separate poll by More in Common suggests Mr Polanski’s past as a ‘boob whisperer’ hypnotist is also putting off voters.
A third of the public said they would consider voting Green, but that figure fell to just 16 per cent when the learned he once claimed to help women increase their bust size through hypnosis.
In his first major speech on the economy, the populist Green leader will urge Rachel Reeves to hit oil and gas firms harder to cover the cost of price rises caused by Trump’s war on Iran
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride accused Mr Polanski of ‘breathtaking and dangerous’ naivety over the plans
The ‘eco-populist’ previously said he was ‘misrepresented’ in a 2013 newspaper article, which detailed his work as a hypnotherapist.
He has also repeatedly said he apologised ‘a day later’ for the article. But a newly unearthed radio interview last week showed he stood by his claims.
Six days after the article was published, he spoke to a local BBC radio station about a ‘successful project’ that was said to have grown a woman’s breasts by ‘four inches’.
Mr Polanski is expected to say the Chancellor should guarantee support and earmark £8.4 billion to cover an expected household rise of hundreds of pounds in the coming year when Ofgem’s current energy price cap expires, he is expected to say.
Analysts have predicted that the limit for July to September could surge to £1,827 a year from the current £1,641 for a typical dual fuel household.
Ministers have said the Government stands ready to support consumers but is at an early stage of assessing what measures may or may not be needed.
Delivering the speech at the New Economics Foundation think tank this morning Mr Polanski will argue that the assurances from Sir Keir’s administration have not been enough.
Mr Polanski will say: ‘We need to end rip-off Britain, pay people properly for their hard work, and give people a real plan for a better country.’
He will also lament the UK moving ‘from a place which made things people need, to a place which made money for people who owned things’ and demand reform of the UK’s fiscal framework to exit the ‘bond market doom loop.’
A Labour Party spokesperson said: ‘This Labour Government has the right economic plan for Britain – delivering stability in our public finances, investment in infrastructure and higher living standards after years of Conservative failure.
‘We’re ending austerity, supporting families, fixing our NHS, cutting child poverty, improving workers’ rights, tackling the housing crisis and taking action on climate change and clean energy.
‘The Greens have the wrong answers and no plan.’