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Side by side

Comparewithacross every issue

The Green Party of England and Wales and The Liberal Democrats across all ten areas, in their own stated terms. Open in full for the detail beneath any line.

  1. Immigration & asylum

    Green

    Expand safe routes; end hotel accommodation; oppose deterrence

    In full ▾

    Opposes deterrence-based policy outright, favouring expanded safe and legal routes and an end to hotel-based asylum accommodation.

    Lib Dems

    Safe and legal routes, and faster decisions

    In full ▾

    Emphasises safe and legal routes and faster decision-making, arguing deterrence-first policy has repeatedly failed to reduce crossings.

  2. Tax & the economy

    Green

    Wealth tax on assets over £10m; £15 minimum wage

    In full ▾

    A wealth tax of 1% a year on individual assets above £10m and 2% above £1bn, which the party says would raise £15bn a year. Alongside it, a £15 minimum wage and a four-day working week.

    Economists dispute wealth-tax yields of this size, pointing to valuation difficulty and behavioural response; the party treats the figure as its own costing.

    Check itWhat are the Green Party's economic plans? — Economics Observatory

    Lib Dems

    £9.4bn for care and the NHS from bank and capital gains taxes

    In full ▾

    A £9.4bn package for social care and the NHS, funded by higher taxes on banks and tighter capital gains rules for the very wealthy.

    Check itLib Dem social care proposals examined — The Conversation
  3. NHS & social care

    Green

    More health spending; opposes private provision in the NHS

    In full ▾

    Increased health spending forms part of the capital programme, with the party opposing private provision within the NHS.

    Less detailed than its economic and environmental platform.

    Check itWhat are the Green Party's economic plans? — Economics Observatory

    Lib Dems

    Free personal care for everyone who needs it

    In full ▾

    Free personal care for everyone who needs it, costed at £2.7bn a year by 2028–29 and funded by reversing tax cuts given to the large banks since 2016 — so that nobody has to sell their home to pay for personal care. Alongside it a Carer's Minimum Wage set £2 above the minimum wage, a Royal College of Care Workers, and Carer's Allowance raised by £20 a week with eligibility extended to anyone earning under £183 a week.

    Analysts have welcomed the seriousness of the reform while questioning whether the funding stream covers the long-run cost.

    Check itEd Davey launches plan for free personal care — Liberal Democrats
  4. Housing

    Green

    Social housing funded from the capital programme

    In full ▾

    Social housing is funded from the same £90bn capital programme, alongside health and education — the party's answer to supply being public building rather than planning liberalisation.

    Check itWhat are the Green Party's economic plans? — Economics Observatory

    Lib Dems

    Council-led building; empty homes back into use

    In full ▾

    Expanding council-led housebuilding, bringing empty homes back into use, and requiring developers to deliver the affordable homes they have been permitted to build.

  5. Crime & justice

    Green

    Presumption against short sentences; divert rather than jail

    In full ▾

    A presumption against custodial sentences under two years, with investment redirected to courts, diversion schemes and violence-reduction units rather than prison places. The party would restore youth services and community policing, repeal the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act and the Public Order Act, abolish the Prevent programme, and decriminalise sex work.

    Lib Dems

    Restore community policing; scrap Police and Crime Commissioners

    In full ▾

    Restoring community policing, and scrapping Police and Crime Commissioners in favour of local Police Boards made up of councillors and local representatives, with the savings put into frontline policing. Recent party papers also defend trial by jury against proposals to restrict it.

    Check itStronger Communities, Safer Citizens — Liberal Democrats
  6. Energy & net zero

    Green

    £90bn a year capital spending; water, rail and energy in public hands

    In full ▾

    Capital spending raised by £90bn a year by 2030, of which more than £70bn goes to the green transition. Water, rail and energy companies would be taken into public ownership.

    Check itWhat are the Green Party's economic plans? — Economics Observatory

    Lib Dems

    End sewage discharges by water companies

    In full ▾

    Ending sewage discharges by water companies has been the party's most prominent environmental campaign.

  7. Education

    Green

    No current published position located. This may mean the party has said little on the subject, or that we have not found what it has said — we would rather show the gap than fill it with inference.

    Lib Dems

    No current published position located. This may mean the party has said little on the subject, or that we have not found what it has said — we would rather show the gap than fill it with inference.

  8. Defence & foreign policy

    Green

    Cancel Trident and begin disarming, while staying in NATO

    In full ▾

    Immediately begin dismantling Britain's nuclear weapons, cancelling Trident and banning nuclear-armed ships from UK waters, while continuing to recognise NATO's role in European security.

    The combination of remaining in NATO while unilaterally disarming is the most contested element of the platform, since the alliance's strategic concept is explicitly nuclear.

    Check itThe Green Party's defence plan — British Brief

    Lib Dems

    No current published position located. This may mean the party has said little on the subject, or that we have not found what it has said — we would rather show the gap than fill it with inference.

  9. Europe & the constitution

    Green

    Rejoin the European Union

    In full ▾

    Rejoining the European Union is party policy.

    Check itPolanski outlines Green economic policy — AOL / PA

    Lib Dems

    Repair the relationship with Europe; a new Magna Carta

    In full ▾

    The most consistently pro-European of the six: repairing what Davey calls Britain's "broken relationship" with Europe, tearing down trade barriers and fixing the "botched" Brexit deal. Domestically he has called for "a new Magna Carta" to constrain executive power.

  10. Media & culture

    Green

    No current published position located. This may mean the party has said little on the subject, or that we have not found what it has said — we would rather show the gap than fill it with inference.

    Lib Dems

    No current published position located. This may mean the party has said little on the subject, or that we have not found what it has said — we would rather show the gap than fill it with inference.

Positions are summarised from each party’s published material. How we place parties.

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