Every UK household should get £320 this winter funded by landlords to help fund soaring fuel bills, the Green Party said today.
New leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay demanded a bumped-up, one-off Winter Fuel Payment to be extended to every household in the country this year.
It would come on top of the existing Winter Fuel Payment for pensioners and certain benefit claimants, worth between £100 and £300.
That means people would be eligible for a maximum of £620, the Green Party said, to help them cope with rises in the cost of living.
It would be funded by a one-off, £9billion windfall tax on all landlords of privately-rented homes - charging 1% of the value of their land.
This is not the same as the value of the property itself, and can be less, but further figures were not immediately available.
The co-leaders were due to announce the policy in their first speech to the Green Party conference this afternoon.
I comes after the energy price cap was hiked by £139 on October 1, with another larger hike expected in April and energy firms pushing for a third hike in the middle of winter.
Mr Ramsay said: “It’s a costed proposal to be funded from a one-off 1% land-value tax on residential landlord properties.
“This proposal is about keeping households from spiralling into fuel poverty, it’s about keeping people safe.
“It’s about the state responding to market failure. It’s about human dignity.
“Our proposal is what government should be doing to show leadership. It’s an issue which shows how climate justice and social justice go hand in hand - something they just don’t get. It’s also just a bridge to get us to the tough work of a real, Green New Deal.”
Green Party officials believe the scheme - essentially a form of universal basic income - could be a “bridge” to their pledge to invest £100billion a year in a Green New Deal.
The party has pledged to cut UK carbon emissions to net zero by 2030, two decades earlier than the government’s current pledge.
Ms Denyer was expected to say in the joint speech: “People have grown tired of choosing the ‘least worst’ option. Of being patronised, ignored and told what to think.
"We are tired of a Tory government playing divide and rule. Tired of out of touch policies which ride roughshod over people. Tired of politics which amount to little more than an old boys club serving the interests of its pals.
"We need better - we demand better.
"We see none of it from an official opposition that fails the public, ignores the votes of its own members, and can’t take a stand on the biggest issues of the day.
"We have the policy - and the public is with us. We have ambition - and with your support we can fulfil that ambition.”
