Quakers: Budget does not address crises facing country

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced £20bn over 20 years on low-carbon energy projects, but these focus on carbon capture when the UK should be moving away from fossil fuels.

Quakers welcomed the £8.8bn allocated for sustainable transport but were concerned that the continued freeze on fuel duty at a cost of £6bn may impede takeup of more sustainable means of travel.

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We should be investing in a just transition and security for all, not in weapons and fossil fuels

- Oliver Robertson

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The government should be investing in renewable energy, including community energy, as well as in retrofitting all our homes to make them more energy efficient, Quakers said.

Instead, public funding will go on nuclear energy which has been reclassified as environmentally sustainable.

The Chancellor extended the subsidies limiting typical household energy bills for three months to June and reformed childcare.

But Quakers believe that the grotesque injustice of a tiny few making huge profits as more and more people slide into poverty should be addressed, such as with a wealth tax.

In addition, the UK government should impose a loss and damage tax on fossil fuel companies, they said.

Currently those companies continue to profit from climate breakdown while the poorest in the world bear the highest cost.

Defence spending is set to rise by £11bn over the next five years but excessive and increasing military spending in recent years has not brought about security, as the war in Ukraine shows.

Oliver Robertson, head of witness and worship at Quakers in Britain, said: “As the climate crisis deepens, and the world becomes more unstable, we should be investing in a just transition and security for all, not in weapons and fossil fuels.

“The government should focus on preventing future wars and preparing for peace, not preparing to fight."

Read Unite's report into profiteering behind the cost-of-living crisis here